(150) North Shore defeated (141) Austin Westlake 2314. The Chaparrals struck first when sophomore quarterback Rees Wise scored his 11th rushing touchdown of the year on a 9yard score to put Westlake up 70 with 1:39 left in the first quarter. North Shore junior quarterback Kaleb Bailey dove into the endzone on fourth down and one to tie up the game 77. North Shore junior running back D’Andre Hardeman Jr. scored his 21st touchdown run of the season to put the Mustangs up 147. Hardeman Jr.'s dad also played for the Mustangs. D'Andre Hardeman Sr. was a high school AllAmerican who went on to rush for 30 touchdowns at Texas A&M between 199598.
It took just one second half play for Westlake to tie the score, as senior running back Jack Kayser scored on a 45yard touchdown run. Committed to Army, the score was Kayser's 20th of the season and 70th of his career.
On the ensuing North Shore drive, Bailey avoided a sack on fourth down from the Westlake 25 and calmly passed to junior wide receiver Cameron Smith for the first down. That conversion led to a 21yard field goal by junior Jonathan Soto to put firstyear head coach Willie Gaston's squad up 1714 with 6:14 to play in the third quarter.
Westlake drove into North Shore territory on its next possession before senior Jarvon Coles intercepted a fourth down pass to give the Mustangs the ball back with three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Westlake got the ball back inside its own 20, and again David Brooks came up big with his second sack of the afternoon. The North Shore defense dominated all afternoon and with 1:49 left in the game, Coles picked off his second pass of the game.
After using their timeouts, Westlake got the ball back with 10 seconds remaining before throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown by junior Charles Ross to send the Mustangs to AT&T Stadium on Dec. 16 for a chance at the state title.
North Shore will play Duncanville for the 5th time in the last 6 years for the UIL Class 6A Division 1 state championship. North Shore won in 2018, 2019 and 2021 before Duncanville took the state crown last year.
Jeff Power freelances with Max Preps Sports and uses his video to unite with the script from MaxPreps Sports.