Runaway quarterback: Cody Stoever accounts for six touchdowns as Wimberley routs Ingleside
SAN ANTONIO — Wimberley continues to resemble a team that's destined for another run to the state championship game after a 63-14 victory over Ingleside in a Class 4A Division II playoff game Saturday afternoon at Heroes Stadium.
The Texans (13-0) trailed early, but the offense blindsided the Mustangs, scoring five touchdowns in their first six possessions. The victory sends Wimberley to the regional final to play Sinton, which beat Geronimo Navarro 50-14.
Star of the game? Easy: Cody Stoever
Stoever, a junior quarterback, accounted for six touchdowns, four in the first half, to give his team a 35-14 lead at halftime. He scored on touchdown runs of 7, 5, 3 and 72 yards. With touchdown passes of 19 and 36 yards, he's now accounted for 63 total scores.
His most impressive play was a 72-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter to put Wimberley up 49-14. For the record he finished with 170 yards rushing, 150 yards passing.
The Texans also got offensive support from senior Owen O'Neal, who churned for 112 yards and a touchdown. After trailing 7-0 early, Wimberley got serious, scoring the game's next four touchdowns in a 10-minute span.
Speaking of impressive plays, Texan senior Kyler Lai scored a touchdown on a 93-yard kickoff return to open the second half.
Stoever said reaching the state championship again is the team goal, but he added that the Texans are taking a "one-game-at-a-time" attitude instead of looking ahead.
"A lot of our young kids (from last year's team) know what it feels like to get there," he said. "This year we knew we had to come to work every day in practice and put in the work to get back and win it.
Wimberley defense makes contributions
The Texans got punched in the mouth when Ingleside senior running back Nate Ambrose broke through the middle of the line and scored on a 77-yard touchdown on the game's first play from scrimmage. Wimberley punched back, though, and limited Ambrose to a total of 20 yards on 11 carries for the rest of the first half.
No defensive player wearing red, white and blue was more valuable than Wimberley senior defensive back Zach Patek, who intercepted a pair off Ingleside quarterback Aidan Jakobsohn in the first half. Both picks set up touchdown drives for the Texans.
Wimberley safety Ty Thames also had an interception. His pick was important because Ingleside drove 73 yards and had the ball at the Wimberley 2 when the turnover was made.
Ingleside wideout JC Smith denied national record
All eyes were on Mustang receiver JC Smith, who needed one touchdown catch to break a national record. He was trying to break a tie with two players who had 39 touchdown receptions in a single season: Tren'Davian Smith of Navasota (2014) and Chris NesSmith of Millford, Ala. (1999).
Not on Wimberley's watch. The University of North Texas pledge had six catches for 53 yards but did not find the end zone. Before the game, several Texans said one of their goals was to prevent Smith from breaking the record against them. For the season Smith finished with 82 catches for 1,789 yards and 39 touchdowns.
"We've been playing pretty good defense for most of the year, and this presented a pretty big challenge for us," Texans coach Doug Warren said. "I don't care what position you play, when you score 39 touchdowns that's pretty awesome. We took it kind of personal that we were not going to allow him to break the national record on us."
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texans improve to 13-0 with tough defense against Ingleside
