Michael Romero pounds his way past the goal line, sprung by Jacob Gonzalez and Mason Cervenka blocks, to score the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter in the Rebels’ 34-24 comeback victory in their bi-district playoff matchup with Brennan. Hays will next take on No. 5 Cedar Park at Burger Stadium in Austin in the area round Friday night. (Photo by Bruce Ruckel, www.Chaparralphoto.com)
by JASON GORDON
The Rebels turned a football game in which they looked down and out into another thrilling victory by the time the final seconds ticked away.
Hays High turned the ball over four times, but it was San Antonio Brennan’s miscues late that gave the Rebs a chance to win.
Hays High took full advantage of the opportunity and went on to a 34-24 bi-district playoff victory last Friday at Clemens’ Lehnhoff Stadium.
The Rebels’ first playoff win since 2006 sets up an area round matchup with No. 5 Cedar Park Friday night at Burger Stadium. The victory came one week after the Rebels knocked off No. 2 Smithson Valley to earn a share of the district crown.
Brennan (7-4) led 24-21 early in the fourth quarter and had the ball one foot away from the Rebel goal line. But an illegal procedure penalty pushed the Bears back and on the very next play Rebel defensive lineman William Trevillion recovered a fumbled Brennan snap at the 6.
Hays proceeded to march 94 yards down the field, keyed by Caleb Kimbro’s 42-yard run, his 16-yard pass to Mason Cervenka and Michael Romero’s 4-yard run on fourth-and-three.
Romero scored from 4 yards out to cap the drive, giving the Rebels a 27-24 lead with just under six minutes to play.
“We had a little bit of a hangover from the Smithson Valley win early on, but that 94-yard drive was our biggest of the night,” said Hays head coach Blake Feldt. “We really got it cranked up from there.”
Brennan forced Hays into a punting situation near midfield with three minutes to play, but Jake Vela fumbled Kimbro’s booming kick at the 5, and Rebel receiver Granger Studdard pounced on the ball at the 1.
The Rebels (8-3) ran all but the final 25 seconds off the game clock before Taven Mayberry’s 1-yard touchdown plunge capped the win.
Hays trailed by as many as 10 points early in the third quarter before Kimbro’s 28-yard touchdown run made it 24-21.
Hays’ defense struggled for the first three quarters, but Anthony Valdez, Joel Young, Kyle Cox, Nate Paez, Jared Rodriguez and Trevillion were among several Rebs that made key stops in the fourth quarter to keep Brennan off the scoreboard in the final frame.
“We knew we could overcome adversity,” said Hays receiver Mason Cervenka, who caught a 68-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. “We never lost faith in each other.”
Kimbro led the Rebels with 138 yards rushing and 191 passing. His season totals of 2,156 yards through the air and 3,056 total yards are both Hays records. His 20 TD passes and 30 total touchdowns this year are also Rebels’ single-season records. In addition, with four catches Friday night, Studdard eclipsed the Rebs’ single-season receptions mark with his total of 37.
Cervenka’s long TD catch in the first quarter gave Hays the early lead, but Brennan bounced back when Deshawn Key connected on touchdown passes of 57 and 61 yards to Brandon Sanchez and Aaron Beaugard.
Kimbro countered with a 6-yard scoring run, but David Gonzales’ short field goal gave the Bears a 17-14 halftime advantage.
The second half started out poorly for the Rebs. On the first play from scrimmage Kimbro threw a pass that was picked off right into the arms of Brennan linebacker Grant Wantabe.
Key threw a 31-yard TD pass to Joshua Luna three plays later, and the Bears led 24-14 before the Rebels rallied.
Before Friday night, the Rebs hadn’t tasted playoff success since a magical 2006 run that saw them knock off Fredericksburg and Lake Travis in the postseason before beating Calallen on a last-second miracle pass to advance to the regional finals where they ultimately fell to Clemens.
This year’s Rebels know they will need to play much better than they did against Brennan to have a shot against Cedar Park.
“We have to start out a lot faster than we did tonight,” Cervenka said. “They are a great team with very good athletes like Smithson Valley. But we’ve proven we can beat great teams, so we just need to work hard this week and go out and give them our best shot.”
