Sports

San Antonio - What a difference a week off makes.

After a regular season filled with key injuries and a slow start in non-district, the first round of the playoffs signaled a new beginning for the Texans.

A well-rested Wimberley squad left no doubt on the Edgewood Stadium turf as sensational sophomore tailback Hunter Williams rushed for four touchdowns and the Texans defense rose to the occasion to help deliver a 35-7 bi-district win over Pearsall.

“We rested up (over the two weeks) and tried to focus on what we do best and that’s running the ball at people and we were able to establish ourselves early.” Texans head coach Doug Warren said. “I didn’t think we were sluggish coming off the bye week at all.”

For much of the first half, Texas State senior tailback Robert Lowe was good.

Really good.

But in the second half of their teams’ Saturday matinee match-up at Bobcat Stadium, New Mexico State’s Larry Rose III was much better.

Rose III – the Sun Belt’s leading rusher – raced for 207 yards on 31 carries, including a back-breaking 77-yard TD run on a screen pass from Nick Jeanty midway through a pivotal fourth quarter as his Lobos buried reeling Texas State into a deeper abyss than when the game began with a resounding 31-21 win.

Rose III's theatrics sent the Bobcats to their third consecutive conference loss and may have very well eliminated any thoughts they may have once harbored about qualifying for a bowl game after coming up at least a game short a season ago.

Bastrop - Maggi Linker totalled 16 kills and two aces and Jade Craigen contributed four solo blocks as the Lady Texans advanced to the third round of the Class 4-A Region II volleyball playoffs with a four set (25-18, 25-21, 19-25. 25-19) win over El Campo in the area round on Friday night in Bastrop.

Senior Maddie Adams finished with 18 digs on the night.

It was another team effort for the Lady Texans who will now advance to the regional round against another 27 4-A opponent Sealy, who beat Canyon Lake in a five-set thriller.

The Lady Tigers (32-13), were named co-champions of their district along with Columbus after both teams posted identical 9-1 records at the end of regular season play.

The game will be held Tuesday night in Bastrop at 6:30 pm.

Austin - Maggi Linker and Caitlyn Crockett led a balanced Wimberley attack as the Lady Texans upset District 25 4-A champion Liberty Hill in five sets (25-20, 27-25, 25-17, 18-25, 15-9) in bi-district volleyball action at the Toney Burger Center in Austin.

Wimberley - the fourth place finisher in District 26 4-A - easily secured the first two sets as Linker and Crockett each tallied six kills apiece to help dominate play early on.

But Liberty Hill began to gain momentum soon after and managed to win a pivotal nip-and-tuck third set that saw several lead changes before a couple of attack errors by Wimberley and a set-closing kill by Lady Panther senior Carson Yarborough seemed to take the steam out of Wimberley for an instant.

Senior tailback Anthony Grant paced a trio of backs who scored each scored three touchdowns as ninth-ranked Navarro rolled to a 45-14 win over the Wimberley Texans to mathematically secure the District 13 4-A Region II Championship with one district game still left on their schedule.

The Panthers (9-0, 3-0) will host Llano in their regular season finale on Friday.

Wimberley (3-7, 3-1) scored first as tailback Hunter Williams gathered in a swing pass from quarterback Davin Masur and galloped 66 yards on the Texans’ second play from scrimmage to give his squad an early 7-0 lead less than a minute into the game.

Navarro countered quickly with a 59-yard TD run by Jared Leal on the Panthers’ first play from scrimmage after receiving the Wimberley kickoff.

San Marcos - The Texas State Bobcats had been out of sight and probably out of mind for most of their fans for a full month so it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that they responded with some of their best football of the season in front of only a handful of supporters in their first game back.

Buoyed by a combination of Robert Lowe’s career-high 248 yards rushing - and Brandon McDowell’s game-changing 100-yard return of a missed field goal attempt as the first half ended – Texas State took out a month’s worth of frustration on South Alabama 36-18 to secure their first conference win of the season at rain-drenched Bobcat Stadium on Saturday night in San Marcos.

The Bobcats had lost their last two games to Houston and Louisiana-Lafayette in blowout fashion on the road.

Hondo - The backfield combo of Davin Masur and Hunter Williams proved to be too much for Hondo to handle on Friday night as the Texans shook off a sluggish start and dealt the Owls a 42-0 loss at Barry Field.

Williams scored three touchdowns while Masur added a pair of touchdown runs of his own in the Texans’ third consecutive win.

“To be honest with you I was a bit worried coming into the game because I didn’t want our guys overlooking Hondo.” Texans head coach Doug Warren said. “We came in here with a purpose and that was to go 3-0 (in district).”

The Texans were able to gain early momentum after a bizarre first quarter that saw Wimberley’s Kaycee Polanco fumble a punt that was scooped up and returned for a touchdown by Hondo’s Matthew DeLeon.

There is no position in sports quite like quarterback in football.

Yet, there is a leadership imperative that comes with the job.

A point guard in basketball usually has to make decisions on the fly, so no one gets to see the question marks in his eyes or hear the doubt in his voice, as can happen in a football huddle.

A pitcher in baseball can dominate the game, yet he plays only every fifth day.

Goaltenders in hockey are often such quirky, superstitious, pressure-haunted individuals that the only place they might lead a teammate would be to an exorcism.

The Texans entered summer two-a-days back in August with a trio of very capable signal callers.

But it only took a few weeks of poor luck to whittle the pecking order down to one.

Maybe Wimberley should consider lobbying the UIL to open district play on the first week when the 2016 campaign rolls around next September.

Because the Texans have arguably played their best football since league games have begun.

Sophomore tailback Hunter Williams continued his torrid offensive pace by scoring four touchdowns and the Wimberley defense forced four second half turnovers as the Texans improved to 2-0 in District 13 4-A with a 49-13 pasting of Lytle Friday night at Texans Stadium.

Williams scored on runs of 8, 3 and 5 yards and also caught a 14-yard TD pass from Davin Masur in the Texans’ second straight district win.

“My lineman and fullback did a great job of opening holes for me the whole game.” Williams said. “As an offense we really clicked tonight.”

From the outside looking in, it may have been a bit peculiar for a Wimberley Texan football team to celebrate a victory over Llano – a team they have dominated in recent years.

But after enduring a disappointing season full of near misses, a brutal non-district schedule, key injuries - and admittedly - a couple of less than stellar performances – the Texans certainly had the right to celebrate their first win of the 2015 season unashamedly.

Their 24-0 blanking of the Yellow Jackets unleashed a myriad of emotions for the Texans and their loyal fan base.

There were selfies, hugs and even a few tears once the final gun sounded at Llano Stadium.