(Seguin)– Despite some flashes in the Matadors and from the sky, Seguin was unable to withstand New Braunfels’ power running and fell 38-7.
“There’s winning and learning,” Head Coach Gary Gutierrez said. “We did a lot of learning today and that’s something we’ve been needing to do. We’ve been needing to get opportunities to grow and play together because we haven’t been together very long.”
The Matadors only had 16 total practices before their first game under their new leader. It certainly wasn’t going to be easy with your first game against a rival whose taken Seguin down every year since 2014.
Part of the problem were turnovers. Seguin lost some possessions due to an interception, a few fumbles, and stalled runs by New Braunfels’ dangerous front four made consistent offense harder to come by for Seguin. Early on, the Matadors had trouble moving the sticks. However, the Unicorns’ aggressiveness gave the Matadors some moments to savor.
Before the lightning delay, Seguin had a few third-and-longs turned into first downs by New Braunfels’ defensive penalties. In fact, the last play before a two-plus hour lightning delay with 2:58 left in the first quarter featured new quarterback Avery Franklin running for 20 yards on 3rd-and-30 before a facemask penalty gifted Seguin a first down.
Then the weather warned all to get off the field with the score 7-0 New Braunfels.
It was still anybody’s ballgame. But two eight-yard touchdown runs by Unicorn QB Blayne Namken gave New Braunfels all the life they needed to finish off the win.
For New Braunfels, QB Blayne Namken sprinted home for two scores with a late TD pass to Cole Bendele in his varsity debut at QB tonight. Brock Stewart got the scoring started with 6:43 in the 1st quarter off a 7-yard TD run.
But the biggest strike came on the second half’s opening kickoff with NB returner Kingston Brown took the opening kick 95 yards to the house. Brown’s TD complemented his interception that gave New Braunfels’ their first scoring drive of the season.
On the Seguin side, the lone touchdown of the night came late in the third on a 21-yard toss from Avery Franklin to star wideout Ayden Avila in the back right edge of the endzone.
Despite the loss and long delay, Gutierrez believes this game provided Seguin everything they needed to build better days ahead.
“We’re going to keep developing opportunities to gain experience and growth. So today was a good day for growing. We’re going to continue getting better.”
Seguin will work to apply the lessons they learned from this night when they visit the Buda Hays Hawks next Friday at 7pm on KWED.
Other area scores:
Geronimo Navarro 27 (1-0) at Austin McCallum 14 (0-1)
Marion vs Gonzales (0-0 tie at TLU) – Delayed to 10:30 restart Saturday morning due to lightning delays