The Flour Bluff punt team was used sparingly on Thursday night at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio as the Hornets dominated Eagle Pass Winn 47-7 in a 5A Division I area round matchup.
With the win, Flour Bluff advanced to the regional semifinals for the second year in a row.
“I thought we played really good football,” Flour Bluff head coach Chris Steinbruck said. “We improved on some things we didn’t do well last week. I’m really proud of our guys.”
The Hornets scored on eight of their first nine drives on the night with a turnover on downs sandwiched in between all the scoring. That meant their punter Cade Dowd wasn’t needed until midway through the fourth quarter.
And while Dowd’s leg didn’t get much work on the night, Hornet quarterback Nash Villegas couldn’t say the same about his arms and legs. He threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 68 yards and two touchdowns on the ground for Flour Bluff.
“He’s an exceptional leader; he does everything we ask him to every day,” Steinbruck said. “He’s exactly the guy you want leading your team at the quarterback position, so really proud of his play tonight.”
Meanwhile, a week after his team knocked off San Antonio Highlands to advance to the area round for the second year in a row, Winn head coach Eric Villaseñor concluded his team simply ran into too stiff a test on Thursday night.
“We knew what we were up against, and it showed tonight,” Villaseñor. “We ran into a good football team. Unfortunately, we didn’t capitalize on some opportunities, and they did.”
Flour Bluff set the tone of the game on its opening possession as it marched 62 yards on 11 plays. Then on fourth-and-goal from the one, Villegas fought his way into the end zone on a quarterback keeper to give the Hornets a 7-0 lead three-and-a-half minutes into the game.
On the next possession, Flour Bluff kept rolling. Facing a third-and-11, Villegas dropped a 56-yard bomb right into the breadbasket of his receiver Wyatt Elwood to double Flour Bluff’s lead.
Elwood was a key playmaker on the night, securing six catches for 109 yards.
And although the Winn defense came up with a stop on fourth down on the Hornets’ next possession, the offense struggled to create anything positive in the opening half as it had to punt on its opening four drives followed by a fumble on its fifth drive.
And with Winn struggling to move the ball offensively, Flour Bluff continued to take advantage of the Mavericks’ defense.
Villegas bounced off a couple of Maverick defenders four minutes into the second quarter to extend Flour Bluff’s lead to 20-0 before he dumped off a pass to Isaac McElroy for an 11-yard score on Flour Bluff’s next possession.
The half concluded with a show of leg strength as Kyler Meschi nailed a 42-yard field goal to give the Hornets a comfortable 30-0 halftime lead.
The second half started off much the same as Villegas floated a perfect pass over the top to Christopher Gisewhite for a 36-yard score to increase Flour Bluff’s lead to 37.
Cameron Johnson added a two-yard run to give Flour Bluff a 44-0 lead heading to the fourth quarter before Meschi booted a 21-yard field goal on the first play of the final period.
Winn finally got on the scoreboard late on as Abiel Cardona scored on a quarterback keeper from five yards out with just under five minutes to go, but the final result on the night was already long out of the question.
Winn carried the ball 29 times for 108 yards, but for an offense that relies almost exclusively on the run, it was a frustrating night overall.
“A lot has to do with Flour Bluff,” Villaseñor said. “Their front affected us tremendously tonight. It really took us out of our element, and it was reflected in the scoreboard tonight.”
However, despite the loss, Villaseñor was proud of what his team accomplished as the Mavericks wrapped up a 6-6 season with a second-straight area round appearance.
“It’s just a testament to our culture and our program and the belief system that we have embedded in our kids,” Villaseñor said. “Credit goes to our coaches. Our kids aren’t going to back down. We didn’t want it to end tonight, but we ran into a pretty good football team.”
For Flour Bluff, a rematch with district foe Gregory-Portland lies ahead in the regional semifinals. The game will take place at the Alamodome next Friday.
And after Gregory-Portland outscored Flour Bluff 30-0 in the second quarter of its 37-27 district victory back on the opening day of October, Steinbruck and his players are ready for another shot at the Wildcats.
“We’re a different football team now, and I think they are too,” Steinbruck said. “[We need to] know that it’s a completely different ball game and prepare like we do every week. Get ready to go win a round three game in the Alamodome on Friday.”
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