Game 10

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=95 BGCOLOR="#336600" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="066005f0dwnplj.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>GOBBLER SPORTS</B></FONT><B>   </B><B>|     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="GOBBLER SPORTS"><U><B>home</B></U></A>   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 1"><U>Game 1</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 2"><U>Game 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 3"><U>Game 3</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 4"><U>Game 4</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 5"><U>Game 5</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 6"><U>Game 6</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 7"><U>Game 7</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 8"><U>Game 8</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 9"><U>Game 9</U></A>   |   <B>Game 10</B>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 11"><U>Game 11</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 12"><U>Game 12</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 13"><U>Game 13</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id82.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game 14"><U>Game 14</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>District Scores</B></div> <div> <B> CUERO 28\ </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Yoakum</B></FONT><B> 21</B></div> <div> <B>Halletsville 33 \ Gonzales10 </B></div> <div> <B>Luling 42 \ Goliad 14 </B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=385 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Game 10</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Gobblers Gallop:</B></div> <div> <B> Cuero capitalizes on Yoakum miscue for key 27-3A victory.</B></div> <div> <B>Mike Forman</B></div> <div> <B>Advocate Sports Writer</B></div> <div> <B>Yoakum-</B> Cuero coach Mark Reeve knew his young team would get an education this season; he's just glad the latest lesson ended on a positive note. Matt Schumacher threw three touchdown passes and the Gobblers took advantage of a critcal Yoakum turnover to capture a 28-21 District 27-3A win on Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.</div> <div>  "You can win by 30 points," said Reeve, whose team improved to 6-1 on the season and 2-0 in district, "but you can't learn as much as we learned tonight."</div> <div>  What the Gobblers learned from Yoakum (5-2, 1-1) was they have to play a full four quarters and they better make the most of opportunities.</div> <div>  The biggist opportunity for Cuero came with just over 1 minute to play in the forth quarter with the score tied at 21.</div> <div>  Brandon Hillbrich, who averaged 45.5 yards on his six punts, had a 43-yard kick to pin the Bulldogs on their 5-yard line with 1:15 remaining.</div> <div>  On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Travis Starling ran a kepper and was hit by tackle Aaron Sanez. The ball popped out of his hands and was recovered by Cuero strong safety Larvell Roy at the 2 with 1:10 left.</div> <div>  Yoakum didn't make it easy for the Gobblers, as Latrael Cooper was stopped for no gain on first down and Cuero hurt itself by drawing an illegal procedure penalty to push it back to the 7 with 41 seconds remaining.</div> <div>  "Sometimes these kids make you want to pull your hair out." Reeve said. "But the good thing is they never quit trying."</div> <div>  After a Yoakun time-out, Schumacher rolled to his right snd threw a strike to Nick Taylor in the end zone with 36 seconds on the clock.</div> <div>  "It was a naked bootleg." said Schumacher, who completed 14 of his 22 passes for 150 yards.</div> <div> "We had been running the counter the whole game and we came back with the bootleg for the first time and Nick was open."</div> <div>  Cuero hardly appeared like it would need any forth-quarter dramatics when it totally dominated the first half and took a 14-0 lead into the locker room.</div> <div>  The Gobblers had the ball for 16:28 and ran 35 plays to 14 for Yoakum, which had one first down that came with 4 seconds left in the second quarter.</div> <div>  Cuero scored in the second quarter on a 18 yard pass from Schumacher to Cooper, a 1 yard run by Cooper and two of Brandon Kuecker"s four extra points.