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Hays-New Braunfels footballPosted October 14, 2007, 1:20 p.m.
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Hays Highway Editor
NEW BRAUNFELS – Where are we? We're on the way to next Friday and we started that way quickly, last Friday night, right after the Hays Rebels took their first District 26-4A loss, 24-17, to New Braunfels.
"It's one game," Hays Coach Bob Shelton said as he hurried off the field. "We have to go get ready for next week."
On the other side, New Braunfels Coach Chuck Caniford took a few questions from reporters, one of which he answered with, "We have a lot of improvement to make when we come back Monday." Then, Caniford huddled his team on the field at Unicorn Stadium and almost immediately started telling his kids to get up for Monday. That's when the Unicorns start practicing for the Wurst Bowl next Friday against New Braunfels Canyon.
So, that's where we are. We're in District 26-4A, where the next game matters the moment the last game ended.
Many will say the best Class 4A district in Texas is 16-4A, around Waco, which includes Associated Press No. 1 Copperas Cove, No. 6 Waco and No. 10 Brownwood. But all three of those teams can pretty much count on making the playoffs from that six-team group, which began district play Friday night.
District 26-4A includes only one ranked team, No. 8 New Braunfels, but no district is deeper. Practically every week is a buzz saw for every team. Not even the Unicorns can count on making the playoffs, despite their 3-0 start in the league.
The Unicorns are tied with Cibolo Steele on top of the district at 3-0, followed by Hays, Del Valle and New Braunfels Canyon at 2-1. Schertz Clemens is hanging with Lockhart and Lehman at 0-3, but the three teams to beat Clemens are a combined 8-1 in the district. So, Clemens is lurking, possibly to make trouble.
Next up for the Rebels is a home game against Del Valle, which went on the road and beat Clemens, 29-28, in overtime Friday night. With New Braunfels also facing Canyon, the district could shake out just a little more. Or it could tighten up a little more.
The Hays-New Braunfels game last Friday night somewhat duplicated the energy of their meeting last year, except in reverse. Playing at home this time, New Braunfels took a commanding halftime lead, only for the visiting team to take over the second half and apply pressure almost to the end.
Most encouraging for the Rebels were their ability to control the ball and a defensive effort that did a reasonable job of containing veteran New Braunfels quarterback Ryan Perez. Though Perez completed 13 of 18 passes for 166 yards and rushed for another 71 yards, the Rebels also made two interceptions and forced two three-and-outs.
The Rebels played well enough defensively to keep the offense in the game. However, a couple concerns came up about the Hays offense.
First, New Braunfels understood the Rebels' offensive personality pretty well, paying particular attention to fullback Nikki DeSantiago and quarterback Clayton Rogers in the running game and clamping down hard on Hays from tackle to tackle. Without a speedy running back who could stretch the New Braunfels defensive front, the Rebels rushed for only 60 yards on 16 carries in the first half. The two bread-and-butter Hays plays, DeSantiago through the middle and Rogers on a draw through the middle, accomplished almost nothing.
Second, the Rebels missed more open receivers than they'd like as Rogers completed only 13 of 26 passes. In many cases, as well, Rogers found himself with next to no time for scanning the field without running for his life. Going forward, the Rebels will have to throw effectively and efficiently, or opponents will bunch the middle along the line of scrimmage and deny their running attack.
"They got the best of us tonight," Shelton said. "We could not run the ball as well as we wanted. They stopped our run and forced us to pass more than we wanted to, and we had some open guys that we just missed."
Being the kind of athlete that he is, though, Rogers made enough big plays Friday to keep the Rebels in contention. The first came in the second quarter, with Hays facing third and seven at its own 33. Rogers dropped back for a pass and rolled right away from the pass rush, scampering wildly before spotting Trey Berry in the middle of the field at the New Braunfels 40. Rogers completed the pass under pressure to Berry, who took it to the New Braunfels 12. Four plays later, Chris Torres ran three yards for a touchdown, bringing the Rebels within 14-7.
