Joel Young (40) and Kurt Timmons (48) and the Hays defense had trouble tackling Hutto running back Xavier Wynn all night as he gained 101 yards in the first quarter alone in a 40-34 Hippos’ victory. (Photo by Tony Smith)
by JASON GORDON
A game that looked like it was going to be a blowout early on quickly turned into a nail-biter.
In the end, it was Hutto’s strong running game that proved too much for Hays in a 40-34 victory that kept the hungry Hippos undefeated.
Quarterback Ryan Higgins made the most of his 10 carries, rushing for five touchdowns and running back Xavier Wynn carried the ball 21 times for 146 yards to lead Hutto. In all, the Hippos tallied 388 rushing yards against the Rebels.
“Coach (Steve) Hale said we have to run the ball this season,” Higgins said. “That’s what we believe in.”
Wynn rushed for 101 yards in the first quarter alone, and the Hippos’ Trey Essenburg and Amir Akins recovered fumbles on two straight Rebel possessions. That set up two short Higgins touchdown runs and one by Wynn from four yards out to give Hutto a 19-3 lead with a minute gone in the second quarter.
Michael Romero gave the Rebels (2-2) a spark right before the break, returning a punt and weaving his way 75 yards through a river of Hippos and into the end zone for a touchdown that cut the lead to 19-10 at halftime.
“That play got us going,” Hays head coach Bob Shelton said. “That gave us some momentum after the turnovers hurt us.”
Each time Hutto (4-0) looked like it was going to put the game away, Hays came right back.
A third quarter interception by Nate Paez put Hays on the offensive, and after a long drive quarterback Caleb Kimbro punched it in from two yards out. Kimbro’s conversion pass to Romero made the score 26-18.
Higgins scored from seven yards out late in the third period to increase Hutto’s advantage to 33-18, but quarterback Mason Cervenka’s 17-yard pass to Billy Tabor set up Torrance Smith’s 8-yard TD run to cut the margin to 33-25 with just over eight minutes to play in the game.
“I was proud of the way we kept battling back,” Shelton said. “We never stopped.”
It looked as if Hutto had finally put an end to things when Higgins scored from the half-yard line to increase the gap to 40-25 with just over a minute to play after a pound-it-out drive that chewed up more than half of the final quarter.
But Kimbro brought Hays to within 40-32 on an 8-yard quarterback option play with 47 seconds remaining.
After the ensuing onside kick failed, Hutto took an intentional safety with one second left instead of punting to Romero.
Tony Garza, who finished with 109 yards rushing for Hays, took a lateral pitch from a teammate on Hutto’s kickoff after the safety but was brought down at the Hippos’ 31-yard line to end the game.
“We started the game like we were just testing the waters,” Hays defensive end Alan Marin said. “We finished it playing Rebel football.”
Hays must quickly turn its focus to the District 27-4A opener Friday night against cross-town rival Lehman at Shelton Stadium.
In four previous varsity matchups, Lehman has never come close to beating Hays.
“Lehman always thinks they can beat us,” Romero said. “But once the game starts and we put it on ’em, they realize they can’t.”
