The Wimberley Texans packed their bags last week and headed out of town to take their undefeated record on the road against their strongest rival the Navarro Panthers.
With a district title nearly on the line, the Texans brought home that perfect record and showed why they are ranked No.5 in 4A Division II beating the Panthers 48-20.
“They are always good,” Head Coach Doug Warren said. “They have good ol’ tough kids who play hard and do a good job in their system. … I was proud of our boys. We got after them pretty good and were definitely more physical.
Both Wimberley and Navarro are proud football programs, each with their own storied defense. That was apparent early in the game after Wimberley turned the ball over on downs inside the 10 yard line. The Code Red defense returned the favor minutes later forcing Navarro to turn the ball over on downs to get it back in the offense’s hands.
Navarro runs a classic Slot T offense focused on running the ball with an added layer of deception. Because they hand the ball off, and fake the handoff, so many times on a given play, it takes discipline for a defense to consistently make stops.
“It is tough to defend, but our coaches have defended it for years now,” Warren said. “We feel like we have a good grasp of that offensive system, it is just a matter of getting your kids to buy-in.”
That buy-in takes time and effort.
“They have to have what we call ‘championship eyes,’ Warren said. “You can’t start trying to find the ball peeking here or there. You have to trust your keys. … It is not just on the field practicing against it, but also film study. They have to watch film to see what that guy lining up across from them is going to do.”
Warren highlighted the linebacking corps as the ones who stood out to him the most on defense including Drew Brasher, who had two fumble recoveries on the night, as well as Kyler Lai and Reid Leinneweber.
After the defensive stop, Texan quarterback Cody Stoever began to take over the game with both his arm and his legs. With about four minutes left in the first quarter, Stoever scored his first of five rushing touchdowns from five yards out.
That was the only touchdown in the first quarter. Wimberley would tack on two more Stoever- touchdown runs in the second quarter as well as two field goals from Dail Hernandez running the score up to 27-0 before Navarro scored their first points of the game with seconds remaining in the first half.
“The way they were playing it, the run game was facing a little more of a light box,” Warren said, referring to the fact that Navarro was focusing on stopping the passing game and not committing as many defenders near the line of scrimmage to stop the run. “They weren’t going to let us beat them deep, so if you’re going to take that away from us, we can exploit other areas.”
The Panthers attempted to get back into the ball game with an 84-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the second half, but the Texan offense responded quickly with Stoever’s fourth rushing touchdown of the game.
The Texan defense came up strong once again with a fumble recovery, which was the second of three fumble recoveries on the night, to get the ball right back. Stoever ran the ball in again from 15 yards out for his fifth touchdown of the game to make the score 4113 at the end of the third quarter. Stoever would finish the game going 13 for 19 passing for 155 yards while adding 117 yards on the ground on 22 carries, both team highs.
Wimberley knows it has a quarterback who can run the ball well, but that aspect of the offense had not been required much this season. In the big game against Navarro, Stoever was unleashed.
“He has become so much more comfortable with our offense and is really executing,” Warren said. “He knows what protection to get us in and which way to check our run game and stuff like that. He can beat you in so many ways. He is a great leader and a tough kid. He is not afraid to run the football and that makes him so very very dangerous. If we turn him loose in the run game he is pretty tough to defend.”
Each team added one score in the fourth quarter to make the final score 48-20.
The victory over Navarro gives the Texans an opportunity to close out the district title this week. Wimberley is undefeated at 8-0 this season, 3-0 in district play. Next up is Lago Vista, who is 5-3, 2-1 in district play. A win would solidify the district title with one game left to play. Winning both the remaining games would give the Texans back to back years with an undefeated regular season.
Lago Vista comes to Wimberley on Friday, Oct. 27. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.
