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    Moses Wray breaks a couple of tackles on route towards a first down, PHOTO BY COLTON MCWILLIAMS/WIMBERLEY VIEW

Last second stand for thrilling win

No one knows if the Wimberley Texan football season will finish the entire season or be canceled the next day due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But for at least one night, Wimberley and Canyon Lake got to leave it all out on the field.

Scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter, the Wimberley Texans stormed back from a 20-10 deficit to avoid the upset-minded Canyon Lake Hawks in a 24-22 win to kick off the 2020 football season in the 13th meeting of the Battle of the Backbone series.

This is the second consecutive win against Canyon Lake as the Texans now lead the series 10-3.

It was an emotional win for Wimberley since many thought this game was never going to played under the current circumstances.

“That part is overwhelming,” Head Football Coach Doug Warren said. “We talked about it in pregame that there was a time that we really didn’t think this game was going to happen and we were not going to get this opportunity. This may be it for us and they (UIL) may call us and say no more. We don’t know that.”

“But for us to come out one night here,” Warren continued to say. “And have these two communities that are close-knit and pretty tied into each other. To put all of their differences aside and just cheer for the Red, White and Navy Blue or the Green and White. To me, that is what it’s all about there, a community coming together and cheering on not just the football players but everybody else involved in putting this on and doing their part.”

“That is why it was so special because we got to do that tonight. We just don’t know how many times we are doing to be able to do that for the rest of the year.”

The game started off well for the Texans as the Wimberley defense forced the Wing T attack of the Canyon Lake offense to a three and out.

The Texan offense got the ball rolling with new starting quarterback Matthew Tippie. Following a halfback screen pass to junior Moses Wray, the Texans were deep into Hawks territory and threatening to score.

However, an errant fumble stopped the drive dead in its tracks and gave the ball back to Canyon Lake.

After trading possessions, Canyon Lake struck back following a long pass play that set the Hawks inside the Wimberley fiveyard line before the scoring on a one-yard touchdown run by James Bates as Canyon Lake took the lead 7-0 before the end of the 1st quarter.

The Texans responded with a successful drive of their own as the Wimberley offense drove all the way down the field and down to inside the Canyon Lake 10 yard line. Following a pass interference call on the Hawks, Tippie scored on the quarterback keeper to tie the game back up at 7-7.

After a big run by Canyon Lake’s Bates put the Hawks into scoring position, the Texan defense held strong and forced the Hawks to kick the field goal which turned to be no good while leaving the game at a 7-7 deadlock.

The Texans threaten to score again before halftime but a costly interception ended the drive.

The interception turned into seven points for the Hawks which scored with 18 seconds left in the second quarter to take the lead at halftime 14-7.

Following junior running back Juan Olmedo’s big kickoff return, which saw the Texans put the ball in Canyon Lake territory, Wimberley threatened to score again as the Texan offense got inside redzone territory.

But a stingy Hawks defense held firm and Wimberley’s Jack Bruner kicked a 16-yard field goal to cut the lead down to 14-10.

The Hawks soon responded with a score of their own as Canyon Lake’s punishing Wing-T offense drove down the field. After a couple of Wimberley plenties on 3rd down kept the drive alive, Quarterback Jesse Horner scored on an 11-yard run to extend the lead at 20-10 following the missed extra point.

Heading into the fourth quarter down 20-10, Wimberley was in need of a big play. Facing 3rd and 19, Tippie found Ty Prewitt on a 46-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead down the 20- 17.

The Hawks made an other punishing drive on the Texans and drove into Wimberley territory.

After the Texan defense stopped Canyon Lake on third down and six, the Hawks ultimately went for the fourth-down conversion. However, the Hawk’s pass play was stopped short of the first down and handed the ball back to a hot Wimberley offense.

Following a big pass play from Tippie to senior Wide Receiver Christian Marshall, Tippie found Marshall again, this time on a six-yard touchdown pass to take Wimberley’s first lead of the at 24-20 with just 1:36 left in the game.

But Canyon Lake was not done yet.

The Hawks drove deep into Wimberley territory and set up shop inside the five-yard line with less than a minute left in the game.

But it was the Wimberley defense who came up strong and stuffed the Hawks offense four consecutive times to force the turnover on downs and give the ball back the Texans with just six seconds left.

Canyon Lake made things interesting after forcing a safety to cut the lead down to 24-22 and a chance to win the game, but the free kick return turned up short as Wimberley escaped with the victory.

Despite their early struggles, the Wimberley offense churned up 340 yards of offense including 214 yards passing from quarterback Tippie, who also threw for two touchdowns and ran for one.

Olmedo led the team in rushing with eight carries for 56 yards while Tippie finished second with 27 yards rushing.

The combination of Marshall and Prewitt helped the passing attack spread out for the Texans as Marshall led the team in receiving with five catches for 83 yards and one touchdown while Prewitt caught 2 passes for 61 yards and one touchdown.

Wimberley travels to Cuero this week to take on the Gobblers. Cuero coming off a tough week following their 55-21 loss to La Vernia.

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054