2018 Texas Tour Week 2

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: September 8, 2018

What is the Texas Tour?

For nearly 15 years our love for Texas high school football has sent us around the state to watch some of the truly great players that our state has to offer. We’ve seen Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw snap the ball to Pro Bowl QB Matt Stafford. We were sitting in the stands watching future Heisman Trophy winners RG3 (Robert Griffin III) and Johnny Football (Johnny Manziel) for their explosive prep careers. Our goal is to see as many future college and NFL players that a Friday night will allow!

Cibolo Steele vs San Antonio Reagan

The Back Story

It is a rare occurrence when neither of these teams were ranked in the top 10 because they have been Region IV powers for quite a while. Cibolo Steele dropped their first game, and even though district is what really matters, they didn’t want to start the season 0-2. Steele graduated a lot of starters off of a 9-5 Regional Finalist team and even though San Antonio Reagan has 1000 more students, the Knights were picked by 2.

Who we came to see

Cibolo Steele

OL Stanley Mark; Top 45 OL in the state
DB Chace Cromartie; #278 CB in the nation; committed to Texas State
DB Xavier Player; #140 CB in the nation; committed to Oklahoma State
DB Jaylon Jones; #115 junior CB in the nation
RB De’Quavion Thomas; #57 junior RB in the nation
WR Daniel Jackson; #134 junior WR in the nation

San Antonio Reagan

LB Lucas Eatman; #122 OLB in the nation; committed to SMU
WR Konnor Fox; #67 TE in the nation
OL Carson Pharris; #189 OT in the nation; committed to New Mexico State
DB JT Mulligan; #197 S in the nation

Game Time

Lightening threatened all night in the distant clouds, but luckily it stayed away and a classic game unfolded. The lead changed hands eight times during the game as neither team had an unanswered score until late in the 4th quarter.

The first quarter opened with a defensive struggle as both teams forced a couple of punts. Reagan’s special teams won that battle which gave them the better field position and a field goal to open the scoring at 3-0 on a 37 yard field goal by Steve Opella. The Rattlers were at mid-field when DB Chace Cromartie (9.5 tackles) intercepted a pass and almost took it to the house. Junior RB De’Quavion Thomas (19-111 yds, Fum, rec 1-18 yds) punched it in for the first Knight touchdown to start the second quarter.

Later in the second quarter, Reagan DB JT Mulligan (4 tackles) intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown to regain a 10-7 lead for Reagan. As halftime approached, Cibolo was holding a 14-10 lead thanks to a Robert Collins touchdown run, but the Rattlers were sitting at 3rd and goal with 13 seconds left in the half. WR Konnor Fox lined up on the far side of the field and QB Travis Sthele hit him on a beautiful slant to give the Rattlers a 17-14 halftime lead. Steele DL Brodrick Howard absolutely dominated the first half with 5 tackles (3 TFL).

The third quarter ended with Reagan leading 24-21 after the teams traded TD passes. In the 4th quarter, Daniel Jackson (5-99 yds) caught his second touchdown of the night to give the Knights a 28-24 lead. Steele held the Rattlers and forced a punt that the Rattlers downed at the Knight’s 2 yard line.

Sophomore QB Wyatt Begeal (8-12-1 for 142 yds, 2 TDs; rush 10-24 yds, TD) took the Knights on a 98 yard scoring drive that took quite a bit of time off the clock and finished it himself with a 1 yard run. It looked like the 35-24 lead would be safe with only 4:03 left in the game, but the Rattlers responded and Fox (5-67 yds) caught his third TD of the game after a very quick drive. Reagan’s two point conversion failed and Steele led 35-30 with just minutes left. Reagan lined up for an onside kick and recovered it, but lost possession when it was deemed that they recovered it due to an illegal touching penalty. Steele came back out to ice the game, but found themselves at 4th and 1 with less than 2 minutes on the clock. Of the Knights 44 rushing plays, only three failed to pick up a yard and this one was like most of the others. Steele converted the 4th down and went into victory formation.

Game Notes

WR Konnor Fox looked fantastic going up against three D1 recruits in the Steele defensive backfield and Knight WR Daniel Jackson looked smooth as well. His brother is Oklahoma DE Mark Jackson so football runs in the blood. Reagan DB Jake Bullock was all over the field. He finished the game with 13 tackles. Steele DL Vincent Quintana had a big second half with 5 tackles (TFL, sack)

Next Week

Austin Lake Travis vs Austin Bowie in the Capitol City!

by Brett Levy