Hopefully everyone had a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday! Eight teams from the greater San Antonio area are particularly thankful to still be alive and in the hunt for state titles at this time of year. KSAT 12′s Big Game Coverage (BGC) caught all of the action from a wild third round of the playoffs, including overtime finishes and game-winning field goals in San Marcos and Dripping Springs.
First, as always, let’s kick off our weekly recap with Week 14′s Best of BGC!
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The third week of playoff action featured all kinds of amazing plays from the greater San Antonio area. Check out the best of the best, including plays from Pleasanton, Brennan, Cuero and Navarro!
>> Click here to check out the Best of BGC from Week 14! <<
How did all of the results affect KSAT 12′s Top 12? Find out who’s in and who’s out of our rankings as we prepare for the fourth week of the playoffs!
>> See the full Week 15 rankings by clicking here! <<
Week 14′s Game of the Week turned out to be another blowout!
BRENNAN 59, AUSTIN BOWIE 36
The Bears’ high-flying offense continues to fire on all cylinders.
For the seventh consecutive week, Brennan (13-0) put at least 54 points on the board, thrashing the Bulldogs by 23 points. The first 14 minutes proved to be a back-and-forth affair. Bowie struck first on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Connor Kenyon to Noah Vasquez, but Brennan quarterback Ashton Dubose responded with a 62-yard touchdown toss to his brother, Aaron Dubose. After the Bulldogs marched down the field to take a 14-7 lead, the Bears again answered right back on the ensuing drive with Dubose’s second TD throw of the game, a 14-yard completion to Armando Acevedo. Following a 36-yard Devin Thompson field goal that gave Brennan a 17-14 advantage, Ashton connected with Aaron again with three ticks left in the half to give the Bears a 24-14 lead at the break.
Brennan picked up right where they left off in the third quarter, scoring three straight touchdowns and 35 total points in the second half to pull away. Ashton Dubose only needed 16 completions to finish with 319 yards and six touchdowns. He also ran 14 times for 78 yards and a score on the ground. Aaron caught five passes for 113 yards and three scores, while Jaheim Lard hauled in six receptions for 86 yards and found the end zone twice.
Brennan has won their three playoff games by a combined 111 points. They will be tough to beat in Friday’s fourth round matchup against Lake Travis.
THREE DEEP
NAVARRO 29, SINTON 28 (OT)
For the second time in the past three years, Navarro got the better of Sinton in the third round of the playoffs. This season’s victory proved to be far more dramatic than their last meeting in 2019.
Trailing 14-0 at halftime, the Panthers started their rally with a pair of third quarter touchdowns. Running backs Colton Chambers and Antwoin Mebane each found the endzone to tie the game at 14. Pirates quarterback Rene Galvan then answered with a one-yard score early in the fourth quarter to reinstate a seven-point Sinton lead.
But Navarro clawed their way back into it. Running back Cole Mouser broke free on a 10-yard score with 1:24 remaining in regulation, and both teams headed to overtime tied at 21. Sinton possessed the ball first, and Galvan scored his fourth touchdown of the game on a nine-yard scamper to put the Pirates on top 28-21.
Once again, the Panthers were undeterred. Mebane scored what appeared to be the game-tying touchdown from a yard out, but instead of kicking the extra point, Navarro gambled and went for two. Mebane took the delayed handoff and patiently weaved his way to the goal line for the game-winning conversion. Now, the Panthers are heading to the fourth round for the fourth straight season.
>> Click here to watch all of the highlights from Friday night! <<
ALAMO HEIGHTS 10, MARBLE FALLS 7
Thanks to a ball-control offense, a dominant defense and clutch kicking, the Mules have advanced to the fourth round for the first time since 2013.
Quarterback James Sobey gave the Mules a 7-0 lead at halftime with a one-yard keeper late in the second quarter. Sobey finished with eight completions for 169 yards. Both teams leaned heavily on their ground games. Alamo Heights running back George Flesher carried the rock 32 times for 131 yards, while the Mustangs ran the ball 36 combined times for 173 yards with five different players. None of those rush attempts found the endzone, but Marble Falls quarterback Jake Becker completed his only pass of the game -- a 41-yard strike to Roberto Adame -- to tie the game at 7 with 4:07 left in regulation.
