Big plays lead to big win over Fredericksburg

The first offensive play of the game for the Wimberley High School Texans told you everything you needed to know about their game last week versus the Fredericksburg High School Billies.

Quarterback Cody Stoever found Nolan Waida wide open down the middle of the field for 30 yards. Stoever would eventually take it in for a touchdown himself from one yard out, and the Texans never looked back on the way to a 48-10 victory.

“We had a good week of preparation,” Wimberley Head Coach Doug Warren said. “I was pleased with the kids and how they worked that week. Typically when you have a good week of preparation, you play good on Friday night. It’s kind of funny how that works that way. We thought we had some matchups that were in favor of us going into the game, and thought that we could do some things early, especially in our passing game. And that was right. We hit some big passes, some long passes early.”

The Texan defense threw up multiple defensive stops only giving up a field goal while the offense couldn’t be stopped.

But, the proverbial nail in the coffin came early this time. After Wimberley had taken a solid lead, Fredericksburg attempted to respond. They drove deep into Texan territory to try and fight back into the ball game late in the first quarter. Kyah McAtee picked off a Fredericksburg pass and took it 71 yards to the house for another Texan touchdown.

“We kind of got control of the ball game in a hurry, and then the defense was able to force turnovers, had an interception return for a touchdown, and we kind of got them on their heels,” Warren said. “They were kind of stammering a little bit. We were able to get control of it early and put it away.”

That was only one of McAtee’s two interceptions as the Texan defense barely budged the entire game. With the ball game at 42-3 at halftime, Wimberley didn’t give up a touchdown until the fourth quarter with the game well in hand. The defense only gave up 234 yards for the entire game. They held Fredericksburg Quarterback Brooks Immel to 13 completions in 26 attempts for 180 yards and one touchdown. Most of those yards came late including the 23-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The defense only allowed 54 yards on the ground at a 2.2 yards per carry average.

Stoever finished the game about as efficient as a quarterback can get going 14 of 18 passing for 330 yards and five touchdowns. Those were caught by Noah Birdsong and Nolan Waida, each with two touchdowns a piece, and Parker Doss hauled in the fifth.

“In Fredericksburg, we thought we had some matchup problems in their secondary against our receivers,” Warren said after complementing the game Birdsong and Waida had playing on both sides of the ball. “We’ve got some big dynamic kids across the board out there. I thought we saw some holes in their coverage schemes that we could exploit, and we were able to do that quite often.”

Colton Schmidt led Wimberley in rushing with 54 yards on 14 carries. Stoever was close behind with 53 yards and one touchdown on the ground on just 5 carries.

Next up for Wimberley may be the biggest test of the regular season. The Lampasas Badgers are 4-0 on the season as well and are ranked as one of the better teams in 4A-Division 1. The Badgers will come to Wimberley to face the Texans. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.