Paetow coach B.J. Gotte often reflects with his juniors and seniors about how far they’ve come.

In April of 2017, Gotte, who had been hired as head football coach and athletic coordinator at Paetow just four months before, sat with those then-freshmen and then-sophomores in a team meeting room at Morton Ranch High School, because Paetow’s campus was still under construction. Gotte outlined goals and expectations for the student-athletes who would be going to Paetow, which is made up of kids from Morton Ranch High and Katy High.

That meeting set in motion a methodical, if at times trying, process of building a program from scratch, initiated with a successful junior varsity season in 2017 and last year’s inaugural season of varsity football that produced a 3-7 record.

Now, fast forward to last Saturday, Oct. 26, in varsity game No. 18 for the Panthers, and the feeling is “unbelievable,” junior fullback Randle Kelley said.

“From way back when we started, from last year 3-7, to now … the feeling is crazy,” Kelley said. “So much hard work. Mat room, weight room. Everybody buying in to what we want to accomplish. This is the result.”

Playoffs.

Against the No. 7 state-ranked team in Class 5A, Division II, Paetow punched its ticket to the postseason for the first time, rallying to upend Huntsville 25-14 at Rhodes Stadium.

The win pushed Paetow to 7-1 overall, 4-1 in 5A-DII.

“It’s fun,” Gotte said. “I’m so happy for these kids, for these coaches. They get to see the success from trusting in the process. Anything you can experience helps make you better. This is another experience. We’re growing the program. This isn’t a one-year deal.”

Paetow trailed Huntsville 14-6 at the half and was outgained 125-51 in total yards through the first two quarters. But the second half saw a drastic turnaround, as the Panthers outscored the Hornets 19-0 and outgained them, 229-38.

“In the first half, they brought the fight to us,” said junior running back Damon Bankston, whose 8-yard touchdown catch with 8:10 left in the fourth quarter put Paetow up to stay, 18-14. “In the second half, we tried to change that. At halftime, nobody was down. We were still up and optimistic. We knew we could come back and win.”

The Panthers opened the third quarter with a 75-yard scoring drive that lasted 3-minutes, 56-seconds and resulted in an 18-yard scoring catch from senior Alex Elko.

“At that point, our defense was playing with confidence, and offensively that gave them the confidence we needed,” Gotte said.

The Panthers have harped all season that experience is what’s made the difference this year. That again proved key against Huntsville.

“At halftime, we were basically at the same point the last game (competitive with A&M Consolidated on Oct. 18) and we didn’t like how that turned out (a 55-17 loss),” Elko said. “Everything we did throughout the week, all that work and practice Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, is what put us in position to win this game.”

The Panthers never broke away from Huntsville until senior receiver Johnathan Baker scored on an athletic 11-yard catch with 44 seconds left, another instance where experience paid off.

“It was fourth down, kind of the same situation that happened last year against Montgomery, but it was called incomplete because they said I dropped the ball at the end,” Baker said. “This time, we executed and we scored the touchdown.”

Gotte said the game broke down how he figured. He knew the Panthers would have to wear down a physical and big Huntsville defensive front with the running game, and while it wasn’t entirely effective (3.2 yards per carry), it did burn precious clock and sustain drives late in the fourth quarter with the speed of Bankston and the power of Jonathan Jolly.

Gotte also knew his defense would have to carry the team until the offense settled into a groove. It did. The Panthers had three big takeaways: a DJ Mourning II interception in the end zone, an Elko 35-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, and a Calevin Curry fumble recovery in Huntsville territory that set up Bankston’s late go-ahead score.

Three critical plays made by three senior linebackers.

“We just kept playing hard and kept our head focused,” Mourning said. “We cleaned up all the little stuff that was killing us. Coaches tell us all the time to finish the game, and we did.”

Sophomore quarterback Channing Dumas Jr. matured quickly as the game went on. Pursued relentlessly by a veteran Huntsville defense that wished to prey upon the precocious signal-caller, Dumas engineered a productive offense that did not turn the ball over, completing 14 of 25 passes for 157 yards and three touchdowns.

Bankston had 107 yards and a touchdown on 21 touches. Baker had 63 yards and a score on five catches.

A big, speedy Paetow defensive front led by junior Agumba Otuonye, junior Andrew Rutherford and sophomore Jacob Johnston stuffed the Hornets’ rushing attack, holding it to 49 yards on 23 carries. Despite Huntsville being gifted starting field position in Paetow territory on five drives, the Panthers’ defense held steady, collecting two takeaways, forcing a punt and a missed field goal, and allowing one touchdown.

“This team is night-and-day different in a lot of things,” Gotte said. “Obviously, we’re more experienced. We’ve grown up. We’re more talented. We have senior leadership. We’ve got guys who have been through competitive, physical situations before, which they hadn’t until this year.”

The list of firsts continue. Next up is competing for a district championship with two games left. The Panthers are a game behind A&M Consolidated. After that? Playoff game No. 1 looms.

“It’s a credit to the coaches,” Baker said. “They put us through a hard offseason. We worked our butts off in the offseason, and I’m just happy to see it all pay off. We know we’re not a 3-7 program. The expectation since last November was to make the playoffs. That was the ultimate goal. That work, that mindset to get what we wanted … it let us have success.”