Cibolo Steele Knights Football SCHEDULE

The top team last year in District 25-6A was the Steele Knights.  They had 13 wins and 2 losses. The last loss was to the Katy Tigers in the state semi-final playoff game.

Here are some players to watch this year for Steele:

RB – Senior – Bryson Denley – 161 carries for 924 yards with 12 touchdowns  (committed to Texas Tech)

RB – Junior  – Travell Lumpkin – 106 carries for 630 yards with 7 touchdowns

WR – Senior -Antoine Wesley-Cox – 30 receptions for 550 yards with 6 touchdowns (committed to Texas Tech)

WR – Junior – CJ Williams – 24 receptions for 303 yards with 5 touchdowns

DB – Junior – Joshua Croslen

DE – Senior – Mark Jackson (committed to Texas A&M)

The starting quarterback for Steele is going to be Xavier Martin, a junior. As a sophomore last year, he was 6 of 14 passing for 60 yards with 1 touchdown and he had 16 carries for 117 yards with 1 touchdown. Oh, he also had 9 receptions for 196 yards with 4 touchdowns. He will be replacing LG Williams (he is at Texas State University) who had 5,352 total yards with 62 total touchdowns as the starter.  LG is hard to replace but I know Xavier is capable of doing it and doing it well.

Let’s take a look at the Steele schedule:

8/28/15 Madison @ Lehnhoff Stadium

In 2010, this game was broadcast live on ESPN with Herman Edwards as one of the broadcasters. Edwards is a current ESPN analyst and former NFL player and coach. I was at the stadium the night before for another game and the phone line that we used was a few booths down from ours, which ended up being the booth Edwards was broadcasting from. I eventually plugged it in and finished my marvelous duct taping job at Herman Edward’s feet since he was doing a live radio show. True story!

Can you imagine the headlines if Herman had tripped on the phone cord? I can see it now…“Local high school football statistician Mark David Lieberman’s poor job of securing a phone cord landed Herman Edwards at Methodist hospital with severe damage to his ankles.”  Then I would be investigated and everybody would question my duct taping skills…I will tell you I am not only a skilled duct-taper, but also extremely experienced.

2010 was also the year the Steele Knights won the 5A Division II State Championship. Yes, I was there and it was awesome!

2014 Steele 35 and Madison 0

9/4/15 Laredo United South @ United South Stadium

2014 Steele 62 and Laredo United South 0

9/10/15 O’Connor @ Farris Stadium

This game will be on CW 35 in San Antonio or online at kmys.tv/tnl and I will be there doing stats.

2014 Steele 10 and O’Connor 3

9/17/15 DeSoto @ TBD

DeSoto is one of the top football programs in the country. If this game is played in San Antonio or less than an hour away, I will be there! The quarterback for DeSoto is Tristen Wallace. In April, Wallace committed to Ohio State University.

2014 DeSoto 29 and Steele 24

9/25/15 Smithson Valley @ Lehnhoff Stadium

Last year, the Smithson Valley Rangers took a 20 to 0 lead early in the 2nd quarter. Steele finally scored a touchdown with 4:41 left in the second quarter. Two and a half minutes later, Steele scored again on a 52-yard touchdown pass from LG Williams to CJ Williams. The score was Smithson Valley 20 and Steele 14. The Steele Knights recovered a Smithson Valley fumble and scored a 1 yard touchdown!

At halftime, Steele led 21 to 20. The Rangers ran 26 plays for 63 yards; Steele ran 35 plays for 204 yards, and both teams had a defensive score.

In the third quarter, Steele added three more points to their lead and, going into the fourth quarter, they led 24 to 20.

With ninety-nine seconds left in the game, Steele quarterback LG Williams scored a touchdown that sealed the win for the Steele Knights. That drive took 7:23 off the clock with 13 plays for 64 yards, which is a great example of what I like to call a “championship drive.”

The final score was Steele 31 and Smithson Valley 20. Not all teams can have 4 turnovers and 8 penalties for 72 yards and expect to win a game, especially a game against the Smithson Valley Rangers at Smithson Valley.

10/2/15 Clemens @ Lehnhoff Stadium

I am planning to attend this game.

Steele and Clemens are the only high schools in the Schertz Cibolo Universal City Independent School District which makes this game big brother (Clemens) VS little brother (Steele).  This game is known as the “Battle of 3009” because 3009 is the road that separates the schools.

Last year, Steele shut out Clemens by a score of 31 to 0. Travell Lumpkin led the ground game with 17 carries for 101 yards and 1 touchdown. Antoine Wesley-Cox had 2 receptions for 98 yards and 1 touchdown which was for 65 yards. My wife loves both of these players’ names.

