Sports

San Antonio - For much of the season, the Wimberley Texans have pointed towards last year’s third round loss to Sinton as the primary motivation for their impressive 9-2 record this fall.

From the first drill at two-a-days back in August, there wasn’t a Texan player who didn’t reference the 29-21 loss that halted a Cinderella season last November.

Now the team that stood between them and a possible state championship last fall looms again for the third consecutive season.

The Texans easily disposed of Pearsall 35-7 to capture the bi-district championship last Friday night in San Antonio.

Buoyed by two big plays that led to three first quarter touchdowns - the Texans punched the Mavericks in the gut early and never looked back in eliminating Pearsall (7-4) for the second consecutive season.

The Texan Cross Country team will send one runner to the UIL State Championship in Round Rock on Nov. 12.

Junior Craig Huey will represent Wimberley at the state championship for the second year in a row, but it wasn’t not an easy task to achieve.

Both Huey and senior Joaquin Olmedo were trying to make the cut, but both started out stuck in the pack.

“They got caught in the back early, and it’s hard to work your way forward,” Coach Brad Biggers said. “This course is set up as a switchback, so there are very few straight areas to pick up your speed.”

At the end of the first mile, Huey and Olmedo were far from where they wanted to be sitting in 45th and 47th place, but the chase was on and both were up for the challenge. 

As their fall volleyball slate winds down, the Lady Texans are aiming to complete their regular season by sweeping their final two district matches.

A meeting with perennial power Poth gave Wimberley the chance to match-up with a quality opponent before their post-season run begins.

Senior Caitlyn Crockett pounded a team high 11 kills and Allie Messenger dished out 19 assists in a three set (25-21, 25-15, 25-16) home loss to the Pirettes.

Keely Loeffler slammed home 17 kills and Makayla Miller added eight kills for a Poth team that is no stranger to the postseason.

Legendary head coach Patti Zenner’s crew is overcoming a relatively down year to make their annual run at a state title.

Despite the outcome, Wimberley head coach Thomas Kane has always embraced the late season competition between the two schools.

Navarro – In the biggest game of the season, the state’s No. 7 ranked team was everything the capacity crowd at Erwin Lee Field knew they would be.
And unfortunately the talented Wimberley Texans just couldn’t quite keep up.
Navarro tailback Jake Wright scored four touchdowns and rushed for 189 yards as the Panthers put themselves in prime position to capture the District 27 4-A crown for the third consecutive year with a 35-14 win over the Texans.
Wright also contributed a key interception of Wimberley’s JoJo Weeks with less than ten minutes remaining as the Texans were looking to cash in on a rare mistake by the Panthers – a fumble that was recovered by Ben Garza.

It had all the makings of a typical “trap game” for the Wimberley Texans.

Visiting Llano was only supposed to serve as a tune-up for the much anticipated district championship showdown between Wimberley and unbeaten Navarro on Friday night.

The Texans were able to secure a relatively easy 35-16 home win over the Yellowjackets at Texan Stadium, despite playing an uneven first half in which they lost two costly fumbles that ultimately cost them a pair of scoring opportunities.

Thomas Carruthers rushed for a season-high 179 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the win while the Code Red defense turned in another stellar performance - save a pair of late second half touchdowns by Llano’s Mason Greenwood.

JoJo Weeks scored twice on runs of 18 and 5 yards and then passed to Colby Crowder 20 yards for another score.

Boerne - It took another late stand by the Code Red defense, but the Wimberley Texans found a way to secure of one of their biggest regular season wins in a few years by virtue of a narrow 17-14 nail-biter over the Boerne Greyhounds on Friday night at BISD Stadium.

This time it was Thomas Carruthers doing the honors for Wimberley as he pounced on a Boerne fumble with only 32 seconds left in the contest and the Greyhounds threatening to take the lead. 

The Greyhounds (4-2) took advantage of a couple of opportunistic calls and then set themselves up in prime scoring position with a 33-yard completion from Brooks Klutts to Douglas Hodo to the Wimberley 9-yard line on a crucial third-and-15 play.

The Wimberley Texans were dangerously close to coughing up an 18-point homecoming lead much to the dismay of a standing room only crowd at Texan Stadium on Friday night.    

But luckily for them, linebacker Thomas Carruthers proceeded to turn in the game's biggest defensive play by preceding to secure a game-saving interception to help the Texans escape with a 24-19 win over Fredericksburg.

“I looked the (quarterback) off then when he threw the ball I just made sure that I could get to it.” Carruthers said. “We needed to make a stop and we did.”

Junior quarterback JoJo Weeks passed for three touchdowns and threw for 256 yards as the Wimberley Texans recaptured the annual “Battle of the Backbone” over rival Canyon Lake 31-21 in front of a near capacity crowd at Texan Stadium.

Weeks - in his second game as the full time starter – tossed a pair of TD passes to Gavin Martinez and added another to Colby Crowder.

The Texans sprinted out to a 17-7 second quarter lead after Hunter Williams scored on a short run and Crowder hauled in a 16-yard TD pass.

“This group of kids is a team that has continued to improve each week,” Texans head coach Doug Warren said. “(Weeks) was lights out tonight and a couple of those great throws were on him and not anything we called. He is doing a great job leading the offense.”

Diana Taurasi scored 18 points and Brittney Griner added 15 as the playoff bound Phoenix Mercury beat San Antonio in the final game of the regular season for the Stars – who will have the top pick in next year’s WNBA Draft after an injury-plagued seven-win campaign.

The 91-73 loss closed out the stellar career of San Antonio head coach Dan Hughes as well as the eight-year playing stint for starting center and team captain Jayne Appel-Marinelli.