All-time lead
With Devine’s victory over San Antonio Highlands, the Horses now have a commanding 1-0 series lead in the history of football competition between the schools. That is said tongue in cheek of course as it was the first ever meeting between the schools.
With realignment in February, there is no guarantee these two programs will square off against each other in 2022 as preseason schedules tend to change every couple of years.
Gotta love that 1000% win percentage though against a San Antonio 5A program.
RBU by committee
Ten different Warhorse rushers carried the ball for Devine while six receivers caught a ball thrown their direction by senior quarterback Brady Hackebeil. Devine rushed 55 times for 388 yards and seven touchdowns, while connecting on 6 of 8 pass attempts for 118 yards including a 25-yard strike from Hackebeil to wide out senior Peyton Carr early in the second quarter.
Hackebeil scored three times via the ground game, while Xavier Contreras, Ethan Santos, Hayden DuBose, and Gabriel Esquibel also ran the ball past the front pylons for one touchdown apiece. Devine’s revised offensive scheme including many capable options to carry the ball could be “Running Back University” by committee if similar stats are repeated throughout the season.
No loose balls
Gus Puente, Samuel Guardiola, Aiden Zapata, Marcus Rodriguez, and Nate Ramirez in addition to Hackebeil, Contreras, Santos, DuBose, and Esquibel carried the ball for Devine’s varsity Friday night.
A horde of JV and freshman Horses toted the rock in Thursday night’s games, but not once in any of the three ballgames did a Devine rusher put the football on the grass that resulted in an offensive turnover.
Keeping possession of the football naturally increases the likelihood that something positive will happen at the end of a Devine drive.
Scoring a total of 118 points in three contests without a single hiccup to the Owls. Me thinks that is an impressive stat this new ball-control offense put out there last week.
Might all?
Back in the good ol’ days, coaches gave players salt pills to prevent heat cramps and to restore electrolytes lost through extensive sweating during the hot-months of competition.
With high-tech sports drinks and quick snacks packed with potassium, phosphate, and magnesium, as well as electrolytes, players are no longer given salt-pills as a precautionary technique.
Given the increased number of cramps by not only the players Friday night, but the Thursday sub-varsity games as well, might all players begin taking proven age-old cramp-prevention pills once again?
Cramping my style
SAISD’s game time kickoff schedule could be a partial reason behind what seemed like an increased number of leg cramps. Game time was 7:00pm instead of the normal 7:30pm slot that returning players are used to from season’s past.
“Starting at 7pm didn’t help to begin but getting that rain before the game and then the heat and humidity that followed was tough. Our players were few to their many but we definitely displayed some toughness,” Gomez said in reference to cramping issues players from both teams experienced.
Dirty laundry
Penalty flags tossed seemingly every other play dragged the game beyond the 2½-hour or so time frame a high school game typically lasts as Highlands was tagged for 18 infractions and Devine was hit with eight. Each team also declined several penalties and a couple of others were waved off as well.
Game officials huddled more than a handful of times to discuss what the deal was going to be, slowing down an entertaining ballgame and pushing the end of the fourth quarter way past my normal bedtime.
Team stats
Total yards Dev 506, Hig 434 First downs Dev 26, Hig 18 Rushing Dev 55-388-7.05, Hig 23-199-8.65 Passing Dev 5-8-11-1TD-0INT, Hig 15-22-235-2TD-0INT Penalties Dev 8-65 Hig 18-135
Warhorse stats
Rushing Brady Hackebeil 5-70-14.0-3TD, Gabriel Esquibel 6-72-12.0-1TD, Xavier Contreras 10-62-6.2-1TD, Ethan Santos 8-42-5.25-1TD, Aiden Zapata 7-56-8.0 Hayden DuBose 9-36-4.0-1TD, Marcus Rodriguez 6-36-6.0, Samuel Guardiola 1-15 Nate Ramirez 1- -3 Passing Hackebeil 4-5-97-1TD-0INT, Guardiola 1-3-21 Receiving Zapata 1-39, Peyton Carr 1-25-1TD, Mason Martinez 1-21, Ramirez 1-18, Rodriguez 1-15.
Scoring summary
DEV—Gabriel Esquibel 6-yard run (Caden Hanson PAT), 7-0, 9:32, 1st.
DEV—Xavier Contreras 2-yard run (PAT failed), 13-0, 3:51, 1st.
HIG—Ja’corey Bremby 8-yard run (Matthew Jaramillo PAT), 13-7, 0:55, 1st.
DEV—Peyton Carr 25-yard pass from Brady Hackebeil (Ethan Santos 2-pt run), 21-7, 10:53, 2nd.
HIG—D’Marrion Gonzalez 60-yard run (PAT failed), 21-13, 10:09, 2nd.
DEV—Santos 10-yard run (Hanson PAT), 28-13, 4:10, 2nd.
DEV—Hackebeil 9-yard run (Hanson PAT), 35-13, 0:20, 2nd.
HIG—Gonzalez 54-yard run (2-pt pass failed), 35-19, 11:37, 3rd.
DEV—Hackebeil 50-yard run (Esquibel 2-pt run), 43-19, 9:35, 3rd.
HIG—Luis Ortiz 29-yard pass from Jacob Gutierrez (2-pt pass failed), 43-25, 7:05, 3rd.
DEV—Hayden DuBose 1-yard run (PAT failed), 49-26, 4:45, 3rd.
HIG—Ortiz 47-yard pass from Gutierrez (PAT failed), 49-31, 1:25, 3rd.
DEV—Hackebeil 2-yard run (Contreras 2-pt run), 55-31, 8:33, 4th.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Warhorse tidbits, stats, & scoring summary