</div> <div>  "We really came out playing hard," Schumacher said of the Gobblers, who were without tight end/middle linebacker Brady Urbanovsky, who got the flu on Friday. "It seemed like everything we did was working. We were rolling."</div> <div>  But after Riley Boening recovered Taylor's fumble on Cuero's first possesion of the second half, Yoakum got it's offense moving.</div> <div>  "We couldn't get anything going in the first half," said Yoakum coach Jessie Crow. "But the good thing is we saw we could throw and we saw we could run inside."</div> <div>  Yoakum cut Cuero's lead in half when Starling threw a 10 yard pass to tight end Terrence Wilkinson Boening added the first of three extra points with 7:51 left in the third quarter.</div> <div>  The Bulldogs tied the game on their next possession when starling, who threw for 196 of his 223 yards in the second half, hooked up with Colby Wilemon for a 5-yard touchdown with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter.</div> <div>  Cuero drove 66 yards to regain the lead, scoring on a 13 yard pass from Schumacher to tight end Dakota Williams with 1:15 remaining in the third quarter.</div> <div>  But after being stopped on a forth-and-five from the Cuero 9, Yoakum got even when Starling hooked up with Wilemon, who got away from the Cuero defender and raced 46 yards for the touchdown with 1:36 left.</div> <div>  It was Wilemon's second catch of the drive and ninth of the second half for 184 yards and two touchdowns.</div> <div>  Cuero felt even better after Jeremy ross sealed the win when he intercepted Starling's desperation pass with 23 seconds left.</div> <div>  "Yoakum does so much stuff that you better be ready," Reeve said. "We're young and we make young mistakes. But I think the Gobbler got them in the end."</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >                                </FONT>  <B>Cuero                 Yoakum</B></div> <div> First Downs                       16                         15</div> <div> Yards Rushing                  42-133                 26-63</div> <div> Yards Passing                   150                      248</div> <div> Passes                               14-22-0               14-26-1  </div> <div> Punts                                   6-45.5                 6-33.8 </div> <div> Fumbles-lost                      2-1                       2-1</div> <div> Penalties-yards                 4-20                    3-25</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Gobblers survive Dog’s surge for 28-21 win</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>by Glenn Rea </B></div> <div> <B>Record Editor -</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >It was the tale of two halves. Cuero’s Gobblers dominated the Yoakum Bulldogs in the first half but fought for their lives in the second half. </FONT></div> <div> In the end Cuero prevailed with a 28-21 win to remain undefeated in the district race. </div> <div> Fans were treated to the usual nail-biting, last-minute, surprise-ending, one-play decision-making game. </div> <div> Cuero carried a 14-0 lead into halftime with a substantial stat domination. The Gobblers had 11 first downs to Yoakum’s one and QB Matt Schumacher had completed nine of 12 passes. The Bulldogs had gone to the air six times and completed on two. </div> <div> But as the whistle blew to open quarter three, a different wind swirled over Bulldog stadium. </div> <div> The Gobblers fumbled their first possession to the Dogs which led to a score. Yoakum found aerial bombs resulted in TD’s and suddenly Cuero was scrambling to just to stay in the game. </div> <div> Admittedly the Gobblers found it tough playing without linebacker Brady Urbanovsky who was suffering with the flu. </div> <div> But Cuero’s defense seemed up to the challenge early on. The Dogs managed only one yard on their first possession of the game before punting to the Gobblers. </div> <div> Cuero reached mid-field on their first possession before backing Yoakum up on Brandon Hilbrich’s punt. </div> <div> Justin Robinson, Aaron Saenz, Nick Taylor, Dakota Williams, Zach Gomez and Larvell Roy kept the Bulldogs’ back to the wall on their second possession. </div> <div> The Gobblers started at mid-field again following a short Yoakum punt. Schumacher went to the air finding Jeremy Ross and Nick Taylor and added the rushing talents Latrael