Sports – Page 43 – The Devine News

LEGACY BOWLNatalia and Lytle set for 64th battleat Walter Joyce Stadium

The Lytle Pirate Cheerleaders get the crowd going. The Pirates won the Legacy Bowl last year in a thriller, and both teams are looking to go on another streak in the rivalry matchup.

Eric Smith
Staff Writer
The Natalia Mustangs (1-0) and the Lytle Pirates (0-1) will square off this coming Friday at Walter Joyce Stadium for the 64th time in the history of the two programs dating back to 1933. The Pirates were able to break an 8-year drought last season 23-14 over the Mustangs and everyone is expecting this year’s contest to be a close one.
Rival Battle History
The Natalia Mustangs lead the historic battle between the two programs 34-27-3 overall as this will mark the “15th Legacy Bowl” battle between the two programs dating back to the start in 2004-2005. The Pirates won the first ever Legacy Bowl game 25-24 in OT in 04-05’ as that was the first of six in a row for the black and gold. Other results were as follows: 05-06’: 23-14. (Natalia and Lytle did not play again until 2012-2013 due to vandalism of a school bus). 2012-2013 it resumed with a 35-33 win for Lytle HS. Other wins for LHS: 13-14’: 41-13, 14-15’: 42-20. In 2015-2016, Natalia won their first of eight straight games with the following results: 15-16’: 19-6, 16-17’: 34-21, 17-18’: 30-3, 18-19’: 7-6, 19-20’: 63-10, 20-21’: 26-14, 21-22’ 41-0, 22-23’: 47-3. Last season, as mentioned the Pirates snapped the eight-game win streak 23-14 in a thriller.

Natalia Preview
The Natalia Mustangs are coming off their season opening victory on the road vs. Skidmore-Tynan. Lytle Head Coach Mike Trevino was asked his thoughts on Natalia and had the following to say:….

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The Mustangs celebrating their big win last week.

District action on the horizon for Arabian volleyball

The Varsity Arabians will be playing at home on Friday against McMullen County.

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Arabian volleyball may be on what many call a “rough patch” as the losses are outnumbering the wins at this point in the season. Head Coach Leigh Anne McIver is fully aware of what lies ahead for her team as the tough “tournament season” portion and pre-district schedule is almost complete.
“I understand that we do not have the full concept of ‘how to win’ right now, but that is why I scheduled these tough-type games and tournaments that lead into District 29-4A,” McIver said, confident in her team’s ability to learn on the fly and to be ready for what is still to come during the 2024 campaign.
Recent games against perennial playoff teams like Crystal City, Canyon Lake, San Antonio Christian, Hondo, Medina Valley, and last year’s 29-4A winner Floresville has helped the Arabian squad come together as a team more than any normal fan can probably see at this point.
“Our confidence is not shaken; it is actually…

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Natalia opens season with road win in Skidmore

Eric Smith
Staff Writer
The Natalia Mustangs used an impressive rushing game (36-rushes-325 yards) to overall dominate the flow of the game in their season opener last Friday on the road vs. the Skidmore-Tynan Bobcats. Natalia was led by Sophomore QB Leo Buentello, who rushed 17 times for 179 yards and four touchdowns in the victory.
“I was really happy with how our kids competed for four quarters,” Coach Jason Reynolds said. “Our coaching staff did a great job making adjustments and our kids executed. It feels good to get the first win of the season, but we have a lot to clean up.”
The Mustangs opened the game with an impressive scoring drive, as they marched 71 yards down field with a heavy dose of…

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Llano runs past Lytle in season opener

The Pirates take the field. Photo by R Gonzalez.

“Windshield Mentality” still strong

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Not much went right as far as football and the final score that showed on the Walter Joyce Stadium scoreboard at the end of Friday night’s season-opening contest between the host Lytle Pirates and the visiting Llano Yellowjackets.
Llano breezed by the Pirates 47-0, but anyone that knows Lytle Head Coach Mike Trevino and his outlook on life knows this defeat will not define their season.
“We talk about these types of situations all the time in our program,” Trevino stated regarding his thoughts on how the Llano contest could actually serve as a springboard to greater heights. “We invite hard things, and one phrase we lean on every day is ‘prepare our fields for rain’! Our Week 1 game was set intentionally to make us better and create opportunities down the road.”
The next “opportunity down the road” comes in the form of the Natalia Mustangs, and Trevino believes his team will…

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Warhorse XC 4th @ Panther Invitational

Caleb Maxwell comes down the home stretch.

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Nine Devine Cross Country runners competed in the Panther Invitational at Medina Valley this past Saturday and they combine to place fourth overall as a team. The Horses tallied 113 points.
Donovan Dixon continues to pursue his quest for the State Meet in early November as he finished third of 117 runners in his division. Dixon ran a time of 17:48 and racked up the lowest team-point available as he was first as far as teams that…

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JV1 & JV2 combine to blow byRo-Hawks 24-0

The JV Warhorses get ready to launch a pass. Photos by Brigid Howard.

