In the 15th Battle of the Backbone, the Wimberley Texan football team needed a statement to prove not only to their opponents but to the other teams paying attention that this was not a year for rebuilding – this team is reloading.
In the end, it was the Code Red defense that delivered the statement.
With less than five minutes in the game, Wimberley forced and recovered a Canyon Lake fumble to drain the remaining time off the clock to seal a 21-14 over the Hawks and start the season off to 1-0.
The Texans improved their record to 12-3 overall against Canyon Lake while also winning their fourth straight game against the Hawks.
For Head Football Coach Doug Warren, this was a major challenge for his young team coming into Hawk Stadium, which was rowdy all night long, and playing against the Hawks Slot-T offense.
“I’m really proud of the kids,” Warren said. “First off, you come into a hostile environment in your first game against a team that prides itself on physicality, which is the type of football they (Canyon Lake) play. For a lot of these kids, this is their first go around in an environment like this, so I’m proud of the way they played and the effort they gave.”
A trait that has started to show is the team’s ability to fight back no matter what position the Texans are in.
Wyatt Franchione chases down Canyon Lake quarterback Hunter Anderson “One thing about this little group is that they have some fight to them,” Warren continued. “I like that about them, and what they have shown up to this point. They showed some grit, and heart which you can’t say enough about.”
After receiving the ball to start the game, the Texans hit a big play on 3rd down with nine yards to go as sophomore quarterback Cody Stoever found junior wide receiver Noah Birdsong for a big gain to set Wimberley up inside the Canyon Lake 30 yard line.
Facing a fourth down, the Texans appeared to score a touchdown, but an illegal blindside block wiped the six points off the board. Still it was a Wimberley first down.
The Texans finally put six points on the board when Stoever scored on the quarterback run play for Wimberley to take their first lead of the game at 7-0.
After forcing the Hawks to punt, Wimberley started their next drive on their own two yard.
The Texans were able to get out of the jam as Stoever took the run option play and ran 67 yards before being dragged down at the Canyon Laker 23 yard line.
The drive ended in another score for Wimberley as Stoever found Cayden Heatley for the two yard two touchdown pass to put the Texans up 14-0 late in the first quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Wimberley looked to add on more points as a decent drive put them at midfield. However, a Wimberley fumble gave the ball back to the Hawks with plenty of time left to spare.
Canyon Lake then swung the momentum in their favor with a 46-yard touchdown run to cut the lead down to 14-7 with just 33 seconds left in the second quarter.
Receiving the ball to start the third quarter, the Hawks drove all the way down the field with the help of three penalties by the Texans to put Canyon Lake inside the redzone.
But the Code Red defense held firm and forced the Hawks to kick a field goal, which was blocked by senior Shay Shroyer to keep the score as is.
Canyon Lake once again had a chance to tie the game up as a Hawks interception put them back into the driver seat.
With the ball at the Canyon Lake 15 yard line, the Code Red defense made two big defensive plays back to back as the Texans put the Hawks at their own one yard line and forced the punt.
Taking advantage of the short field, Wimberley scored again as Stoever found Jack Boyle for the six yard touchdown pass to put the Texans up 21-7.
On the next possession, Canyon Lake answered back as a 31 yard touchdown pass put the game back at a one possession contest with the Texans now holding on to a 21-14 lead.
Following back to back punts, Wimberley again looked to put the game away in the fourth quarter with a late touchdown.
Facing fourth down on the Hawks 33 yard line, Wimberley fell just short of the first as Canyon Lake got the ball back with under 5:30 left to play.
However, a personal foul pushed the Hawks back to their own 14 yard line.
Canyon Lake eventually made it into Wimberley territory as the Hawks looked to tie the game up, but the Code Red defense made their biggest play of the game as they forced and recovered the fumble.
Canyon Lake had one last drive to try to tie the game up with ten seconds left but to no avail as Wimberley took home the win 21-14.
The Texans return home next Friday for the first game at Texan Stadium against Comal Pieper at 7:30.
See game stats on page 11.
