ARLINGTON - The Shiner Comanches football team came within several minutes of securing a state title against the Muenster Hornets.
Shiner managers and ball boys have a very "understandable" or "expected" reaction to Quincy Jones' 74-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. It was Shiner's longest play from scrimmage and the longest touchdown play of the game. Photo courtesy of Howard Esse.
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But a punt to the Shiner 35-yard line and a return to the 20 allowed the Muenster Hornets to rally from a 29-28 trail to a 36-29 lead and then managed to intercept Shiner around the Hornet 22 as time ran out to win the 2024 UIL 2ADII at AT&T Stadium in Arlington [ on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 7:00pm ].
Shiner was a double-digit underdog but stayed in the game utill the very end, giving Muenster all they could handle.
"I thought our kids competed at a really high level and gave themselves a chance to win which is something they have done all year long," Shiner head coach Daniel Boedeker said. "They came into this game with high expectations and unfortunately, we came up just a little bit short. Proud of the season we had and proud of these guys. Disappointed in the result tonight."
Shiner will lose five seniors to graduation - quarterback-defensive back Carson Schuette, running back-linebacker Caleb Lehnert, tight end-linebacker Kye Adamek, center-defensive tackle Barrett Shelton and offensive/defensive tackle Jared Werner.
Boedeker said the seniors did a lot to provide leadership and examples.
"These guys came out every Monday before practice and set the tone on how they wanted it done. They were not going to accept mediocrity. They built this team. We told the younger ones to learn from this because this is how it needs to be done, year after year after year," he said. "Just the tight bond the seniors have. They came to practice early, they would sit together and talk every day, hung out together. They will remember their friendships and this game forever. I will never forget this group of seniors by watching how they led every day, took younger guys under their wing. It was positive leadership and leadership by example. Not just verbal, they led by example."
Muenster quarterback Casen Carney, as expected, spearheaded the Hornet attack as he ran for 145 yards and four touchdowns while throwing for 163 yards on 14-of-18 passing.
"He was everything as advertised. You see him on film and he stands out right away with the shiftiness of his feet. I thought we did a pretty good job of containing him overall; he is a physical runner as well," Boedeker said. "He gets a lot of his yards after contact and that is what he did to us tonight. In every game we've seen on film, he has a long run or two to the end zone. We needed to make them earn it by making them drive the ball down the field and I felt like we did that. They made a couple of big plays on us. For the most part, they kept the chains moving and ate up a lot of clock, which is what we wanted to do. We did not give up the big play. A kid like that who has 1500 yards rushing, I thought we did a good job of defending him. I wished we had done a little better job of tackling at times."
The Hornets held Shiner to 250 yards on the ground, led by Quincy Jones' 88 yards, and although Shiner did not consistently move the ball on every drive, they did pop a couple of big plays, touchdown runs of 74 and 45 yards as well as a 29-yard touchdown pass. Muenster also limited the amount of time Shiner's offense had the ball.
"They were fast to the ball and fast getting off blocks. They made good open field tackles," Schuette said.
"Muenster kept the ball away from us so it was hard to get into a rhythm offensively. We don't like to get behind the chains and that happened to us a couple of times.They have a really good defense and they get off blocks quickly," Boedeker said. "We had trouble staying on our blocks which we knew would be key. They were able to get us in a negative situation or minimal gain of a yard or two. We like to get three yards a minimum and usually four or five yards every time we touch it. It was tough to do that tonight."
The Hornets averaged around 450 offensive yards and 50 points a game but were held to 350 and 36.
"We played decent defense on their run game," Adamek said.
The Hornets broke a 21-21 tie on their first possession of the second half, going 75 yards in 13 plays and scoring on a 2-yard run by Nolan Peel, the only Hornet touchdown not scored by Carney.
Shiner stalled out after two plays on the next drive and a Schuette pass for Jarvis Williams fell incomplete on third down from the Comanche 35. Muenster was flagged for pass interference and Shiner had new life at the 50. Schuette had an 11-yard run to the 36 a few plays later and Clayton Fric took an option pitch 19 yards from the 26 to the 7. A few plays later, Schuette scored on a 1-yard sneak and then scored the two-point run after Muenster was flagged for offsides on the point after.
The Hornets drove the ball down to the Shiner 39 on the next drive but failed a fourth-down conversion.
Shiner punted the ball on the next possession and Muenster did likewise but had a 45-yard punt to the Shiner 1. Shiner could not get out of the shadow of its own end zone and punted to the 35, and Muenster returned it to the 20. Carney scored on a 6-yard run with 40 seconds left and hit Caden Klement on the two-point play to give Muenster a 36-29 lead.
Shiner freshman linebacker Triston Vesely (center) was named the Defensive MVP for the 2ADII state championship game. Also shown are UIL Assistant Athletic Director AJ Martinez (left) and UIL Director of Athletics Ray Zepeda. Photo courtesy of TexasHSFootball.com
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Schuette hit Fric with a 20-yard running back screen pass out to the Shiner 41 on the next drive. Boe Boehm then caught an 8-yard pass to the 49 and Muenster dropped Fric for a 5-yard loss after another reception. Later, Schuette scrambled to the Hornet 40 and with just a few seconds left, threw a pass towards the end zone that was intercepted.
The Hornets kicked and successfully recovered an onside kick at the Shiner 49 start the contest. Carney threw two passes for 29 yards and capped the drive with a 2-yard run at the 10:14 mark of the first quarter.