The Rogers pass to Berry basically saved the game early. New Braunfels had just taken a 14-0 lead on a 42-yard pass from Perez to his top receiver, Travis Steel, who finished the game with five catches for 95 yards. The Hays scoring drive in response included a controversial play when Rogers appeared to pitch wildly on second and goal from the four and New Braunfels covered the ball. The officials ruled it an incomplete forward pass.
Caniford, who questioned officials' calls after Hays won last year's game, 26-21, at Bob Shelton Stadium, said he didn't have an issue the call Friday night. Torres scored on the next play.
New Braunfels answered the Hays touchdown with a 31-yard field goal by Aaron Hayduk, establishing a 17-7 halftime lead.
Though almost the entire third quarter took place on the New Braunfels half of the field, the Rebels didn’t score until the final play from scrimmage before they changed ends. Rogers set it up with a 32-yard scamper to the New Braunfels six. Three plays later, Rogers took the final yard for a touchdown, bringing the Rebels within 17-14 with nine seconds left in the third quarter.
Again, though, the Unicorns responded, though Hays came close to stopping them. On fourth and 11 from the Hays 28, Perez completed an 11-yard pass to Steel for a first down. Arguably, Perez crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing, but Hays couldn't get the call. On the second play after, Perez ran 16 yards rolling left for a touchdown, upping New Braunfels' lead to 24-14 with 8:57 remaining.
So, the Rebels embarked on their next possession, a penalty-filled mess covering 56 yards in 15 plays and gobbling up 6:22. At one point, a late hit against New Braunfels could have set Hays up with a first down inside the home 15, but that penalty was offset by unsportsmanlike conduct against Hays.
A facemasking penalty against New Braunfels rescued Hays from a set of downs that began with first and 25 from the Unicorns 44, giving the Rebels first down at the 21. And that almost went to waste, except Rogers scooted out of trouble for 15 yards on fourth and 12, putting Hays on the New Braunfels seven. But the Rebels could move no further and settled for a 24-yard field goal by Alex Perez to make it 24-17 with 2:29 left.
When New Braunfels recovered the Hays onside kick, it was just a matter of two Unicorns first downs and the game ended. And, right away, the focus turned to the next game for each team.
Except for this, from Perez, the New Braunfels senior quarterback: "I thought they were a lot better team this year. And so were we."
| HAYS | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | — | 17 |
| New Braunfels | 7 | 10 | 0 | 7 | — | 24 |
NB — Ryan Grametbaur 3 run (Aaron Hayduk kick).
RUSHING: HAYS — Rogers 17-100, Nikki DeSantiago 12-28, Chris Torres 2-12, Erick Pena 3-7, Anthony Pesina 2-7, Trey Berry 2-5. New Braunfels — Justin Garcia 11-93, Perez 12-71, Grametbaur 3-7.
PASSING (Att-comp-yards-TD-Int): HAYS — Rogers 13-26-149-0-1. New Braunfels — Perez 13-18-166-1-2.
RECEIVING: HAYS — Berry 4-70, Paul Breyfogle 4-57, Ryan Slaughter 2-0, Brandon Lawrence 1-11, DeSantiago 1-4, Sam Breyfogle 1-7. New Braunfels — Steel 5-95, Spencer Jergins 2-12, Lenard Aguirre 1-21, Zach Tucker 1-12, Taylor Chafin 1-11, Tanner Brown 1-11, Chris Council 1-5, Garcia 1- (-1).
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NB — Travis Steel 42 pass from Ryan Perez (Hayduk kick).
H — Chris Torres 3 run (Alex Perez kick).
NB — Hayduk 31 FG.
H — Clayton Rogers 1 run (Perez kick).
NB — Perez 16 run (Hayduk kick).
H — Perez 24 FG.
HAYS New Braunfels First Downs 17 17 Rushes 38 26 Rushing yards 159 171 Att-comp-TD 13-26-0 13-18-1 Passing yards 149 166 Had intercepted 1 2 Returns-yards 8-123 3-38 Punts-average 3-37.7 3-34.0 Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties 3-35 8-70 Time of possession 28:09 20:51