Alamo Heights didn’t flinch. They marched downfield thanks in part to crucial receptions from freshman Michael Terry III -- three catches, 77 yards -- and junior Rett Andersen, who hauled in a 29-yard completion that moved the Mules into field goal range. Fellow junior Ethan Ball then capped the drive with a 39-yard field goal as time expired, securing a hard-fought victory.
CUERO 36, WIMBERLEY 26
The Gobblers came out on top in a battle of Class 4A powers at the Alamodome.
Both teams traded scores on practically every possession, but Cuero found the endzone five times in comparison to Wimberley’s three. After Texans quarterback Cash McCollum found Ryan Shaw for a 13-yard score on the opening drive, Gobbler running back Tycen Williams answered in the second quarter by breaking free from a tackle n the back field for one of the best runs of the week, a 10-yard scamper that tied the game at 7-all. A pair of Wimberley field goals from kicker Jack Bruner were sandwiched around a 19-yard touchdown pass from Cuero’s Jerry Rossett to Zyler Jones, and the Gobblers entered halftime with a 14-13 lead.
Cuero then took control of the seesaw battle with a 20-yard TD run from Sean Burks that put the Gobblers up 21-13. Rossett eventually put the game on ice with a 31-yard TD pass to LeBron Johnson midway through the fourth quarter. Rossett’s final stat-line: 13-of-23 for 219 yards and two TDs. Johnson hauled in five of those passes for 136 yards and the game-clinching score, as the Gobblers racked up 493 total yards of offense.
>> Click here to watch all of the highlights from Saturday night! <<
Hey Greg! What did you think of the the third round?
Saturday was not a kind day in the high school football playoffs for San Antonio area teams. Both Boerne and Central Catholic were knocked off by two high-powered offenses. The Greyhounds lost to Austin LBJ 68-24, finishing their season at 9-3, and that evening the Buttons were beaten by Midland Christian in Brownwood 41-14 finishing their remarkable season at 9-3. What it made it a little tougher for the Buttons is that was the State Semifinals in TAPPS Division 1. Congratulations to both teams on a great year.
With Brennan and Fredericksburg advancing, there were two other remarkable outcomes. First, Alamo Heights’ 10-7 win over Marble Falls, where the Mules could only manage one TD against the Mustangs stingy defense, and that didn’t come until the end of the first half when James Sobey was able to score from a yard out to take a 7-0 lead at halftime. But it was kicker Ethan Ball who would be the hero that night when he booted a 39-yard field goal with two seconds left on the clock to send the Mules into the 5A State Quarterfinals 10-7.
And how about Navarro and Sinton in a game that had to go to overtime? Both teams ended regulation tied at 21-all, and after Sinton scored, the Panthers answered with a one-yard TD from Antoine Mebane and then added the two-point conversion to win 29-28.
The Shiner Comanches look primed for another run at the UIL Class 2A Division I State title.
All three phases contributed to a 67-21 demolition of Schulenberg in the third round on Friday evening. Thunder-and-lightning running backs Doug and Dalton Brooks led a Comanche rushing attack that posted 380 yards on the ground. Shiner’s defense limited the Shorthorns to less than 200 yards of total offense. Special teams returned a blocked punt for a touchdown for good measure, as part of a 54-point first-half explosion.
The Comanches (13-0) have scored 76, 62 and 67 points in their three playoff games. Now they face their toughest challenge of the season -- a State quarterfinal rematch against Refugio (13-0) in Victoria. Shiner won last year’s meeting 24-13. Can they do it again?
ROUND FOUR PREVIEW COMING THURSDAY!
We’ll have a full playoff preview of the third round coming up later this week on KSAT.com. Stay tuned!
Andrew Cely, KSAT 12 Sports Producer and Reporter
If you have any questions about this newsletter or story ideas for the season ahead, feel free to reach me via email at acely@ksat.com.