Wimberley suffered their first loss of the season as the Texans fell to the Austin LBJ Jaguars 27-16 in a battle of Top 10 teams in Class 4A.
Wimberley was doomed by five turnovers caused by three fumbles and two interceptions.
“First off, [Austin LBJ] is a really good football team,” Head Coach Doug Warren said. “I thought we got after them pretty good, but we turned the ball over five times. [You can’t] beat a good football team like that when you do that.”
“With that being said,” Warren continued, “I still think there were a couple of opportunities for us to get some points on the board and be right there with them. It was a great learning experience for a young ball club, and we saw a lot of positive things. We just have to build on it.”
The Texans struck first when quarterback Cody Stoever scored on a one-yard touchdown run, giving Wimberley a 7-0 lead following an extra point kick from Daniel Jimenez.
The Jaguars answered back on the next drive, connecting for a 40-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7.
LBJ later took the lead by scoring on an 88-yard touchdown pass to go up 14-7.
The Texans were able to respond to the score as Stoever scored his second rushing touchdown of the night on a three-yard score. Wimberley attempted to go for two points but were turned away as LBJ led 14-13.
With less than a minute to go in the first half, the Jaguars struck again following the Texan touchdown. LBJ connected on a 37-yard touchdown pass to extend their lead to 21-13. In the third quarter, Jimenez booted a 29yard field goal as the lead was cut down to 21-16.
LBJ scored their final touchdown of the night on a 48-yard run but missed the extra point to make the final score 27-16.
The Texans had opportunities to cut the lead down in the second half, but a case of the turnover bug denied Wimberley the opportunity.
For Warren, the result against LBJ was a learning experience for Texans, who are gearing up for a run at the 4A Division II State Championship later in the season.
“You can’t have the miss[ed] assignments or executions that we had,” Warren said. “Teams are always growing, and that was an opportunity for us to grow. I thought we got better even though we got beat. We were better this past Friday than the Friday before. When that happens, you [know] you are going in the right direction.”
Despite the loss and the turnovers, Warren was proud of the team for matching the Jaguars physically on the ground and on defense. “The physicality was definitely there,” Warren said. “We were able to run the ball right at them and created some turnovers, which in big games like that, is a positive. We had a couple of injuries, but we had a couple of kids step in and play some big snaps for us.”
The loss snapped a 27-game regular season winning streak for the Texans with their last regular season loss coming against Alamo Heights in 2021.
“It’s a testament to what the coaches and the kids have been doing to prepare for games,” Warren said. “That’s the goal at the end of the week, to be victorious. You preach to the kids to take it one game at a time. We are not going to look ahead to the next opponent or three weeks down the road. … We are very fortunate to win a lot of games over the past few years, but it doesn’t define us either.”
Wimberley will be back on the road this week in a showdown with the Lampasas Badgers. Lampasas enters the game with a 3-0 record with wins over Fredericksburg and Salado. The Badgers also defeated Killeen Chaparral 63-20 last Friday.
Kickoff for Wimberley- Lampasas is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday night at Badger Field in Lampasas.
