by JASON GORDON
Hays sophomore Caleb Kimbro and his Rebel teammates knocked off one of the top teams in the region, San Antonio Warren, at the Alamo Heights tournament last weekend. The Rebels will now concentrate on qualifying for state when they host a qualifying tournament on June 26. (Photo by Judy Cooper)
The Hays 7-on-7 team easily could have left the Alamo Heights tournament last weekend with a big goose egg in the win column.
The Rebels lost their first two games of the tournament to Class 5A powers San Antonio MacArthur and Mission High, and faced the daunting task of going up against San Antonio Warren in their final pool-play matchup.
Warren thumped Hays during pool play and went on to win the entire tournament two weeks ago at Lake Travis.
The Rebels dug deep, however, and managed to pull out a thrilling 26-25 win over Warren in their best performance so far this 7-on-7 season.
“We knew we got our butts kicked by them in the Lake Travis tournament,” Hays quarterback Mason Cervenka said. “We didn’t want that to happen again and we didn’t want to go 0-3 at Alamo Heights. We had a lot of motivation to play well.”
That’s exactly what Hays did, but it still came down to the final play as Warren scored a touchdown from two-yards out on fourth down as time was expiring to trim the Rebel lead to 26-25.
Warren went for two points and the win on the final play of the game, but a solid defensive effort by Francisco Marin helped force the intended receiver to come down with the catch a half-step out of bounds and the Rebels were victorious.
“Beating Warren was huge for our guys,” said Hays coach Trace Shelton. “We could have easily rolled over and called it a day after losing our first two, but our players came out all fired up. We had a lot of guys make plays, and we really started to see them gel as a team.”
Against Warren, Ty Green, Caleb Kimbro, Jackson Schaubhut and Taven Mayberry caught touchdown passes from Cervenka and Kimbro, who have been splitting time at quarterback this summer.
On the defensive side of the ball, Dalton Johnson, Taylor Hough, Torrance Smith, Godford Maxwell, Marin and Mayberry all came up big against Warren.
Warren has several players already committed to Division I schools, and MacArthur tight end Jace Amaro, who the Rebels squared off against earlier in pool play, has committed to Texas Tech.
“We’re so young, that I know a win against a team like Warren will be a huge confidence boost,” Trace Shelton said. “When you think about the fact we’re going to have to play against teams like Smithson Valley and Clemens in our new district, playing against teams like this in 7-on-7 will definitely help.”
Hays will now focus on its final chance to qualify for the 64-team state 7-on-7 tournament, which runs July 9-10 in College Station.
The Rebels will host a state-qualifying tournament on June 26 at Shelton Stadium. The top two finishers will head to the state tournament.
“Our major goal now is to win our tournament and qualify for state,” Cervenka said. “If we can match the intensity we played with against Warren at Alamo Heights, there’s no reason we can’t do it.”
Hays will also continue to play regular season games Tuesday nights at Shelton Stadium through July 6.
“We get a couple of weeks worth of practices and regular season games to get ready for our tournament,” Trace Shelton said. “We’re close to getting to the point we need to be at to compete for a state tournament spot. I think the guys are realizing they need to run better routes and make better decisions, but I think if we keep progressing we definitely have a shot at state.”
