Wimberley Loses Emotional Game 35-24

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: September 5, 2015

photo: Ben Garza defensive standout for Wimberley carries the ball for a solid gain - Swell Chick Photography

WIMBERLEY - The home opener for the Wimberley Texans featured saw them taking on the #10 ranked team in Class 4A DII, the Giddings Buffaloes. Emotions were high for the team and the city. This game marked the first home game since flooding devastated so many lives in Wimberley. The first-responders that did so much to help during the Memorial Day flooding were honored prior to kickoff. Then, Giddings presented the gift of a $3,000 donation to a local charity. The most emotional of the pre-game happenings was when John McComb addressed the fans. He was the sole survivor in a house that got swept away and destroyed. His wife and two children died.

The opening kickoff changed the focus from remembrance to moving forward as the community had a return to normalcy for at least a few hours.

The Texans started off slow, fumbling on the first drive and Giddings responded by tossing a TD pass to open the scoring 7-0 with just one offensive play. The two teams swapped punts following the quick score and Wimberley finally put together a drive behind some solid running by Hunter Williams that was capped off with a 22 yard TD pass to Matthew Stroman to tie the game 7-7.

Halfway through the second quarter, Wimberley took their only lead, 10-7 with a 35 yd field goal. Giddings scored once more before halftime to regain the lead 14-10, despite the Texans' defense getting the ball twice via failed 4th down conversions by Giddings before the half.

The second half adjustments by Giddings seemed to change the flow of the game as they moved away from the running game. In no time, it seemed that the Buffaloes were off to the races with their passing game. They scored twice in the 3rd quarter stretching their lead to 28-10.

Wimberley showed signs of life by opening up their passing game with two big passes to Matt Mitchell and one to Colby Crowder that put the ball on the Giddings 1 yard line. Alexis Orocio punched it across the line to make the score 28-17.

On the next drive, Wimberley blocked the Buffaloes punt but wasted the opportunity with penalties and negative yardage. The Texans punted on a 4th & 30 to hand the ball back to Giddings. The Buffaloes responded with a 72 yard run by Elijah Lewis and the score stretched to 35-17. The Texans scored again before it was over making the final score 35-24 as the Texans fell to 0-2 on the season. Giddings moved to 2-0.

Wimberley Head Coach Doug Warren said after the game, "We're not young anymore. We can't use that as an excuse anymore. We know what we have to work on and we are going to get better." Despite the losses, the team has played two very good teams a lot closer than many expected.

Certainly scheduling two Top 10 teams to start the season (La Vernia and Giddings) goes a long way toward maturing Warren's young team and should put them in a good position as they get closer to district play.

by Chris Doelle