A week ago this past Thursday, October 7, the San Saba JV football team traveled to Harper. The game did not start off too good as the Longhorns returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the two point conversion failed. Harper kicked to us, and we fumbled. This allowed the Longhorns to run a reverse pass play for another easy score, again the conversion failed. Finally we had a chance for our offense to take the field. We moved the ball some, but were forced to punt. Our defense began to play great as well. Once we got the ball back for a second time, we drove down the field and Kelan Verette ran in a short run for an Armadillo touchdown. Kolton Ellis caught a pass and ran in the two-point play to make the score 8-12 in favor of Harper. The Longhorns ran back our kickoff again, and converted the two-point play. Now the score was 8-20. Late in the second quarter the Armadillos drove the ball down the field again. A long pass from JT Mathis to Mario Valdez helped to keep the drive alive. Eventually Kolton Ellis had a short run in for a touchdown and JT Mathis converted the two-point play by running it in from 3 yards out. The halftime score was 16-20, Longhorns.

In the second half, the offense did not move the ball much and was forced to punt. The defense played well, but the Harper offense still found a way to score again going up 16-26. The Dillo offense moved the ball close to midfield. Martin Cervantes came in at tailback and continued to move the ball into Longhorn territory. This substitution, and others, gave some key people some needed rest. Eventually, Kelan Verette would run in from the five-yard line for a touchdown. The two-point play was no good and the score became 22-26. Late in the fourth quarter, the Longhorn offense punched in one more touchdown and two-point conversion pushing up the score to 22-34. That pretty much sealed the deal. The San Saba offense had less than two minutes to drive the field and down twelve points. We reached the eight-yard line and had two seconds left for a fourth and goal play. The pass to the left was incomplete and the game was over. We were not able to overcome the hole we put ourselves in by the way we opened the game on the road.

This past Thursday, October 14, we hosted the Sonora Broncos at Rogan Field. Sonora took the opening kickoff and after a few plays, a wide receiver broke a tackle and sprinted down the sidelines for the first score of the game. The Broncos kick after try was successful, making the score 7-0. After receiving the ball, the Armadillos decided to go deep. The ball was tossed to Kelan Verette, who faked the run and threw downfield to Luis Vega for a touchdown. We did not convert our two-point try, so the score was 7-6 Sonora. Our defense held the Sonora offense with great plays by Jordan Watson, Dusty Parum, and Kolton Ellis. The offense got the ball back and began to drive again. Garrett Hartranft caught a pass from JT Mathis for another Dillo score. Again the two-point play was no good, leaving the score 7-12 in favor of San Saba. Our defense kept battling and forcing punts. In the second quarter, the Armadillos got the ball and drove down to the 5-yard line of Sonora behind good blocking of Nathan Amstead, Aaron Perez, Dylan Rosales, Dusty Parum and Brian Rogers. Kelan Verette ran left for a touchdown and ran in the two-point play from the 3-yard line as well. This pushed the score to 7-20. Again the defense made a stand and forced another punt. The offense moved the ball down the field, overcoming penalties and not well-executed plays. A big pass reception for Juan Ortega from JT Mathis put another score on the board. Again Kelan Verette ran in for two points. This made the halftime score 7-28 Dillos.

In the second half, the defense remained constant, stopping run play after run play and tackling the receivers on short yard receptions. The first time the offense had the ball; we did not move it and was forced to punt. On the next possession, we got the ball to the one-foot line. JT Mathis ran a quarterback sneak to score; however the two-point play was not successful. This made the score 7-34, San Saba. Eventually the Broncos moved the ball a little bit and a receiver broke free for a touchdown. The kick after was also good and the score became 14-34, still in favor of San Saba. This was a great TEAM win. The JV squad has improved their record to 2-4 on the season, and is now 1-1 in district play. Our next game is Thursday, October 21, in Coleman, Texas, at 6:00 pm. Thank you everyone for your support.