Celebrating 126 Years of Serving the communities of Devine, Natalia, Lytle, Bigfoot, and Moore in Medina, Frio, and Atascosa Counties
Local Sports coverage of your Warhorse and Arabians, Colts, Fillys, Lytle Pirates, Lady Pirates, Mustangs and Lady Mustangs
#12 Skylar Blanton with the block on Pearsall. Photo by KK Calame
Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Devine laid it all on the line in Floresville last Friday night but could not come up with a victory as the Tigerettes handed the Arabians their first defeat in District 29-4A action. The Arabians had breezed through their initial league competition leading up to the first-place showdown with Floresville.
Continue reading “Arabians 5-1 through 1st round of District 29-4A”
Lytle Pirates Travis Norton and Nico Pacheco rush toward the ball. Photo by Aliana Cardenas.
Eric Smith
Staff Writer
The Lytle Pirates (4-1, 0-0) will open 14-3A (Div.I) play this coming Friday in the Strawberry Capital as they face the Poteet Aggies (0-5, 0-0) at Aggie Field. Coach Mike Trevino and squad are hoping the Lytle faithful make the short trip over to Atascosa County and support the Black and Gold Friday night.
How did the open week go?
Continue reading “Lytle Football set for district opener in Poteet”
#20 Brayden Reyes and #60 Derek Traylor on defense.
Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Alamo Stadium, aka the “Rock Pile” due to its primarily limestone construction, is the site for this season’s District 14-4A opener for the Devine Warhorses as they take on Young Men’s Leadership Academy Thursday night. Kickoff is set for 7pm.
Devine went 3-3 during the preseason with wins against Crystal City (45-0), Natalia (49-14), and Uvalde (28-24). Pleasanton (24-13), Hondo (44-6), and Davenport (41-0) were the setbacks for the Warhorses.
No matter the record going into District, everyone is 0-0 with their sights set on a District Championship. Devine, along with YMLA, Carrizo Springs, Bandera, and Pearsall all believe they have just as much right as the next team to earn that number one seed.
Similar to Devine, YMLA enters the contest with a predistrict record of 3-3. The Lions picked up wins against Robstown (34-33), Manor New Tech (52-6), and Falfurrias (33-32) but went down in defeat to Sam Houston (18-12), Randolph (28-21), and Holy Cross (40-7).
The Lions are led by quarterback Matthew Kroger who has completed 36 of 64 attempts for 371 yards, 8 touchdowns, and two interceptions. His primary target is Jereiah Conaway who has 17 receptions for 261 yards and five touchdowns.
Javion Allen is Kroger’s next favorite receiver. Allen has 7 grabs for 68 yards and one score.
Raishaun Conaway leads YMLA’s rushing attack. His 78 attempts for 462 yards averages out to almost 6 yards a pop at 5.92. He has scored 6 touchdowns.
Anthony Ward has the next most attempts and yards with 29 carried for 105 yards. Ward has touched the end zone one time.
DC-EE
Defensive Coordinator and tight end coach Evan Eads breaks down the Warhorse preseason schedule and outlook on district competition this way, saying, “I feel our tough pre-district schedule will be a benefit for our district run. We ran out of gas in the second half of Pleasanton, but that led to better focus at practice and improvement on skills.
The poor showing at Hondo was a wakeup call that we needed. It humbled us. We learned that we need to respect our opponents and the process.
Even though we lost against Davenport, we succeeded in taking away their ‘bread and butter’ as Davenport had previously scored 60 and 65 points against 5A teams. We held them to just over 100 yards receiving and did not allow a passing touchdown. The problem was we gave up 200 yards rushing and 5 rushing TDs.
Overall, we learned that we can take away the run and the pass, but we need to take away both if we are to win district. We have had success in creating stops and turnovers and now they all count. We must be the most aggressive team, the most disciplined team, and the most excited team.
Good luck Warhorses.”
2023 Warhorses
This year’s version of who Warhorse Nation is cheering on to capture yet another gold ball are: Wero Torres, Sam Guardiola, Anthony Saldivar, Mario Vicente, Gabe Esquibel, Edward Perez, Trinidad Hernandez, Karter Brown, Jacob Sollock, Edwin Belor, Alfredo Ramirez, Ayden Leal, Brayden Reyes, Aaron Bonilla, Eli Contreras, Ty Sadler, Christian Monreal, Seth DeLeon, Teotimo Stafford, Gavin Socarras, Riley Gutierrez, Corey Dirck, Wyatt Stevens, Derek Traylor, Israel Reyes, George Saenz, Tate Wisenbaker, Arthur Pegues, Wyatt LaFond, Trystan LaFond, Christian San Miguel, Nate Martinez, Jackson Hagdorn, Jordan Barton, Tyler Hinnant, and Matthew Gomez.
Horses bitten by Wolves in final predistrict tuneup
Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Devine finished its predistrict schedule last Friday at Davenport High School as the Wolves ran away with the 41-0 victory. While the final score of 41-0 may appear that the game was never in doubt, the Warhorses gave the Wolves everything they wanted and more in a tight first half contest.
Missed opportunities on an opening Warhorse drive in the first quarter that had the ball inside the five yard line and a first and goal disintegrated into a fourth and long after two costly penalties and a loose ball on the ground.
Not capitalizing on that first drive after moving the ball seemingly easily throughout the first several plays of the game could have been a demoralizing start. However, Devine kept plugging along, moving the chains offensively, getting stops defensively, but not able to turn any of those great occurrences into points on the board.
Zero-to-zero entering the second quarter quickly turned into a 7-0 advantage for Davenport on a 38-yard run on the Wolves first play from scrimmage in the second frame. They went on to score once more then converted a 33-yard field goal as time expired going into halftime for a 17-0 lead.
