Levelland’s 82-73 victory over Decatur in the 2016 4A Division I Area Round was the highest-scoring TXHSFB Playoff game ever. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football tracked down players and coaches on those teams to recount the craziest football game they’ve ever played.

Decatur HC Mike Fuller: “We rushed for 432 yards, threw for 414 yards, scored 11 touchdowns, and we didn’t win. It’s cool to talk about that game, but it’s hard when you realize all those things.”

Decatur RB Payton McAlister: “Dave Campo was an old Dallas Cowboys coach, and he was there because someone on our team had a family friendship. I remember afterward he was sick to his stomach because of the lack of defense.”

Decatur QB Wilson Hicks: “The drives were maybe four or five plays.”

The 2016 season was the first time in TXHSFB history that there were multiple games with a combined score of at least 150 points, with five in total. Levelland had two of the five in 2016. Senior quarterback Nick Gerber captained the Air Raid offense, throwing for 5,617 yards and 77 touchdowns, both single-season TXHSFB records. The Lobos had a huge senior class of roughly 25 kids, 11 of whom played on varsity since sophomore year. Wide receivers Jeff Elliot and Kegan Dent were Gerber’s deep threats, while running back Qualin Miller was the feature back.

The Air Raid was not Levelland’s long-time offense - it had developed around Gerber since he first took the reins sophomore year. Sanderson and offensive coordinator Jhett Norman added new concepts for him every season. By the Decatur game, Gerber was calling plays at the line of scrimmage.

Levelland HC Jared Sanderson: “The biggest factor is the chemistry we had as a unit. We gave Nick (Gerber) a lot of freedom in that offense and how he played the game based on what he read and what he saw. Is he going to give it or pull it? Is he going to throw it or run it?”

Decatur HC Mike Fuller: “He (Gerber) was incredible. Just watching him and their receivers warming up for that game, I think that’s one of the best I’ve seen, especially at the 4A level. His accuracy and arm strength, along with the receivers being really good. It was impressive to watch their warm-up.”

That passing game had lifted Levelland to its first district championship since 1988 and, eventually, the farthest playoff run (fourth round) in 66 years. But first, they had to get through the second-round Decatur game, which proved a tough out. Both communities came out in droves to McMurry University in Abilene.

Decatur HC Mike Fuller: “It’s probably not a big enough stadium to hold that kind of a game. When you’re in Decatur and playing all these teams from West Texas, it’s hard to secure a stadium in the Abilene area. Every seat was packed. There are people standing on the track and along the fence. That probably added a little bit to the atmosphere of the game.”

Levelland QB Nick Gerber: “Everybody hadn’t seen that in a long time, so having that sense of belonging and being a part of something made it fun and it made people want to come out and watch every game.”

Levelland alum and superfan Matt Wilson: “I’d gone to Disney World with my family, and had to tell my family I’m going to go back to the room and listen to Michael Wiiest on KLVT call the Levelland game. I sat there on the bed and listened to every single snap. I may have had tears in my eyes when the game was over.”

Rarely did Levelland line up against a team who could go score for score with them, but Decatur averaged 51.58 points per game itself. Sophomore quarterback Wilson Hicks had taken over for an injured Tyler Ticknor in Game 3 of the season and handled it like a champ. He operated in the backfield with near-1,700-yard, 27-TD rusher Payton McAlister, while Ticknor had returned as the wildcat QB and slot receiver.

Levelland HC Jared Sanderson: “I remember that running back (McAlister). We had a hard time even touching him.” 

Decatur QB Wilson Hicks: “Every once in a while, it’d be a read option and I’d be reading the defensive end. He’d be crashing in on me, and, really, the read should’ve been that I take the ball and I go around the end. But Payton maybe had a little tighter grasp around the ball and wouldn’t let me take it. He’d take it himself and go make a crazy play, go score a touchdown.”

Decatur RB Payton McAlister: “It was the Tony Franklin system from years ago back when he was at Canadian. Coach Fuller had changed it in his way. It was a great spread offense. I played in college after and we ran the run and shoot, which is the Hal Mumme and Hawaii stuff. In my opinion, the Tony Franklin system we ran in high school is even better than (what I ran at) the college level.”

