Hondo Anvil Herald

Owls sweat out a scrimmage win

 

By Jeff Berger

Anvil Herald Publisher

 

     After getting punched in the mouth twice early in their scrimmage with Pearsall last Thursday, Aug. 20, at Barry Field, the Hondo Owls responded accordingly.

     In a scheduled two-quarters-plus-an-overtime-period, Hondo found itself down 14-0 just five minutes into the evening, but came back with two TDs in the second quarter, then took the lead in overtime to get an unofficial 21-14 win.

     Things turn real in a hurry this Friday, Aug. 28, when the Owls host the Ingram Warriors in a 7 p.m. game at Barry Field to open the 2026 season.

     “We had hoped to start a little better than we did,” Hondo coach Dustin Templin said after Thursday’s scrimmage. “But we fell in a hole early, played through some adversity, successfully ran a two-minute drill, successfully defended a two-minute drill, and then won an overtime period.

     “Those are opportunities you don’t get to experience in scrimmages too often, so I’m hoping we learned from it, and will stay positive and keep working play to play.”

     Pearsall drove for its first TD in just six plays, hitting a 27-yard jump ball in the endzone. Three plays later, the Mavericks scored on a 43-yard pick-six and were up 14-0 with 7:13 left in the first quarter.

     Hondo promptly drove to the Pearsall 7, but fumbled it away. 

     Two possessions later, with freshman quarterback Aaryn Leyva running the offense, Ryan Reyes scored on a 15-yard run up the middle with 6:10 left in regulation play.

     Kyron Rodriguez intercepted a Maverick pass near midfield. Bryson Howard found Cade Aelvoet for a 42-yard pass play to the 2-yard line, but the Owls were unable to punch it in and Pearsall took over.

     Hondo’s defense forced a punt, and in three plays the Owls were back in the endzone. Leyva kept for 16 yards, then passed to Layton Pope for another 15. On the next play, Pope reversed his field on a sweep and took it the rest of the way to the endzone. Gabriel Rodriguez hit the second of his two extra points, tying the score at 14 with 48 seconds left.

     Pearsall hit a couple of passes to reach Owl territory, but Aelvoet intercepted a deep ball to end regulation time.

     With Hondo taking first possession in OT, the Owls earned a pair of first downs, setting up Leyva with a 7-yard dash to the endzone.

     Hondo’s defense held Pearsall without a first down in its overtime possession, ending the scrimmage.