Texans look to Navarro after lopsided win

It didn’t take long for the Wimberley Texans to take control of the game versus the Manor New Tech Titans.

Zach Patek took the opening kickoff back to the Titans 36 yard line. On the first snap of the game, Chase Carson ran right up the middle for a 36-yard touchdown, and the Texans never looked back.

Wimberley (7-0, 2-0) would lead 41-0 at the end of the first quarter on the way to a final score of 720. The Texans only scored two touchdowns in the second half as the game clock ran without stoppage due to the lopsided score.

“Going in we had some specific things we wanted to accomplish, and I thought we did that,” Head Coach Doug Warren said. “We executed at a pretty high rate, which is something we harp on for these kids. We also gave an opportunity for a lot of younger kids or those who don’t play as much to get some extended playing time and they performed at a good rate as well.”

About the only thing that stopped the Texans was the endzone. On the game, Wimberley ran 10 passing plays and 13 rushing plays managing to score a touchdown on nearly half of the plays the team took a snap on. On 23 total offensive plays, the Texans scored 10 touchdowns.

Starting quarterback Cody Stoever only attempted seven passes completing five of them for 54 yards, three touchdowns. The Titans (2-5, 1-1) did manage to get one interception. Caleb McCreless would come in and throw two completed passes for 51 yards including another touchdown.

Four different wide receivers caught a touchdown pass each including Parker Doss, Noah Birdsong, Nolan Waida and Ace Gonzales.

The rest of the damage was done on the ground. Wimberley rushed for 236 yards on just 13 carries averaging. 18.2 yards per carry for the game. The team rushed for six touchdowns. Case Carson had two carries from 78 yards scoring two touchdowns. Lane Towns would score two touchdowns also on four carries for 98 yards. Owen O’Neal and Colton Schmidt would also score a touchdown each on the ground.

The Code Red Defense held strong as well pitching the shutout with four turnovers.

“The one thing I thought was our defensive line played really well,” Warren said. “They created a lot of pressure. It wasn’t pressure from us bringing stunts, it was just them disrupting and setting the tone. I thought we did a good job being physical on defense.”

Lucas Brookshier had the Texans’ sole inception on the game, which he returned for 38 yards. Payton Peacock, Drew Brasher and Noah Williams would all pick up a fumble recovery. Peacock also had a sack on the game along with Brock Williams and Rayce Owen.

Dail Hernandez went 9 for 10 kicking extra points and 1 for 1 on field goals putting one in from 27 yards out.

Next up for Wimberley is the Navarro Panthers in a game that has essentially decided the district championship for years. Navarro is 5-2 on the season and already beat Lago Vista, the only other potential challenger for the district crown, 27-13.

Wimberley is ranked No. 5 in Class 4A Division II by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. Navarro is not ranked in the top 10, but would likely be closely outside of it. Navarro lost to No. 4 ranked Cuero 35-7 and to La Vernia 39-22. Even with two losses, Warren knows that the Navarro program is ready to put up a fight.

“They are playing really well right now,” Warren said. “They had some kids injured early that are back, so they are playing really good football the last few weeks. It doesn’t matter when we play those guys what type of team they have or we have, it is always a really good ball game. I wouldn’t expect anything less on Friday.”

The game starts at 7:30 p.m. on the road in Navarro.

The rest of the Dave Campbell’s Class 4A Division II top five are teams the Texans are familiar with facing deep in the playoffs with No. 1 Carthage, No. 2 Silsbee and No. 3 Texarkana Pleasant Grove.