Texan defense sends Hawks flying

In the 14th meeting of the Battle of the Backbone, the Wimberley Texans football team defeated archrival Canyon Lake in a 20-3 victory in the season opener for both teams.

The Texans improved their record to 1-0 and now lead the overall series 11-3.

Though Head Football Coach Doug Warren was happy with the win, the team still needs to clean up a few things.

“I was pleased with a lot of things we did and displeased with a lot of things we did,” Warren said.

“We had too many penalties, let our temper get to us a couple of times but other than that we come over here and come away with a win is a great feeling. This (Canyon Lake) is a tough place to win, they are a great football team, you’ll see that once the season unfolds, but when you come in over here and we get a win on this field it’s pretty special.”

The Texans offense, which had several new starters including at quarterback and wide receiver, were able to overcome a slow start. Their first possession, the Canyon Lake defense put them in a hole early.

During the Texans second possession, quarterback Cash McCollum hit Nathan Simpson on a big pass play to set Wimberley up inside the red zone.

Facing second and goal, McCollum found Dylan Kincaid for a four yard touchdown pass to put Wimberley up 6-0 following a muffed extra point.

After the Wimberley defense recovered a Canyon Lake fumble, the Texan offense capitalized on the turnover with seven points as McCollum found Tru Couch on a 24-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead at 13-0.

The Wimberley offense’s first drive in the second half saw the Texans drive down the field on the Canyon Lake defense that culminated with a Chris Schatte 25-yard touchdown run to extend the lead at 20-3 following Canyon Lake’s field goal late in the second quarter.

Despite not scoring again for the rest of the game, Warren was pleased with the performance of the offense despite the slower of offense production in the second half.

“I was pleased with them,” Warren said. “We did a lot of good things offensively, and we are able to move the ball. After we got the stop in the second half, we drove right down, and we executed well. Then we lost our focus and regressed a little bit. It was a little disappointing, but that comes with maturity and just learning… Overall I’m pleased with how we are able to move the ball.”

McCollum finished the game throwing for 171 yards with two touchdown passes.

Simpson was the leading wide receiver catching the ball five times for 67 yards followed by Juan Oldmedo’s one catch for 33 yards.

The rushing attack saw the combination of Schatte and Moses Wray run for a combined 85 yards with Schatte running for 54 yards on seven carries and a touchdown while Wray ran for 31 yards on six carries.

Defensively, the Texans Code Red Defense was on point allowing just a field goal in Canyon Lake’s lowest scoring output in Battle of the Backbone since 2012 when Wimberley won 40-3.

Along with the forced fumble, the Code Red Defense forced two more turnovers during the second half as Josh Prado and Canyun Stanton picked off two passes to help kill Canyon Lake’s momentum.

Not only did Code Red have three turnovers, the defense forced five sacks including two on third down.

Despite the penalties that did extend a couple of drives for the Canyon Lake offense, Warren was proud of the defense stepping up to the challenge, especially going up against the Slot-T offense.

“We said it before the season that the defense was going to carry us early on,” Warren said.

“You saw that tonight, a good physical football team (Canyon Lake) right there. We took them down for the most part… Really proud about how they were able to hang in there to play against a tough physical football team.”

Next week Wimberley will be back home for the home opener as the Texans take on the Cuero Gobblers.

Cuero is coming off of a blowout win against La Vernia which saw the Gobblers race by the Bears in a 62-7 victory.

Kickoff is at 7:30 at Texan Stadium.

Box Score

Battle of the Backbone

Wimberley 20, Canyon Lake 3

Scoring Recap

First Quarter

Wim- McCollum 3 yard TD pass to Simpson (XP no good) 1:26

Wim- McCollum 24 yard TD pass to Couch (Jack Bruner kick good) 0:00

Second Quarter

CL- 24 yard Field Goal 2:39

Third Quarter

Wim- Schatte 25 yard TD run

(Bruner kick good) 3:43

Top Stats

Passing

#4 Cash McCollum 11 of 16 for 171 yards and 2 TD’s

Rushing

#4 Cash McCollum 6 carries for minus 12 yards

#5 Moses Wray 6 carries for 31 yards

#7 Dylan Kincaid 1 carry for minus 4 yards

#17 Juan Olmedo 2 carries for 2 yards

#20 Chris Schatte 7 carries for 54 yards and 1 TD

#34 Kerrick Lai 2 carries for 11 yards and 1 fumble lost Team - 2 carries for minus 12 yards

Receiving

#5 Moses Wray 1 reception for 10 yards

#7 Dylan Kincaid 2 receptions for 14 yards and 1 TD

#11 Nathan Simpson 5 receptions for 67 yards

#13 Ryan Shaw 1 reception for 24 yards

#17 Juan Olmedo 1 reception for 33 yards

#19 Tru Couch 1 reception for 23 yards and 1 TD

Sacks

#5 Moses Wray 1/2 sack

#12 Kyle Mitchell 1/2 sack

#20 Chris Schatte 1 sack

#54 Ethan Lancaster 1 sack

#55 Shay Shroyer 2 sacks

Fumble Recovery

#7 Dylan Kincaid

Interceptions

#3 Josh Prado

#28 Canyun Staton