Wimberley tops Ingleside, heads to quarterfinals

SAN ANTONIO — The Wimberley High School football team and its fans were stunned after the opening kickoff when Ingleside High School's Nate Ambrose ran 77 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game in the 4A Region IV Semifinals at Heroes Stadium on Friday, Nov. 24.

PHOTO BY WAYLAND D. CLARK
Wimberley quarterback Cody Stoever won’t be caught by Ingleside’s Aidan Jakobsohn and runs 72 yards for a touchdown to give the Texans a 49-14 lead in the third quarter.[/caption]

“It dang sure will get your attention right off the bat when someone scores the first play of the game,” head coach Doug Warren said after the game. “I’m proud of the way we responded. We took the ball right down the field to score and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to be here all day.’”

The Texans would score four unanswered touchdowns before Ingleside’s next and final touchdown of the game midway through the second quarter. Wimberley led 35-14 at halftime and scored four touchdowns in the second half for a 63-14 win.

On the Texans’ first possession, Wimberley quarterback Cody Stoever would answer with a 7-yard touchdown run to tie the game and rush for three more touchdowns in the game with runs of 5 yards, 3 yards and a 72-yard run in the third quarter. Kyler Lai topped Ingleside’s opening kickoff run by taking the Mustang’s second half kickoff and running 93 yards to give the Texans a 42-14 lead. Stoever led the team with 16 carries and 176 yards rushing. Chase Carson had five carries for 26 yards and a touchdown and Owen O’Neal had 12 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown. Colton Schmidt had three carries for 12 yards.

Stoever used six receivers to complete nine of 15 passes for 152 yards and connected with Noah Birdsong, who led receivers with 86 yards, on touchdown receptions of 19 yards in the first quarter and 36 yards for the Texans final score late in the fourth quarter. Parker Doss had a 33-yard reception, Dade Gusoskey had one reception for 8 yards, Schmidt had one reception for 12 yards and Lai had one reception for 5 yards, but had a touchdown reception called back due to a holding penalty.

Zach Patek had two interceptions, one of which set up O’Neal’s touchdown run and Ty Thames had an interception. Reid Leinneweber, Landon Johnson, Silas Sames and Thames combined to sack the Mustang’s quarterback Aidan Jakobsohn four times. Dail Hernandez was 8 for 8 on PATs. Wimberley totaled 475 yards of offense in the game. In three playoff games the Texans have out-scored opponents 180-21.

Wimberley (13-0) advances to the 4A Region IV Quarterfinals to face Sinton (10-2-1) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1 at Southwest Legacy Stadium in Von Ormy.