I have long been a fan of underdogs and this season continues to provide me with great games featuring the underrated team either pulling off the surprise win or keeping it close with a team that clearly should have blown them out.

This weekend provided two great underdog stories in the South Central Texas area. The La Vernia Bears taking on the powerhouse Cuero Gobblers and the Industrial Cobras taking on the legendary Refugio Bobcats.

First up, the Industrial Cobras vs Refugio Bobcats. Sure, the Cobras lost to the Bobcats – that surprised nobody. The great underdog story here is that they jumped out to an early 12-0 lead and Refugio took until the fourth quarter to take the lead for good. Sure, the game exposed Industrial’s Achilles Heel called a passing game, but their running attack alone was enough to hang with the #4 ranked Refugio team. In the end it was a 32-18 win for Refugio, but it showed the Industrial players and staff that they can be a good team. Just ask the Port Lavaca Calhoun Sandcrabs if just believing in yourself can totally change a program into a winner.

Now lets talk about an underdog that not only got the win, but has people talking all over the state now – the La Vernia Bears defeating the Cuero Gobblers. You may remember in our coverage of La Vernia vs Wimberley that I walked away extremely impressed with the La Vernia Bears. The Bears weren’t satisfied to leave fans “extremely impressed,” instead they went for “shut your mouth shocked.” A 21-6 Homecoming victory over the #4 ranked Gobblers is guaranteed to get the rest of the state talking about La Vernia.

Now those are just two in the past couple days. This has been going on as long as kids have been strapping on the helmets (even back to the leather ones) and facing each other across an invisible line. The old saying is “That’s why they play ‘em,” and for me , that’s one of the big reasons I love this sport so much. I love a juggernaut as much as anyone, but give me an underdog story any day.

Chris Doelle