10/9/15 Wagner @ Lehnhoff Stadium

2014 Steele 31 and Wagner 7

10/16/15 New Braunfels @ New Braunfels Unicorn Stadium

2014 Steele 45 and New Braunfels 10

10/23/15 Judson @ Lehnhoff Stadium

Last year, the Steele Knights scored the game-winning touchdown with less than 20 seconds remaining. The final score was Judson 22 and Steele 23.

10/30/15 BYE

11/6/15 New Braunfels Canyon @ New Braunfels Canyon Stadium

Last year, Steele led 28 to 0 after the first quarter. New Braunfels Canyon helped them by having 4 turnovers (2 of them returned for touchdowns).  The first play of the 2nd quarter was a punt return for a touchdown by the Steele Knights. Steele led 42 to 0 at halftime! Steele had 199 yards to only 56 yards for the Cougars.

The 3rd quarter started at 8:58 and ended at 9:11! Yeah, it took 13 minutes to play 12 minutes thanks to a running clock. The game ended at 9:28 and the final score was Steele 49 and New Braunfels Canyon Cougars 0.

Steele ran 32 plays for 304 yards. They had offensive, defensive, and special teams touchdowns. The quarterback, Xavier Martin, was 3 of 5 passing for 19 yards and 1 touchdown. On the ground, he had 2 carries for 36 yards and 1 touchdown. Bryson Denley had 7 carries for 50 yards and 1 touchdown and Travell Lumpkin had 5 carries for 54 yards.

When you have a blowout game, you would normally let the younger players play for experience (in Steele’s case, the young guns start over the seniors).  So, in garbage time, it was nice to see the seniors get in the game.

This game was also the last time I worked in the old press box because the stadium is undergoing renovations which include a new press box, a new scoreboard and a new track.  Please check out my latest renovation photos. It looks amazing and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

2014 PLAYOFF GAMES

In Week 13, the Steele Knights played the Brennan Bears. These teams have been the top 2 teams in the San Antonio area in the past and I can easily see them continuing that this season. I was expecting a very close game and, quite possibly, the team with the ball last would win.

When the game kicked off at 8:20 in the Alamodome, you could see the excitement in the fans and I must admit, I was psyched! This will be one of those games that is talked about in the future.

The 2nd play of the game for the Steele Knights was a 61-yard touchdown by the Steele Knights. At the end of the 1st quarter, Steele led Brennan by a score of 14 to 6. The Steele Knights added a field goal in the 2nd quarter and led 17 to 6. The Brennan quarterback answered with a 5-yard touchdown run. Steele lead 17 to 12. With less than :30 left in the 2nd quarter, Steele quarterback LG Williams scored on a 2-yard rushing touchdown.

At Halftime, Steele led Brennan by a score of 24 to 12.

When play resumed for the 2nd half, the officials kept time because parts of the Alamodome lost power, including the scoreboards, video boards and play clock, and even some of the boxes in the press box.

Steele and Brennan didn’t score in the 3rd quarter or the 4th quarter! I had the best Tweet when the game ended:”Game is over or is it? Steele 24 Brennan 12 #txhsfb FINAL.”

In Week 16, the Steele Knights played the Katy Tigers at NRG Stadium in Houston with the winner advancing to the state championship game in Arlington.

The Steele Knights trailed Katy by a score of 17 to 13 in the 4th quarter with less than 3 minutes remaining. Steele had the ball with 82 yards in front of them. I was quietly cheering for Steele all through the game, and for this drive, I mouthed game-winning drive! Three plays later, the Knights scored a touchdown and that touchdown catch by Antoine Wesley-Cox was absolutely unbelievable, as he caught it with one hand.

Steele now led 20 to 17 with under 2 minutes left. I could smell the state championship game. Katy had less than 2 minutes to either tie with a field goal or win with a touchdown. Well, folks, Katy nailed a 35-yard field goal as time expired to send the game into OVERTIME.

In overtime, Katy kicked a field goal but it was negated because a Steele player ran into the kicker and Katy capitalized by scoring a touchdown. Katy led 27 to 20. It came down to a 4th down play for the Steele Knights and the pass into the end zone was incomplete…game over. This game was my GAME OF THE YEAR!

The Steele Knights ran 53 plays for 309 yards. The Knights struggled and gained 88 yards running the ball. In his last high school football game, LG Williams had 268 total yards and 1 touchdown. Bryson Denley had 8 carries for 24 yards and 1 touchdown; Travell Lumpkin had 4 carries for 19 yards; and Xavier Martin had 1 carry for 15 yards. Antoine Wesley-Cox had 7 receptions for 134 yards and 1 touchdown. Lumpkin had a 10-yard reception and Martin had a 27 yard reception.