Levelland raced out to a 47-20 lead by the middle of the second quarter, only to fall behind 54-53 by the third quarter. Both teams were knotted up at 61 going into the fourth.

Levelland QB Nick Gerber said: “I remember vividly, our defense got a turnover one time and we scored in one play. So instead of them sitting down and resting for five to 10 minutes, they were right back out there. It’s one of those things where it can be good and fun, but the way you play offense takes a toll on defense sometimes.”

Decatur ATH Tyler Ticknor: “We were all still pretty invested (in the game down 47-20). As fast as the game was going and as quickly as we were able to score. I think I had the belief that if we could get a stop or two, we’d be able to get right back in it.”

Levelland QB Nick Gerber: “There were two or three times where they onside kicked and we didn’t recover. I think they were doing that because they weren’t stopping us. That part was frustrating, where you don’t have a chance to retaliate. But whenever it did matter, whenever we needed to score, it seemed like we did in the third and fourth quarter.”

Decatur ATH Tyler Ticknor: “I caught a screen pass out on the left side and I ran it 60 yards for a touchdown. I think I stiff-armed a kid. That was a cool moment for me.”

Levelland alum and superfan Matt Wilson: “I’m listening to this game, and no matter how many times Decatur scored, I never got worked up about it because I thought, ‘We’ll score again.’”

Levelland QB Nick Gerber: “I set the state single-season touchdown passing record in the middle of the third quarter. We threw a touchdown, and at the time, I had no idea because I think I was like three or four away going into the game. One of my coaches told me as I came off the field, but I truly didn’t know because we had just tied it up, so I was like, ‘It really doesn’t matter. We have to do whatever we can to win this game.’”

Decatur should’ve tied the game up with its 11th touchdown, but the score was 75-73 because of a few missed extra points. Decatur went for two and failed.

Decatur HC Mike Fuller: “We had to go get our kicker, a really good kid, who was a senior and hadn’t played football since he was a freshman. We had to go get him out of the band hall. He was the drum leader for our band. So we had to arrange our schedule to where we did all of our kicking game right around lunch time so he could be there. He’s in uniform but then going to direct the band at halftime. But we played it at McMurry University, and they didn’t have a chance to change out the uprights to high school uprights. They were college width, a couple feet narrower than what he had kicked before. He definitely mentioned it a bunch before the game. It’s not his fault. If we only give up 72 points, we win the game.”

On Levelland’s final touchdown drive to seal the game, Gerber again made the critical read.

Levelland HC Jared Sanderson: “We’re up 75-73 and we’ve got the ball and we know we haven’t stopped them all night. It’s fourth down and manageable. With what Nick had been doing all night, pulling the ball and doing things with it, we thought that’s what’s coming. He hands the ball off and we go get the first down. He shocked everybody in the whole stadium, probably the running back, too. It sealed the deal. We went down and scored after that.”

Despite the 82-73 loss, Decatur’s key offensive players had career nights. Tyler Ticknor had 14 carries for 91 yards and four catches for 126 yards. Payton McAlister had 296 rushing yards and 75 receiving yards. Wilson Hicks finished 28-for-45 for 411 yards and seven touchdowns. 

Decatur QB Wilson Hicks: “I can’t remember how many different receivers it was, too. It wasn’t just one guy that was catching all of them. We were able to give the ball around and spread the love a little bit, which I think just kind of speaks to the depth of the team we had that year.”

Decatur HC Mike Fuller: “It did set an expectation for the younger kids. After that, we went to the third round, third round, fifth round, third round. It was a special group of kids because they played hard and trusted each other and they didn’t give up.”

Gerber and the loaded senior class graduated as the most successful in program history. Head coach Sanderson left for Greenwood in January 2017. Levelland hasn’t made it past the first round of the playoffs since.

