After two losses early in the season to powerhouse football teams, the Wimberley Texans seemingly righted the ship as district play began with a huge victory over Navarro two weeks ago. However, the Salado Eagles have district championship dreams of their own and spoiled the Texans turnaround by beating Wimberley 23-9 on Friday night.
Wimberley looked strong in a first quarter that remained scoreless as both defenses dominated the game.
The Eagles drove the ball down to the fouryard line before turning it over on downs against the vaunted Code Red Defense.
With their backs against the wall inside their own 5-yard line, Jackson Parker found Colt Wright for 58 yards on a deep pass down the right sideline. Even with the big play, the Texans weren’t able to find the end zone. Parker threw the first of three interceptions on the night with five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Even though it was early on in the game, the Texan defense knew they needed to step up. Salado traditionally runs the ball for most of the game, but with three minutes left in the quarter, they took the air. Aiden Patek managed to get his hands on the ball and came away with an interception to bring the ball back to the Texans.
Once again, the Texans were backed up inside their own 5yard line. Driving down the field, once again, another interception turned the ball over to Salado. One play later, senior quarterback Devonte Foster kept the ball on a zone read and ran 55 yards for the first score of the game to put the Eagles up 7-0 with 9 minutes, 44 seconds left in the second quarter.
After a Wimberley punt, the Code Red Defense showed their strength trying to will the Texans to victory. Adam Sherwood grabbed Wimberley’s second turnover of the half at the Salado 40-yard line. A strong pass from Parker to Christian Sansalone helped the Texans threaten to score before Bo Holeman kicked a 19-yard field goal with time running out in the first half.
Starting off the second half, both defenses held their own forcing multiple punts before Salado’s junior quarterback Max Gist threw a screen pass to tight end Landen Noske for a 16-yard touchdown to take the lead 14-3.
Salado’s defense was able to force another turnover on downs before the offense gave the ball back to the Texans at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Down two scores in the fourth quarter, Wimberley needed a score to stay in the ball game. Starting from their own 20--yard line, the Texans drove the field to the Salado 35-yard line when Parker found Sansalone again for a leaping catch against strong coverage along the left sideline for 30 yards. Madden Wharton cleaned it up for a touchdown to breathe life into the team with the Texans trailing 14-9.
In an attempt to make it a three-point game, the Texans went for a two-point conversion only to see the ball intercepted and returned for a score giving Salado the two points. The Eagles now led 16-9.Salado would go on to tack one more score on the board sealing the game with a 23-9 win. Parker finished the game completing 18 of 30 passes for 277 yards with three interceptions. The team rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries with Parker leading the way with 30 yards. Wharton finished with 24 yards on six carries with a touchdown and Wesley Milam finished with nine carries for 27 yards. Micah Espinoza was the leading receiver with seven receptions for 101 yards. Sansalone finished with six receptions for 75 yards. On defense, Bennett German had the lone sack for the Texans, who held Salado to 77 yards passing and 217 yards rushing for the game. Patek and Sherwood were responsible for the team’s two interceptions.
This week, Wimberley will host Jarrell for Homecoming. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.
