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(Seguin) — The San Antonio Wagner Thunderbirds jumped on the Seguin Matadors early and kept Seguin at bay in a 69-42 win at Matador Stadium on Friday night.
Wagner scored touchdowns on their first three possessions in the first quarter while the Matadors went three-and-out on their first possession and turned the ball over on downs on two others as the Thunderbirds took a 20-0 lead after the game’s first 12 minutes. Wagner junior quarterback Cameron Smith took a snap and ran down the far sideline 81 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring in the first quarter. Thunderbird junior running back Juan’yae Taylor scored on runs of 33 and 39 yards in the quarter.
The Matadors got on the board on a 19 yard TD pass from freshman quarterback Corey Dailey to senior wide receiver Devin Matthews to cut into the Wagner lead in the 2nd quarter, but the Thunderbirds would score on a 30 yard pass from Smith to E.J. Bell and a 64 yard Taylor run to increase their lead to 34-7.
Seguin would get another touchdown pass from Dailey, this time to senior Isaac Garcia for 65 yards. Matthews would then recover a Dailey onside kick to give the ball back to Seguin. Junior running back John Jackson would score on a three yard run to make the score 34-21, but that would be the closest the Matadors would get for the rest of the game.
The Thunderbirds would score three straight touchdowns from the end of the 1st half through the middle of the 3rd quarter to increase their lead to 55-21. Dailey would throw three more touchdowns in the 3rd and 4th quarters to close out the scoring for the Matadors.
Following the game, Seguin head coach Craig Dailey said the play of quarterback Corey Dailey was a positive on a night.
“We found out if the game is on the line, we can spin the football pretty good. (Corey) got hit a little bit tonight, and early in the year those first couple of games when he got hit, he didn’t respond very well. (…) Tonight, (he) and the receivers just kept making plays even after he got a few pressures. So, I think that’s a positive we can really carry over offensively.”
Corey Dailey completed 22 of 34 passes for 339 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Matthews lead the Matadors in receiving with 11 catches for 152 yards to go along with two touchdowns.
Friday night’s game was the last regular season game at Matador Stadium for the seniors on the Seguin football team. With the loss, the Mats fall into 4th place in District 12-5A at 4-2. Seguin will close the regular season at first place Smithson Valley next week. The Rangers are a perfect 6-0 in district after beating Hays 42-13 on the road Friday night.