Davenport scored four touchdowns in the second half and went on to win this contest dropping the Horses to 3-3 on the season. Devine moves into District 14-4A DII action Thursday at Alamo Stadium as they begin their drive for a championship against YMLA.
Bright spots for the Warhorses included Anthony Saldivar and Ayden Leal coming up with clutch interceptions to thwart two separate Wolves drives. The pass defense was solid most of the night, not allowing many of the deep ball attempts by Davenport to be caught for huge gains. All Davenport touchdowns came via their running game.
Warhorse Support team shoutout
Jerel Beaty-Staff Writer
It isn’t only players and coaches that put in long hours during football season. Devine’s support team of student trainers rack up just as much overtime as everyone else associated with making sure Friday night football goes as smoothly as possible and that players get the resources they need to stay hydrated and healthy.
A quick shout out to the irreplaceable, much needed and appreciated Warhorse student trainers: Reese Duncan, Zoe Ortiz, Ainsley Buvinghausen, Alyssa Zamora, Alexis Zamora, Aaliyah Zamora, Logan Davis, Savannah Parker, Darilynn Garcia, and Cameron Copeland.
Colts take down Navarro. Pictured are #1Jordan Beaver, #7 Israel Casas, and #2David Espinosa.
Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Devine’s middle school Colts took on the Navarro Panthers last Thursday with the Gold coming away with an 8-6 victory. The Maroon team fought hard until the final horn but their comeback bid fell short 24-14.
“The Gold group continues to play well together,” said Coach Zac Valenzuela after his squad ran their record to a perfect 3-0.
Valenzuela credited the win to “solid run contributions from Jack Wallace and David Espinosa.” Defensively, Aaron Frazier led the way with 3 tackles followed by Tommy Camarillo.
The Maroon team dug a hole too big to climb out of as they fell behind 24-0 midway through. Devine did not hang their heads though and came out swinging, and scoring, in the second half as they closed the gap to 24-14.
Unfortunately, the Colts could get no closer as they lost by that final score.
Jordan Beaver led the Maroon with 8 carries for 45 yards. He scored one touchdown and added a two-point conversion. Logan Alexander was next with 7 rushes for 55 yards and a score. Moses Contrares had one attempt for 5 yards.
Quarterback Nate Valle hit on 3 of four attempts with two completions going to Alexander for a total of 25 yards while the other went to Kash Esparza for a big 35-yard gain.
Defensively, Contreras led with four tackles. Valle added three tackles and had an interception while Esparza added a solo tackle and recovered a fumble.
Brody Poppe, Troy Guerra, Eli San Miguel, and Alexander each had two tackles while single tackles were made by Beaver, Espinosa, Jayden Rodriguez, Noah Garcia, and Israel Casas, Jr.
*This building may look familiar, but if you went to school or lived in Devine between 1953 and 1972, you know exactly where this is located and probably know why it had this nickname!
Natalia Coach Melissa Wueste was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer in May 2023. Since then, Coach Wueste has undergone radiation treatments and other procedures and will continue the fight over the next few months. As Breast Cancer Awareness month approaches us we hope you will join us for some benefit events to raise money and support her battle. All proceeds will go to the Wueste family to help with health expenses as she continues her fight.
There will be several upcoming benefit events such as a T shirt sale, 5K color run October 28, wrist band/lanyard sale and a car wash.
For more information or to make donations please contact Coach Ilyan Martinez at ilyan.martinez@nataliaisd.net or by calling (210) 279-2438.
1960-61 Devine High School Majorettes From the 1961 yearbook: Darlene Davis, Barbara Driscoll, Molly Griffin, Rosa Tellez, Peggy Duke, Nola Alexander (Drum Major), with Mascot Vicki Wallace in front.
For over 70 years Majorettes and Twirlers graced the sidelines of Devine football games, performed at pep rallies at Devine High School and Devine Junior High, and marched in local and area parades with the Warhorse & Colt Bands. They boosted school spirit and added sparkle and glamour with their twirling routines! From at least 1944 through the last twirler in 2017, Devine had the honor of having many very talented young ladies become leaders in their schools. These girls worked hard to prepare for tryouts, paid for their own batons, lessons, camps, and usually uniforms too. A lot of time and effort went into practicing for their performances, and they were an integral part of many school events. They also competed in UIL contests, even at the State level, and won many awards.
Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Devine stayed red-hot with wins over non-district opponent San Antonio Homeschool last Tuesday and District 29-4A foe Somerset Friday to improve their record to 23-13 prior to Tuesday night’s clash in the DSAC against Pearsall.
Continue reading “Arabians send Patriots, Bulldogs walking; Huge game vs Floresville on the horizon”
8th Grade Middle Blocker A’Dell Holder and Sydney Solis go up for a block in a recent game against Pearsall.
Shana Beaty
Staff writer
The Devine Filly 8th grade A-team Volleyball girls played against Uvalde and won another district game improving their district record to 4-1, and 6-2 for the season. Devine beat Uvalde in two sets back to back winning 25-21, 25-15.
Coach Julie Oropeza is pleased that this group of girls finally looks like a well-organized team, saying, “They have worked very hard to improve defensively, and with each game it shows. We are also, now, able to control our game offensively as well. I am so excited to see the continued progress for this group of girls.”
Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Excuse the presumptiveness of putting the Arabian freshman record at 14-1 as Devine was 13-1 before going into last night’s District 29-4A affair against the Lady Mavs of Pearsall. However, this squad has been on a tremendous roll this season as their only loss was against a JV squad from D’Hanis.
Continue reading “Freshman Arabians continue torrid streak…14-1 on the season!”