Levelland HC Jared Sanderson: “It was a really good time to be a Lobo. Our coaches worked extremely hard to get these kids to where they were. All those guys, the commitment that they had, not only to the team but to each other, that was really special. It was a special group. It took everybody every week. We had a guy (Gerber) that set a lot of records for us and made it go, but he was surrounded by a lot of really good people.”

Levelland alum and superfan Matt Wilson: “Jared Sanderson had the most successful tenure in the history of Levelland football. This is a guy who’s the most perfect match for Levelland. When he left, the town was just devastated because of how good he was and how much people respected him. He’s a country dude who would just as soon be out with his cows than coaching football.”

The coaches and players didn’t know they’d made history that night… just that they were exhausted.

Decatur HC Mike Fuller: “I don’t even know if I knew that until you called.”

Decatur ATH Tyler Ticknor: “I knew it was a pretty crazy looking score. Looked like a basketball score.”

Decatur RB Payton McAlister: “I remember the third quarter cramping like no other. I’ve cramped before, but it was just so much offense. It was wild.”

Decatur HC Mike Fuller: “I was dealing with some really bad heel spurs and plantar fasciitis and I remember having to get shot up in the heel before that game just so I could walk. I also remember never being more tired from a game in my life.”

The opposing players have actually gotten to know each other better since high school. Every time they talk, the conversation always winds back to the craziest night of their football lives.

Levelland QB Nick Gerber: “I coach football and basketball (at Lubbock Liberty HS), and our head basketball coach (Parker Hicks) is from Decatur and his brother (Wilson) was the starting QB at Decatur that game. We talk about that all the time. When Wilson comes to one or two basketball games a year, we always talk about that.”

Decatur RB Payton McAlister: “Parker Hicks was on the Decatur team, and he’s now married into Nick Gerber’s family. We were both groomsmen in his wedding, so we ended up crossing paths several times.”

BOX SCORE

Levelland 82, Decatur 73

Decatur 20 14 20 19 – 73

Levelland 26 21 14 21 – 82

First Quarter

Decatur – 10:19, Payton McAlister 12 pass from Wilson Hicks, Brett Bean kick

Levelland – 8:47, Nick Gerber 6 run, kick failed

Levelland – 5:41, Jeffrey Elliott 10 pass from Nick Gerber, kick failed

Decatur – 4:55, Payton McAlister 47 run, kick failed

Levelland – 4:03, Qualin Miller 15 run, pass failed

Decatur – 3:32, Moses Ramos 19 pass from Wilson Hicks, Brett Bean kick

Levelland – 0:19, Nick Gerber 5 run, Qualin Miller run

Second Quarter

Levelland – 7:39, Qualin Miller 12 run, Jeffrey Elliott pass from Nick Gerber

Levelland – 4:14, Qualin Miller 12 run, Jeffrey Elliott kick

Levelland – 3:52, Kegan Dent 55 pass from Nick Gerber, kick failed

Decatur – 2:27, Moses Ramos 18 run, Brett Bean kick

Decatur – 1:00, Payton McAlister 23 run, Brett Bean kick

Third Quarter

Levelland – 9:23, Daniel Hurn 4 pass from Nick Gerber, pass failed

Decatur – 9:06, Tyler Ticknor 67 pass from Wilson Hicks, kick failed

Decatur – 8:02, Tyler Ticknor 3 run, Brett Bean kick

Decatur – 3:24, Payton McAlister 35 pass from Wilson Hicks, Brett Bean kick

Levelland – 2:01, Daniel Hurn 5 pass from Nick Gerber, Nick Gerber run

Fourth Quarter

Decatur – 10:47, Payton McAlister 27 run, Brett Bean kick

Levelland – 9:13, Qualin Miller 4 run, kick blocked

Levelland – 7:57, Zack Estrada 19 pass from Nick Gerber, Jeffrey Elliott pass from Nick Gerber

Decatur – 6:17, Mario Reyes 46 pass from Wilson Hicks, kick failed

Levelland – 4:33, Jeffery Elliott 23 pass from Nick Gerber, Jeffrey Elliott kick

Decatur – 3:30, Dane Fitzgerald 15 pass from Wilson Hicks, run failed