Shiner's first offensive play was 0-yard gain by Lehnert and he got better on the next play with a 25-yard run up the middle to his 47.
Several plays later, Shiner faced 4th-and-11 at the Hornet 29 and that is where Schuette found Williams for the first Comanche score, tying the game 7-7 after Jacob Nerada's point after.
Muenster drove 62 yards for a score after a little over four minutes as Carney scored on a 1-yard run with 11:55 left in the half for a 14-7 lead.
On Shiner's next series, the Comanches were hampered with a block-in-the-back call but overcame it on a 74-yard touchdown run by Jones at 10:11 in the second period for a 14-14 tie.
The Hornets converted three fourth downs during the next drive which went 68 yards in 14 plays and Carney's 7-yard run gave Muenster the lead once again.
Shiner punted on the next possession but got the ball right back on a Williams' interception to the Hornet 47. Fric capped a two-play drive with a 45-yard run that knotted the game at 21-21 with 1:51 left to play in the first half.
Shiner started the season with three straight losses and then won 12 straight (including a 2-0 forfeit win over Charlotte) to advance to state.
At some point during the streak, is when the players believed they could make it to Jerry's World.
"Once we started getting rolling, the focus at practice was pretty good. The seniors made sure everybody stayed focused at practice on our goal all season," Schuette said. "I'm proud of every single person on the team. We did not come out on top like we wanted but we played with everything tonight."
Vesely wins Defensive Most Valuable Player
Freshman lineback Triston Vesely was selected as Defensive MVP for the 2A-DII state game.
He had 14 total tackles, nine solo, five assists, one sack for nine yards and two tackles for loss for 14 yards.
Shiner defensive stats - Triston Vesely, 9 solo tackles, 5 assists, 14 total tackles, 1 sack for 9 yards, 2 tackles for loss for 14 yards, 1 pass breakup; Tyler Harvey, 3 solo tackles, 10 assists, 13 total tackles; Jake Simper, 7 solo tackles, 5 assists, 12 total tackles, 1 pass breakup; Caleb Lehnert, 4 solo tackles, 6 assists, 10 total tackles, 0.5 sacks for 1 yard; Clayton Fric, 3 solo tackles, 5 assists, 8 total tackles. 0.5 tackles for loss for 1 yard; Kye Adamek, 4 solo tackles, 3 assists, 7 total tackles; Carson Schuette, 4 solo tackles, 2 assists, 6 total tackles, 1 tackle for loss of 1 yard; Jared Werner. 1 solo tackle, 3 assists, 4 total tackles; Gavyn Lopez 1 solo tackle, 1 assist, 2 total tackles; Ismael Zamora, 2 assists, 2 total tackles; Quincy Jones, 1 solo tackle, 1 total tackle; Brody Popp, 1 assist, 1 total tackle; Barrett Shelton, 1 assist, 1 total tackle; Jarvis Williams, 1 assist, 1 total tackle, 1 interception for 13 yards; Grant Baros, 1 assist, 1 total tackle.
GAME STATISTICSMuenster 36, Shiner 29 Class 2A, Division 2, State Championship Game Wednesday, December 18, 2024, 7:00 p.m. AT&T Cowboys Stadium, Arlington TX SCORING SUMMARY 1 2 3 4 F Muenster 7 14 7 8 -- 36 Shiner 7 14 8 0 -- 29 SCORING DETAILS: First Quarter M - Casen Carney 2 run (Sam De Le Mata kick), 10:14 1Q. S - Jarvis Williams 29 pass from Carson Schuette (Jacob Nerada kick), 4:11 1Q. Second Quarter M - Carney 1 run (De Le Mata kick), 11:55 2Q. S - Quincy Jones 74 run (Nerada kick), 10:11 2Q. M - Carney 7 run (De Le Mata kick), 4:17 2Q. S - Clayton Fric 45 run (Nerada kick), 1:51 2Q. Third Quarter M - Nolan Peel 2 run (De Le Mata kick), 5:44 3Q. S - Schuette 1 run (Schuette run),0:00 3Q. Fourth Quarter M - Carney 6 run (Caden Klement pass from Carney), 0:40 4Q. TEAM STATISTICS: Shiner Muenster First downs 13 20 Rushes-yards 35-250 45-185 Passing yards 52 163 Passes 4-9-1 14-18-1 Total plays-yards 44-302 63-348 Possession 20:36 27:24 Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0 Penalties-yards 1-15 5-42 Punts-aver 3-33.6 2-49.0 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Rushing S: Quincy Jones 6-88, Clayton Fric 6-48, Carson Schuette 11-46, Caleb Lehnert 3-30, Triston Vesely 2-21, Tyler Harvey 2-10, Caleb Cowan 5-7. M: Casen Carney 35-145, Nolan Peel 10-40. Passing S: Schuette 4-9-1-52. M: Carney 14-18-1-163. Receiving S: Fric 2-15, Jarvis Williams 1-29, Boe Boehm 1-8. M: Garrett Hess 4-63, Caden Klement 3-44, Maverick Beyer 3-22, Pool 2-4, Legend Bounds 1-18, Simon Johnson 1-12.
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Mark Lube is the sports editor for the Shiner Gazette.
Contact him at 361-594-3346 or mark.lube@lavacacountytoday.com |
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