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Devine has numbers on their sub-varsity teams for the first time in quite a while. Unfortunately, some other towns are continuing to struggle to get their fair share of players in order to have true freshman and JV teams.
The Warhorses ran into that problem last week as the Randolph Ro-Hawks only had enough players for one squad, forcing Devine to combine their JV1 and JV2 football teams for their Thursday evening contest.
Devine returned home with the decisive 24-0 victory
“We platooned it,” Coach Lon Cozby simply stated. “JV1 played offense for a series then JV2 played the following series. We did the same thing on defense.”
Even though Randolph won the toss, they elected to defer which gave the Horses the first possession of the game.
“Alejandro Ramirez ran it 18 yards for the first touchdown on the third play of the game, then, as quarterback, he found Cole Reyes on a slant route to add the two-point conversion.”
The quick start continued on the next series as it took a mere three snaps for Devine to find the end zone once again.
“Enock Hall, behind a great lead block from…

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Physical Warhorse defense no surprise to new DC Sanchez

The Warhorses are hungry for action, and will host Randolph for thier first home game.

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Ask any coach that ever had to face a Devine football team over the last 25-30 years what was one thing they would remember, and it would always be how physical those Warhorse kids were even though they were undersized a majority of the time.
New Devine Defensive Coordinator Danny Sanchez had heard those same rumors prior to accepting a position on Head Coach Paul Gomez’s staff, and now, he has seen it up close and personal.
“One of the main reasons I came to Devine was to coach tough nosed kids,” Sanchez stated after the Warhorses battled perennial-powerhouse Navarro in their second and final scrimmage prior to their season-opener versus Randolph. “This past Thursday, the Warhorses did not disappoint!”
Coach Sanchez’s deep and multiple-styled defense flew around the field relentlessly against the Panthers, something he hopes to see much more of over the course of the next 10-plus ballgames.
“I feel confident that the defense will contribute mightily to the team as we expect to create turnovers, and to pressure offenses with multiple looks and various stunts.”

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Warhorses Football: Team chemistry at an all-time high

Be there or be square….The Warhorses will kick off their first game at 7:30 at Warhorse Stadium. Photo by Brigid Howard.

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Warhorse Stadium will be rocking this Friday evening as Devine takes on Randolph to begin their 2024 march towards a district championship and a berth in the state playoffs. Two-a-days and scrimmages against Cotulla and Navarro have hopefully set the tone for Head Coach Paul Gomez and his team.
“I feel really good about where we are right now,” Gomez said while reflecting over the last four weeks. “We have shown marked improvement, and our work ethic has been great.”
The Horses had several chances to take the Cowboys to the woodshed in their initial scrimmage but were held back by minor mistakes that can be corrected as a season unfolds.
“Against Cotulla, we played well, and we were just one block away from having several big plays on offense while defensively, other than the second play where we missed some tackles and utilized poor technique, our defense was ahead of our offense, and we were pleased with that side of the ball.”

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Mustang XC kicks dirt in Karnes City

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Natalia got their 2024 season underway as the Mustangs ran in the Badger Cross Country Invitational this past Saturday.
Sebastian Soto led his squad by placing 39th with a time of 17:27. Juan Gonzales was next in for Natalia in 60th place and crossing the line at the 18:33 mark.
Denton Nelson placed 70th in the field of 87 coming in at 19:46 followed by Jacob Banda who placed 85th with a time of 22:57.
Natalia makes the short trip to Castroville this Saturday to participate in the Panther Invitational.

Pirates runner-up, Lady Pirates 3rd @ Class 6A Steele XC Invitational

Svetlana Lopez captured 19th place for the Lady Pirates, running a 18:33.

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Lytle Head Coach Gilbert Ruiz continues to positively challenge his band of runners as he shuttled his teams to Class 6A San Antonio Steele’s Cross Country Invitational this past Saturday.
His runners more than accepted the challenge as the Pirates placed second overall in the team standings with all five runners finishing in the top 20 of 95 competitors while the Lady Pirates fared well also placed third overall with three runners netting top 20 status among 74 runners in their division.
“I told our kids this past week if they wanted to get noticed, they needed to go catch a big fish. In order to catch a big fish, they need to go to the deep end and that meant taking our ship deep sea fishing. And so off we went to 6A Steele HS for the first time to try and get people to take notice, and by the end of the meet, we did get just that!”
Johnny Rey Alvarez, Bryan Montes-Rodriguez, Yandel Esquivez, Diego Reyna, and Lucas Salazar all medaled while Frances Scotello, Svetlana Lopez, Elyse Cortinas, Kaycee Galindo, Addison Wagner, Klayre Cook, Annika Robles, and Sophia Herrera teamed up for an extremely nice showing as well.

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