Miscues and sloppy play plagued the Wimberley Texans in a 33-14 home opening loss to the Canyon Lake Hawks Friday at Texan Stadium.
“I was proud of our effort and I was proud of the way the kids fought and hung in there,” Wimberley head coach Doug Warren said. “Right now, we aren’t good enough team to overcome a lot of mistakes. You know, we put the ball on the ground a couple of times, too many penalties that knocked us out of some opportune situations.”
Texan junior quarterback Cooper McCollum finished the game 17 of 32 passing for 130 yards and one touchdown, while running back Guy Kypuros contributed 7 carries for 94 yards and one touchdown.
The Texan offense was clicking on its first two drives of the game as the Texans drove down the field and got into scoring position; Wimberley, however, only managed one touchdown.
That score came when Texan junior quarterback Cooper McCollum connected with junior tight end Colby Boyle in the back of the end zone on a jump pass that fooled the Hawks defense to give Wimberley an early 7-0 lead.
The second quarter was a different story as the Canyon Lake offense capitalized on big time plays against the Texan defense. A 93-yard touchdown pass from Hawks sophomore quarterback Peyton McMullen to senior Chance Martelli, followed by a 21-yard touchdown run from senior running back Jacob Ruff catapulted Canyon Lake to a 13-7 lead heading into halftime.
“A combination of things, just missing throws here, dropping a pass here, penalty there,” Warren said. “We were doing a lot of the same things, just not executing as good at that point as we were early in the game. A lot of that is fatigue, a lot of that is mental mistakes, and with an inexperienced team, those things show.”
Canyon Lake rode its late first half momentum into the third quarter with a quick 31-yard touchdown run by senior Caleb Almond. The Texans answered back later in the quarter with a 32-yard touchdown run from senior running back Guy Kypuros.
Despite some struggles, Warren said he was overall “fairly pleased” with the Texan defense.
“We got to get better, we got to make tackles; we can’t have missed tackles,” Warren said. “We can’t have inopportune penalties. Just those little things right now are keeping us from taking this team up a notch to the next level.”
Wimberley’s offense stalled in the fourth quarter as the team didn’t execute in pressure situations.
The Texans didn’t have opportunities to rally due to a Hawks offense that significantly controlled time of possession. Ruff scored two more touchdowns for Canyon Lake in the fourth quarter, ultimately ending the game with 12 carries for 230 yards and three touchdowns.
McCollum finished the game 17 of 32 passing for 130 yards and one touchdown, while Kypuros contributed 7 carries for 94 yards and one touchdown.
“We’ve got to be better,” Warren said. “We’ve got to be more physical, and I thought we took a step in the right direction tonight with that. I was pleased with that part of it. We got a short week, playing on Thursday night next week, so we will have a quick turnaround. But we are getting better each and every day, and we are going to be okay.”
The Texans square off against Fredericksburg Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Texan Stadium. The Texans travel to play at private school powerhouse Regents Aug. 28.