Cooper and Gomez to move Cuero to the Yoakum 11. </div> <div> As the second quarter started, penalties almost handicapped the Gobbler drive. But nine-seconds into the new period, Schumacher found Cooper in the end-zone with a bullet for Cuero’s first points. Brandon Kuecker quickly kicked the extra point to put the Gobblers on top 7-0. </div> <div> There was little change after Russell Goebel’s kick-off as Robinson, Josh Guajardo, Saenz, Dakota Williams, and the Gobbler defensive line pushed Yoakum backwards. </div> <div> Cuero just about used up the remainder of the first half on a drive that started on their own 45. They went 38 yards on 13 plays that ended with a field goal attempt. Kuecker’s kick was wide right. </div> <div> Thanks to some tough pass protection by Martell Williams, Yoakum was forced to give the ball up again after only two yards on their next possession. </div> <div> This time Cuero started a drive at the Bulldog 49. After being flushed out of his pocket, Schumacher scrambled for 16 yards up the middle. Cooper added another seven yards and a pass to Dakota Williams landed Cuero at the Dogs’ four yard-line. </div> <div> Cooper battled his way the remaining distance for Cuero’s second TD. Kuecker added a point with his kick and the Gobblers were up 14-0 with 16 seconds left in the half. </div> <div> As is Yoakum’s custom, the Bulldogs adjusted their game plan during their rest period. </div> <div> Just two plays into the third period, Cuero fumbled the ball away to the Dogs at the Gobbler 42. </div> <div> Facing a third and 18, Yoakum turned their game around after collecting a first down against the Gobblers. Suddenly the Dogs were moving the ball on each snap. Just four minutes into the third quarter, Yoakum found their first points of the game with a pass into the end-zone. </div> <div> Cuero could not move the ball on their turn and punted to the Yoakum 24. With a couple of successful runs and three pass completions, suddenly the Bulldogs had tied the scored at 14-14 with 3:44 left in the third period. </div> <div> Ross sparked a revival on his kick-off return to the Gobbler 34. Cooper fought his way through the grasping Dogs for a 27-yard gain to the Yoakum 36. </div> <div> Schumacher then hit Nick Taylor on the run up the right side to move Cuero to Yoakum’s 20. Cooper battled up the middle for seven hard-earned yards. </div> <div> But it was tight end Dakota Williams who stood tall on the run and collected a Schumacher pass in a crowd for the touchdown with 1:15 left in the third. Kuecker put Cuero back on top at 21-14. </div> <div> Neither team could muster any progress over the next 32 downs. They exchanged punts five times. </div> <div> In spite of a 45-yard punt by Hilbrich with 2:20 left in the game, the Bulldogs burned Cuero on two long passes that resulted in a touchdown to tie the game again. With 1:45 left the score was 21-all. </div> <div> It looked as if Cuero and Yoakum were going to battle to a tie, reminiscent of last year’s overtime contest at Gobbler Stadium. </div> <div> But again Hilbrich’s foot came to the rescue and backed the Dogs up to their own five yard-line. </div> <div> Yoakum made a fatal mistake on their first snap. Calling on a quarterback-keeper, Gobbler Aaron Saenz stripped the Bulldog of the ball and it was quickly recovered by Larvell Roy at the Yoakum two. </div> <div> Even though a penalty moved Cuero back five yards, Schumacher and Nick Taylor rolled right on the snap and the pass in the end-zone put the Gobblers back on top with the winning touchdown. Kuecker made it a clean 28-21 game. </div> <div> Just seconds remained in the game when Jeremy Ross intercepted a Yoakum pass to stop any threat of a Bulldog come-back. </div> <bR> <div> Cuero 0-14-7-7 - 28 </div> <div> Yoakum 0- 0-14-7 - 21 </div> <bR> <div> Team Statistics </div> <div>                            <B> Cuero</B>              <B>Yoakum </B></div> <div> First downs         16                     15 </div> <div> Rushing yards     42-133            26-63 </div> <div> Passing yards    150                  248 </div> <div> Passes                14-22-0           14-26-1 </div> <div> Punts                   6-<B>45.5</B>              6-33.8 </div> <div> Fumbles-lost       2-1                   2-1 </div> <div> Penalties-yards  4-20                 3-25 </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>