Category: Warhorses & Arabians

Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
New Devine Defensive Coordinator Danny Sanchez has made himself right at home as the signal caller for the Warhorse ‘D.” In fact, after just two ballgames in the books, Sanchez has already brought his own analytics to the forefront of showing his players how good of an outing they actually had in their previous Friday night tilt.
These results are known as “SanchoStats.”
Anyone who watched Devine shut down an overall bigger-bodied, more-skilled team in Jourdanton at Warhorse Stadium had to walk out talking about the effort and plays made on the defensive side of the ball.
After reviewing game film, SanchoStats read as such: vs J’town—RUSHING 23 rushes for 54 yards/2.35 yards per carry/1 TD (4 of these were scrambles for 17 yards…take those away and it is 19/27 for 1.95 yards a carry) PASSING 18 of 36 passing (50%) 238 yards 1 TD, 2 INTS, 1 Sack.
The only possible stat that could be negative is the 18 of 36 passing for 238 yards, but, and this is a huge but, Jourdanton only managed one score through the air on those completions.
Not giving up the deep-ball for six is a valued part of the game. Keeping the ball in front of defenders and making tackles to negate yards after the catch is vital, and the Horses did just that.
“We wanted to take away the running game from Jourdanton, and we did,” Sanchez stated after accumulating his data. “Our secondary knew they would try to expose us in the air, and we were up for…

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Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
Devine’s 34-19 blistering of visiting Jourdanton last Friday brought plenty of attention to the football program, and to one Warhorse individually as Brayden Reyes was awarded a San Antonio Express-News “Game Ball” by sportswriter David Hinojosa.
Reyes rushed 18 times for 217 yards and three touchdowns in Devine’s impressive 15-point victory. He also caught a pass for seven yards.
Congratulations, Brayden!

Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
The Devine JV Horses continued their early season dominance as they defeated Jourdanton on their home turf 46-0 last Thursday evening. Devine is now 2-0 on the season after defeating Randoph in week one and are ready to go 3-0 as they will once again combine with JV2 to play in Natalia Thursday at the conclusion of both the 7th grade and 8th grade Colt football games.
“This year has been very fun thus far,” said Coach Lon Cozby after his team put up its second consecutive shutout victory. “This group plays well as a family and takes care of each other in every aspect. It is hard to beat a team that plays all 11 as one unit and that is exactly what we have done.”
Enoch Hall got the game going on the right foot as he returned the opening kickoff to the 40-yard line before running back Ryan Weinkam showed more than a little speed on the first play of the game.
“Ryan took the ball off the left side and busted passed everyone for a 60-yard touchdown. Dylan Hinnant had a pancake block early in…

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Devine JV battles Jourdanton. Photos by B Howard.

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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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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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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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.”

Continue reading “Physical Warhorse defense no surprise to new DC Sanchez”

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.”

Continue reading “Warhorses Football: Team chemistry at an all-time high”

Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
After two scrimmages from his team, Coach Lon Cozby has his squad ready for the season-opener Thursday at Randolph as JV1 and JV2 teams combine for one game at 5pm. The JV Horses traveled to Geronimo to take on the Navarro Panthers last Thursday in their final tune up for the 2024 season.
“Navarro was a good, physical team and I have to admit they did have our number in the beginning,” Cozby said to begin his weekly recap.  “We continued to battle hard and even though it may have taken a while, we did find our groove.” 
Ryan Weinkam scored the first touchdown for Devine on a 60-yard run as he “was able to highlight his speed” on the play.
“We were able to get in a set that gave the defense fits.  Ryan did a great job jumping inside of Steven Montes’ block, followed Ivan Iglesias, then bounced back outside and outran the safeties.  Cole Reyes also had a key block on the outside to keep the corner out of the play.” 

Continue reading “JV Horses at Randolph ThursdayKickoff at 5pm”

Freshman volleyball sports spotless
3-0 record
Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Devine freshman volleyball coach Kara Stacy has her team off to a perfect 3-0 start to the 2024 season. With varsity tournaments taking the forefront early on, games have been hard to come by, but it quickly heats up as a home tournament and District 29-4A action will soon be upon the young Arabians.
“We definitely had to work out the nerves as we were getting our first games of the season officially in the books,” Stacy began. “We saw lots of great things in the opener against Southwest Legacy and I am proud of how the girls fought all the way to the end!”
Devine topped Legacy in a three-set thriller, winning the first game 25-21 before dropping the second game 25-20.
  “We had to battle in the first set to come out on top but in the second set we struggled quite a bit on our side with unforced errors and miscommunication. We fought hard but could not finish off the set.”
The third set provided plenty of nail-biting moments as both teams gave their all in trying to get the first “W” of the season.
“Going into the third set, we knew it was going to be a battle and had to take it just one play at a time.”

Continue reading “Freshman volleyball sports spotless3-0 record”