Hondo Anvil Herald

Owls dominate Poteet, finish as tri-champions

 

By Jeff Berger

Anvil Herald Publisher

 

     Poteet -- Fighting off a solid first half effort from Poteet, the Hondo Owls scored five touchdowns after intermission, pulling away from the Aggies for a 58-22 win on Friday, Nov. 7.

     Hondo concluded the District 14-3A-I race with a 4-1 mark, which secures the team a tri-championship, along with Crystal City and Jourdanton.

     Because of the tie-breaker in place between the three teams tied for the top, Hondo winds up as the #3 seed in the playoffs, and will face 13-3A-I runner-up Ingram Tom Moore in the bi-district round. 

     The game will be Thursday, Nov. 13, in San Antonio at Comalander Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Tickets – all general admission – are available online at hometownticketing.com. Adult prices are $8.50, student tickets are $5.50.

     Friday’s game saw Hondo fall behind in the first quarter, before snapping out of it and dominating the proceedings.

“We sleepwalked through the first half,” said Hondo coach Dustin Templin. “Things felt out of rhythm, but we woke up in time. I feel like our size and physiciality wore them out in the second half.”

     After forcing a quick three-and-out on Poteet’s first possession, the Owls took just four plays to reach the endzone. Mason Barr ran for 11 yards, then caught a 15-yard pass from Kolten Alvarez. The next two passes went to Cade Aelvoet, who hauled the second one in for a 17-yard touchdown. Gabriel Rodriguez added the extra point for a 7-0 Hondo lead with three minutes elapsed.

     The teams traded punts, and Hondo backed Poteet up to the 20 with Barr’s 49-yard punt that bounced into the endzone for a touchback.

     The Owls had Poteet reeling. Quarterback Arian Bosquez was sacked on consecutive plays by AJ Knight and Mason Martinez. leading to a 3rd-and-24 at the 6. The Owls got the stop on a swing pass, but were flagged for being offside. An incompletion was then negated by a second offside penalty. Then on 3rd-and-14, Bosquez found LJ Garcia for 19 yards and a first down. On the next play, the same pair connected again, this time for 65 yards down the home sideline and a Poteet score. Bosquez passed to Kaden Hammonds for the two-point conversion, giving Poteet an 8-7 lead.

     Hondo, despite the 8-2 overall record, has trailed in every game this year except for the win over Cole.

     Poteet continued with the momentum, recovering an onside kick at midfield. But after the Aggies got a first down on a pass interference call, the Owl defense stepped up, forcing a punt.

     Garcia pinned the Owls deep at the 1-yard line, and three plays later, Hondo set up to punt. Poteet didn’t put anyone deep to field the kick, and paid for it. Barr’s punt bounced and rolled all the way to the Poteet 21. The 72-yard kick tied the record for the longest punt in school history, first set by Jordan Johnson against Fredericksburg in 1994.

     Two pass breakups by Aelvoet and Layton Pope, followed by a Rudy Alvarado sack led to a Poteet punt.

    Starting in Poteet’s end of the field, the Owls needed four plays to score, with Alvarez hitting Barr for a 13-yard catch and run to the endzone. The kick was wide, leaving the score at 13-8 with 9:18 left in the half. 

     Following another short Poteet punt, the Owls’ drive bogged down after picking up a couple of first downs. Rodriguez came in to kick his career long field goal of 39 yards to give the Owls a 16-8 lead.

     The Aggies converted a 3rd-and-11 on a pass to Garcia, then facing a 3rd-and-12, Bosquez went deep for Hammonds, who hauled in a 48-yard score. Hammonds then made a circus catch on the two-pointer to tie the score at 16 with 1:51 left in the half.

     The Owls then responded with their seventh TD of the season inside the first half two-minute timeout. Barr fielded the onside kick attempt and managed to return it to the Poteet 39. A pass to Aelvoet moved the Owls to the 9-yard line and an Alvarez TD was erased by a penalty for an illegal formation. But the senior QB came back to find Anthony Garza on a crossing pattern in the endzone for an eight-yard score with 19 seconds left. The PAT made it 23-16 at halftime.

     Hondo got it going at the break, scoring TDs on five of their six second half possessions. The first was 57 yards in six plays, with Barr scoring from the 3. The extra point was blocked.

     The next was a 52-yard, six-play drive, with Alvarez taking it in from the 5-yard line, after a 34-yard pass to Pope. Alvarez added the two-point conversion, and it was 37-16, midway through the third.

     After a Poteet punt, the teams traded interceptions, with Alex Garcia grabbing the pick for the Hondo defense, and returning it to the Owl 31.

     In seven plays, Alvarez kept it for 29 yards and a score, as the fourth quarter began.

     Poteet put together its final scoring drive, going 69 yards in eight plays, with the score coming on a 4th-and-5 pass to Hammonds with 8:19 left. The Owls stopped the two-point try.

     Two runs by Joby Pimentel, back from an early season injury, followed by two from Andrew Tapia – including the three-yard scoring run – capped a 59-yard drive.

     Following another Poteet punt, one of nine on the night, Pimentel did the carrying, with a 41-yard burst setting up his 12-yard TD run with 3:17 left to play. 

     Pimentel, with all of his net yardage coming in the fourth quarter, rushed for 101 yards, while Alvarez led the team with 112. Barr was just shy of making it to the century mark himself, rushing for 84. Alvarez passed to five different receivers for 178 yards.

     In all, the Owls had 517 total yards, for their third 500-yard game of the season.

     While Poteet had success through the air, Hondo’s defense stuffed the run game, holding the Aggies to minus-15 yards rushing.

     “We knew Poteet would give us a good fight,” said Coach Templin. “They’ve been tight with each of the district champs at halftime. And a win would have guaranteed them a playoff spot. As it turned out, they got the fourth spot anyway, based on their tiebreaker with Cole and Lytle.”