The Devine Warhorses bolted to a 35-14 halftime lead and never looked back beating the Pearsall Mavericks 48-28 last Friday night in Warhorse Stadium. Devine scored over 40 points for the third consecutive week in keeping its district record unblemished.
After Pearsall tied the score at 14, Devine scored three straight touchdowns in a matter of 6 minutes and 10 seconds off the second period game clock. The Warhorses forced two of the Maverick’s four total turnovers during that time to take command.
“Another big win for us on Friday,” said Head Coach Paul Gomez. “We knew Pearsall would play their best game against us. They did some things offensively that hurt us but the great thing we did was answer right back with a big play or big drive to score right after they scored. Games have a lot of ups and downs and we just have to keep playing hard, and that’s what we did.”
The Horses have been pounding opponents into submission with their revised running game. Devine’s offensive line is creating seams for the talented Warhorse running backs who have been more than willing to take advantage of those gaps created.
After a couple change of possessions, Pearsall struck first on a 48-yard pass and catch to take an early 6-0 lead. That Maverick lead lasted for all of 14 seconds.
Warhorse kick returner Justin Contreras received the kickoff at the 18-yard line, then took it 82 yards to the house giving Devine a 7-6 lead. As Pearsall returned the ensuing kickoff, Xavier Contreras stripped the ball from the Maverick returner and Sergio Martinez jumped on the loose ball to give Devine possession. Buddy Santos took the next snap 22 yards to the right pylon to boost the Warhorse lead to 14-6.
The Mavericks hung in for a bit longer. After a 29 yard passing score by the Mavericks, Devine took control from there. Leonard Pompa scored on a 2-yard run and Contreras scored on an 8-yard burst soon thereafter.
On Pearsall’s next possession and backed up inside their own 10-yard line, Martinez blitzed the pass-dropping Maverick quarterback stripping the ball loose at the 1-yard line. Tristin Kannard recovered a Maverick fumble in the end zone to give Devine their 35-7 halftime lead.
“Offensively we continued to get tough yards from our running backs. Justin, Leonard, Buddy, Sergio Martinez, Brady Hackebeil, and Isaiah Oropeza all had some good running plays. This was Leonard’s best game running the ball with 84 yds. He was seeing the field well and really followed his blockers.”
Speaking of blockers, Coach Gomez believes his offensive line had their best game to date.
“Those boys did a great job moving people and communicated great on their combo blocks,” Gomez complimented. “That’s the best that unit has been and Pearsall was big up front. John Schnautz, Jesus Hernandez, Geoffrey Seal, Aaron Rivera, Jayce Hackebeil, Christian Robles, Darrin Lafferty, Tristin Kannard, along with Christian Gerlach and Kannon Ramirez at the tight ends; those guys deserve a game ball. We just grinded all night. Sometimes that is what you have to do to win games. We took care of the ball and had some good time consuming drives.”
Both teams exchanged touchdowns in the second half. Pearsall scored on another pass completion from 33 yards out then Devine answered that Maverick score with a Pompa 1 yard plunge. The Mavericks scored their last touchdown late in the third quarter on a 43-yard run.
Contreras went 12 yards for the last score of the game with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter to polish off the Warhorses 48-28 victory.
Defensive review
Defensive coordinator George Villa commented on his unit’s successes against Pearsall saying, “For the most part we were aggressive like we’ve been the previous two district ballgames. We did mess up some coverages in the back end that cost us touchdowns. To Pearsall’s credit, we had not seen any of those route combinations on film. They are a team that runs the ball 90% of the time and for the most part, we stopped that part of their game. We did have some big plays and turn overs as we have during district play. Right now, I am very pleased with our formula. We will have to clean some things up in the back end and we will. I am very proud of our effort and the ability to make plays when we had to. Xsavior Martinez added to his interception count, Sergio Martinez added to his fumble recovery count, and Tristin Kannard recovered a fumble for a touchdown in the end zone for his first career touchdown. Christian Gerlach collected another big sack.”
Coach Gomez added that defensively “Pearsall put us in some binds. We gave up some big plays where we had people in the area but covered grass instead of receivers; they just threw it right over us. We have got to get that fixed because Poteet will test us. I thought for the most part we played good defense. We just lost focus a few times and this offense will make you pay for that. I think we are tackling very well. Basically, we just need to not give up the big plays. I know our kids and our coaches take pride in being prepared. Our front four did a great job putting pressure on them. Our guys were being held all night but we just kept playing. A good example of that was Christian Gerlach getting that sack while the offensive tackle was trying to yank him down by his jersey. That was a great effort play.”
Special teams
Although our extra points struggled a little at the end, it was really a great effort by all the special teams,” according to Gomez. “We will get that part of our game fixed. Our kickoffs were great all night and we finally returned a kickoff for a touchdown. We blocked really well and Justin Contreras hit the hole and was off to the races. Overall Coach Taylor did a good job preparing these boys in the special teams department.”
Homecoming
Homecoming night is Friday versus the Poteet Aggies. Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Warhorses run roughshod over Mavericks 48-28
