Hondo Anvil Herald

Devine starts fast, dominates

 

By Jeff Berger

Anvil Herald Publisher

 

     Sometimes the scoreboard can be misleading.

     This was not one of those occasions.

     Devine’s 59-7 win over Hondo was a pretty accurate depiction of Friday’s Senior Night at Barry Field.

     “When you’re playing a team with that kind of talent,” said Hondo Coach Dustin Templin, “you can’t have big mistakes. One missed step on defense will cost you six points. And you can’t turn the ball over five times.”

     This week, the Owls will strive to improve in all phases when they close out the regular season at Poteet. Game time on Friday is 7 p.m.

Hondo is now locked in to the #3 seed in the playoffs out of District 14-3A-I, and will face the winner of this Friday’s 13-3A-I battle for second place between Marion and Hallettsville. The bi-district contest will take place the weekend of Nov. 12-14.

     The district championship will be decided on Friday, when Devine hosts Jourdanton (both are 6-0 in district).

     Devine scored on its first two possessions of the night, driving 79 yards in seven plays for the first score, a nine-yard keeper by Nathan Valle. Israel Casas connected on the first of his eight extra point attempts without a miss, and Devine led 7-0 with three minutes gone.

     On a 3rd-and-12 pass, Bryson Howard hit Cade Aelvoet over the middle for what was nearly a 13-yard gain, but during the tackle, Devine defensive back Brody Lane stripped the ball away and returned it to the Hondo 36.

     Five plays later, after Joby Pimentel and Coby Evans had sacked Valle, setting up a 3rd-and-goal at the 12, the sophomore QB found Lane at the back of the endzone for the touchdown pass and a 14-0 lead.

     A long kickoff return by Aelvoet, coupled with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Warhorses, set up the Owls at the Devine 41. But the drive bogged down and Devine took over following a sack.

     Grinding out the clock, the Horses drove into the red zone. The march stalled after a pair of false start penalties, and a Casas 32-yard field goal attempt was wide right as the second quarter began.

     A bad snap on a punt attempt led to a short kick, and Devine started at the Hondo 38. Four plays later, Moses Contreras took it 14 yards for the team’s third TD of the night, with 8:19 left in the half.

     On the next play, a deflected pass fell into Lane’s arms and he returned it 16 yards to set up another short field. Again, Valle went to Lane for a 30-yard scoring strike and the lead grew to 28-0.

     With the Owls facing 2nd-and-4 at their 36, Aaryn Leyva went around right end, going 64 yards to the house, only to have most of the yardage negated by a holding call. The week before at Natalia, Leyva had an 86-yard TD run erased by a flag. The Owls’ drive stalled near midfield, leading to a punt. Howard’s kick rolled dead at the 9, where the Hondo defense stepped up, getting a stop of running back Enoch Hall on a 3rd-and-short, with Evans, Andrew Tapia and Peter Luna making the play.

     Hondo took over at the Devine 45. Facing 4th-and-5, Howard passed to Aelvoet for 11 yards and a first down, then a pass interference call moved the ball to the 13. Facing 3rd-and-18 after a sack, Howard lobbed a pass to Leyva at the front corner of the endzone for 21 yards and the Owls’ only TD of the game. Gabriel Rodriguez added the PAT with 47 seconds left in the half.

    On the ensuing second down, a defensive pass interference call gave Devine a first down at the Hondo 43 with time left for only one play. With Valle shaken up on the previous play, Brayden Mann came in at QB, and Devine executed the hook-and-lateral to perfection, resulting in a 43-yard scoring play for Payten Edwards as time expired in the half.

     Taking the second half kickoff, the Owls moved into Devine territory, but again, the drive came to an end with an incompletion at the 40.

The Warhorses overcame a holding penalty with a Valle strike of 43 yards to Edwards, and then a TD connection to Lane for 25 yards and his third scoring catch of the night.

     For the second time, Devine had an interception on the first play of a Hondo drive. This time, D-lineman Kolter Parker got the pick and brought it back to the Hondo 18-yard line.

     After a loss of yardage on first down, Hall went 21 yards to the endzone with 5:28 left in the third and a 49-7 lead.

     A three-and-out for the Owls led to a punt, and on the first play of the series, Valle found Edwards for 49 yards – his third 40+ reception of the game – and a 56-7 lead.

     The teams exchanged possessions, and after a Hondo first down on three carries by Ryan Reyes, linebacker Duke Wheeler grabbed Devine’s third pick of the night, bringing it back 50 yards to the Hondo 15. Casas came in to kick a 30-yard field goal with two minutes to play.

     Hondo lost one more fumble on its final possession and Devine ran out the clock.