Sharing is not caring
A selfless group are the 10-members of the Warhorse backfield as nine different ball carriers toted the rock for the Warhorses Friday night, combining for what seemed like 2,000 yards. In actuality, Devine porched the Bulldogs for 519 yards on a brutal 59 rushing attempts.
None of the 10 care who gets the carries or the credit for that matter. That kind of teamwork can lead to something really special down the line.
Ethan Santos averaged a first down every time he touched the ball, going for 160 yards on, yes, 10 attempts. Two other rushers broke the 90-yard barrier with Brady Hackebeil getting 92 yards and Hayden DuBose exploding for 91 yards on only 2 carries, while Marcus Rodriguez, Xavier Contreras, and Gabriel Esquibel each had 40+ yards.
The thing about watching the ball distribution between the backs is that each of them are genuinely happy for other backs when they get the carries and rack up the yards. Not one back demonstrates any selfishness for other’s successes, which shows this group of young men knows what teamwork and sharing the load really means.
Santos, Santos, Santos, Santos
Well, in last week’s tidbit titled “Santos, Santos, Santos”, Warhorse running back Ethan Santos was mentioned for having yet another single-game, three-touchdown performance.
It is only fitting to add one more “Santos” to the tidbit-title as he one-upped himself with a four-touchdown achievement, including three in the first half and his last to close out the 44-22 second-half blasting of the Bulldogs.
Not quite sure that five Santos’s can fit in a tidbit-title, but with a game coming up against a winless Pearsall team, I would definitely not bet against that becoming necessary.
Masonry-work
If there is a single player that stands out that hard-work, perseverance, and simply allowing himself to be coached-up pays off, it is tight end and linebacker Mason Martinez.
Mason has had an outstanding season for the Warhorses offensively and defensively. He snagged an incredible one-handed, highlight-reel catch in the Homecoming game against Luling and scored on a 37-yard pass from quarterback Brady Hackebeil this past Friday night.
Friday’s reception gave him four on the season and busted him past the 100-yard mark with 111. His 28-yards per catch leads the run-oriented offense.
Defensively, linebacker coach Evan Eads has openly praised Mason for his 2021 contributions to the team’s success.
“Mason is one of the most improved players from last season,” Eads stated about Martinez’s valuable emergence as a top player. “All he does is work hard every play and if there are three words to accurately describe him, those words would be ‘tough, tough, and tough’.”
Kannon-ball
Senior snapper Kannon Ramirez and his offensive line teammates dominated the line of scrimmage Friday night. Running backs receive headline-type credit for amassing 519 of the 566 total yards, but none of that is even possible without the front five and others blocking their tails off every single play.
Shout out to these players who continually shot off the line of scrimmage like cannonballs in whipping Bandera for over 500 yards.
Kannon Ramirez, Logan Camarillo, Jared Fernandez, Brandon Martinez, Carter Faubel, George Saenz, Kolt Hackebeil, Haydn Brumage, Corey Dirck, and Zach Martinez. Kudos to tight ends Mason Martinez, Peyton Carr, Nick Ortiz, and Aaron Bonilla as well.
Isn’t that special
For the umpteenth time this season, Devine’s kickoff team came up with another huge loose ball recovery against Bandera Kicker Luke Friesenhahn pooch-kicked (no pun intended) the ball high in the air to the Bulldogs, who for whatever reason thought they needed to make an attempt to field it, even though it had not gone the require 10-yards to be a legal kick.
The recovery prevented Bandera from responding to a Warhorse touchdown that put them up by eight points.
“Luke got us another recovery off of his kickoff so that was good,” Gomez stated about the Bandera flub and recovery by Warhorse Marcus Rodriguez.
Maybe not
As is the case with all aspects of the game, coaches and players continually want to improve. With two games to go until state playoffs begin, those same special teams that got a shout out in the previous tidbit are still a work in progress.
“Even though we did get another recovery, the coverage part of our kickoffs is something that we need fixed so there will be some changes in personnel to make that improvement. We should have had a field goal block on an extra point but missed the ball, so we will work on aiming points. So we still need big plays in special teams. We have to keep improving because in the playoffs that could be the difference between going home or keep playing and moving on to the next round.”
Special teams is as important as offense or defense as games can turn on a dime when not executed perfectly.
Team stats
Total yards Dev 566, Ban 191 First downs Dev 29, Ban 13 Rushing Dev 59-519-8.8, Ban 26-70-2.69 Passing Dev 2-5-1TD-0INT, Ban 10-20-121-1TD-2INT Punting Dev 0-0, Ban 3-102-34.0 Fumbles-lost Dev 1-0, Ban 1-1 Penalties Dev 3-35, Ban 8-55.
Warhorse stats
Passing Brady Hackebeil 2-5-47-1TD-0INT Receiving Mason Martinez 1-37-1TD, Nate Ramirez 1-10 Rushing Ethan Santos 16-160-10.0-4TD, Brady Hackebeil 14-92-6.6, Hayden DuBose 2-91-45.5, Marcus Rodriguez 5-55-11.0, Xavier Contreras 6-48-8.0, Gabriel Esquibel 9-41-4.6-1TD, Samuel Guardiola 2-15-7.5, Aiden Zapata 3-12-4.0, Nate Ramirez 2-5-2.5.
Score by quarter
Dev 6 16 16 6 = 44
Ban 0 22 0 0 = 22
Scoring summary
DEV–Ethan Santos 19-yard run (PAT failed), 6-0, 8:33, 1st.
BAN–Brock Johnson 26-yard pass from Tyler Moore (Alberto Muzquiz PAT), 6-7, 9:18, 2nd.
DEV–Santos 2-yard run (Xavier Contreras two-point conversion run), 14-7, 7:27, 2nd.
BAN–Johnson 12-yard run (Muzquiz PAT), 14-14, 7:03, 2nd.
DEV–Santos 39-yard run (Santos two-point conversion run), 22-14, 5:08, 2nd.
BAN–Moore 1-yard run (Johnson two-point conversion run), 22-22, 0:50, 2nd.
DEV–Gabriel Esquibel 3-yard run (Santos two-point conversion run), 30-22, 5:22, 3rd.
DEV–Mason Martinez 37-yard pass from Brady Hackebeil (Contreras two-point conversion run), 38-22, 2:54, 3rd.
DEV–Santos 17-yard run (conversion pass attempt failed), 44-22, 10:12, 4th.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Warhorse tidbits, stats, & scoring summary
