Lehman receiver Tyler Dodero catches a pass from quarterback Josh Guerrero.
by WES FERGUSON
The Lehman Lobos have been enthusiastic converts to new head coach Todd Raymond’s spread offense this spring and summer. They hope June 19’s rocky performance in 7-on-7 action will go a long way toward working out the kinks before the start of the real football season in the fall.
Dropping a pair of games 36-10 to Boerne and 24-12 to San Antonio Lee last week, the Lobos had a hard time mustering much offense in the double-elimination Red Bull Game Breakers regional qualifier, a tournament featuring 20 teams from around Austin, San Antonio and beyond.
Coach Oscar Villarreal said his young players showed talent in the one-day tournament but did not live up to the potential they had shown in practice.
“It’s so frustrating. Once they get the system down, Lehman will be unbelievable,” said Villarreal, a Kyle resident and Texas State University senior. “It’s just working on timing with the young quarterbacks. That’s the toughest transition.”
In the Lobos’ first game of the afternoon, Boerne quarterback Quinten Dormady burned Lehman on several short, timed passes and promptly found receiver Hunter Lee in the end zone on the opening drive.
Lehman junior quarterback Josh Guerrero responded with three straight completions on the Lobos’ first offensive opportunity, but the drive stalled at midfield. Dormady, an incoming sophomore, tacked on another scoring strike before Guerrero and his receivers awakened on their second possession.
Two Guerrero lobs to Lehman receiver Kelton Powell brought the Lobos to the 2-yard line, where Guerrero rifled a short pass to Bradley Braxton’s awaiting arms just across the goal line for the final score of the first 10-minute half. But the Lobos struggled in the second frame, while Dormady tacked on another late touchdown to squelch Lehman’s hopes of a comeback.
In the second game against Lee, Villarreal handed over the offense’s reins to incoming sophomore Jeremy Schilhab, who has a big arm and sweeter spiral than the Lobos’ projected starter but lacks Guerrero’s varsity experience. Unfortunately for Schilhab’s big break, the Lobos’ receivers dropped most of his passes during a span of two possessions, including a 30-yard bomb that wideout Jonathan Herrera bobbled and lost control of when he hit the ground in the end zone.
Lee’s receivers had less trouble finding the end zone, scoring twice in the first half and once more in the second on passes from Brannon Montanez. The Lobos never saw the end zone in the elimination game.
“We need the quarterback to read more of the field,” a frustrated Powell said after the loss. “There’s a bunch of people open, but he’s not seeing them.”
Villarreal agreed the Lobos’ quarterbacks were having a difficult time “grasping” the middle of the field, but he noted the receivers weren’t without blame, either.
“We had speed. We had great arms. The plays were there, and the holes were there, but I could count six balls we dropped,” Villarreal said. “The defense played lights out, and we let them down because we couldn’t get it together offensively.”
As the drops led to more drops, problems seemed to spread through the receiving corps like a mental epidemic, he added. “You could see the receivers’ heads coming down,” Villarreal said.
Schilhab said he realizes he has a lot of work to do as he prepares for the junior varsity quarterback’s job this fall.
“I have horrible footwork,” Schilhab said. “It causes me to under-throw my receivers sometimes.”
Lehman had more luck during its June 12 scrimmage against Akins, knocking off the Eagles’ 7-on-7 squad by four touchdowns. The Lobos’ defense added four interceptions, Villareal said.
