The Hays Rebel football team enters a crucial stretch beginning Friday. The Rebs will take on Canyon and Smithson Valley consecutively with a chance to win a share of the district title on the line.
by WES FERGUSON
Once again, “wait till next year” will have to be the battle cry of the Lehman High football team.
A disastrous second quarter doomed the Lobos on Friday night, ending their season-long hope of making the playoffs for the first time.
Paced by a 35-point burst in the second quarter, Alamo Heights defeated Lehman 42-6, guaranteeing the Lobos would be on the outside looking in when the final postseason picture is painted in a couple of weeks.
After starting the season with a promising 4-0 record in non-district action, Lehman fell to 0-4 in District 27-4A with the loss. The Lobos have still won only one district game in the six years they’ve played varsity football, a victory over Elgin in 2009.
“I’m very disappointed,” Lobos head coach Steve Davis said after Friday’s game. “I’m very disappointed for the kids. I wanted them to experience the playoffs.”
The Lobos began the game with an aggressive attack, holding Alamo Heights to a punt on its first possession. During the Mules’ second chance with the ball, Lehman linebacker Charles Williams crushed quarterback Dub Yarborough from behind for a 6-yard loss.
But Alamo Heights used the Lobos’ aggressiveness against them. On the very next play Yarborough tossed a screen pass over the blitzing Lobos for a 24-yard gain to wide receiver Robert Schuler.
A few plays later Yarborough ran in five yards for the game’s first touchdown.
Speedy returner Kyron Morrisette put the Lobos in excellent field position when he faked a reverse and sprinted 70 yards to the Heights 32-yard line. Running back Levi Medley, seeing his first action after suffering a concussion two games back, led the Lobos to the Mules’ 12.
Medley, however, suffered another injury – a deep wrist bruise – and he was replaced in the backfield by Williams. On third-and-2, Williams took a pitch from Anguiano, beat the defensive end around the right corner and lowered his shoulder to crash another five yards into the end zone.
The Lobos missed the extra point, but trailed only 7-6.
That’s when things got ugly. Led by the passing Yarborough, the Mules rattled off five straight touchdowns over the next 10 minutes and the game was never close again. Yarborough completed 16 of 19 passes for 238 yards, all of it in the first half.
“We got careless with the ball on offense,” Davis said. “We didn’t execute, threw a couple of interceptions, and before you know it” the game was out of hand.
One bright spot for the Lobos’ offense was sophomore Paul Brown who gained 74 yards on 12 carries in place of Medley.
Davis said he hopes Medley will be able to play against Clemens Friday night. Medley rushed for nearly 1,000 yards in Lehman’s first five games but has seen limited action since rushing for 227 yards in a 28-27 loss to Hays in the district opener in late September.
The Lobos have two more games this season – Friday against Clemens (4-4, 1-3) at Shelton Stadium and Nov. 4 at Lockhart (2-6, 0-4).
“We’re playing for pride now,” said quarterback Matt Anguiano, who completed 4-of-13 passes for 40 yards, but also threw two crucial interceptions that Alamo Heights capitalized on for touchdowns. “We don’t want to go 0-for-district so we’ll come out fighting every week, and we’ll be ready for Clemens.”
