SAN ANTONIO – Going into Friday nights matchup at Alamo Stadium, Crystal City coach David Lopez was confident. After one quarter, it seemed Cuero had taken that confidence away.
The Gobblers went on a scoring binge, entering the end zone 10 times Friday to put away the Javelinas 70-7.
The massacre started quickly, as the Gobblers scored on its first four possessions. Its first touchdown was an easy 13-yard strike to five-star athlete Jordan Whittington, who went on to finish the night with three catches for 83 yards. All three of those were in the first quarter.
Running back Kieran Grant found the end zone on the next two Cuero drives. After a two point attempt, the Gobblers were quickly up 22-0.
Two minutes of game time later and it had another chance to put up points. Cuero quarterback Drew Riemenschneider took the snap on first down but fumbled it. Riemenschneider had time to pick it up and lunge it deep to Baylor-commit Bralen Taylor. Taylor waltzed into the end zone to cap off the first quarter with a 28-0 Gobbler lead.
“It was a great start for us,” Cuero coach Travis Reeve said. “Our kids have really been in attack mode these first couple of rounds in the playoffs. I was really proud of them and wanted to take control early and we did that.”
The second quarter meant more scoring for the Gobblers, as they found the end zone three more times before heading into the locker room with a 49-0 lead. One of those touchdowns was an interception return. Junior linebacker Dayton Ball took a John Saucedo pass from the three-yard line all the way to the house.
Ball said there are natural points where everyone gets relaxed on the sidelines while dominating the way they did. But that’s not the way coach Reeve has raised them.
“Everybody is happy and it’s natural for a human to set back and relax but coach always tells us to keep on going, keep on playing like we did from the start,” Ball said.
With the defense, offense and special teams firing on all cylinders, Reeve said that’s what you need to win in November and December. Reeve and the Gobbler starters came back out after the half and finished off two more drives.
The first wasn’t the prettiest drive of the night, though. After driving down to the 37-yard line, the Gobblers handed it off to Jaden Williams. Williams took it 17 yards before fumbling the ball, which looked like it could easily be Javelina ball. Instead, Bralen Taylor picked up the loose ball and walked into the end zone for an easy score.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Taylor said after the game.
At this point, the Javelinas offense still had negative rushing and passing yards, along with two interceptions thrown and only one completion. With the Gobblers leading 56-0, they had one more drive in them.
It lasted one play.
Riemenschneider dropped back and found Taylor wide open in the middle of the field. His 6-foot-7 receiver easily sprinted past every Javelina possible all the way down the field for 96 yards. There was 6:36 left in the third quarter and the Gobblers were up 63-0, their quarterback had 296 yards on 10 completions and their best receiver hadn’t been thrown too in two quarters.
Reeve took the starters out and let some backups and Junior Varsity players finish off the night. There was one more Gobbler touchdown, as Jared Love sprinted 60 yards for a score with 10:16 left in the game to take a 70-0 lead.
The Javelinas did finally score with 1:22 left in the game, thanks to Austin Sanchez punching it in from two yards out.
After the game, Cuero coach Reeve said keeping players in so long wasn’t something against Crystal City. Instead, it was more about maintaining a condition.
“You want to play a full half and you want to come out in the first, maintain momentum in the second half,” Reeve said. “Plus, if you go too early, you lose a little bit of conditioning. So it’s important to us because we’re going to play four quarter games from now on.”
What’s Next
Cuero comes back to San Antonio next week to play Navarro at Heroes Stadium. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 Friday night kickoff.
Interesting Stats
- Crystal City quarterback John Saucedo was 1/11 for -11 yards and three interceptions.
- Crystal City had negative yards until the fourth quarter. It finished with 102 total yards, 113 rushing. Austin Sanchez led the way with 20 attempts for 54 yards.
- Cuero had 521 total yards of offense (225 rushing, 296 passing)
- Grant had 10 carries for 138 yards.
- The Gobblers defense had two touchdowns, 97 and 37-yard interception returns. That out gains and outscores the Javelina offense.
Brought To You By
