Wimberley cruises to big homecoming victory over Titans

Behind four touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback Cash McCollum and two rushing touchdowns from junior running back Johnny Ball, the Wimberley Texans cruised to a 70-8 victory over the Manor New Tech Titans on homecoming night.

With the victory, the Texans improved to 5-2 overall with a 2-0 district record.

In a district where Wimberley has to play teams who just started playing their first seasons, Manor New Tech first season was in 2018 while San Antonio YMLA and Austin Achieve played their first seasons as 11-man in 2020, the Texans have focused not on their opponents but rather improving themselves.

“We had a good week of work that translated onto the field,” Head Football Coach Doug Warren said. “I thought we did some things well tonight…we established the tone early and did what we were supposed to do.”

After forcing the Titans to punt on their first possession, the Texans methodically moved the ball down the field before senior running back Moses Wray run setup Wimberley inside the redzone.

The drive ended with McCollum finding senior wide receiver Juan Olmedo for a six yard touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead.

The duo connected again on the next possession as they executed a screen pass that went 30 yards for the score to put New Tech in an early 14-0 hole.

While the passing offense was rolling, the Texans rushing attack saw the emergence of a third running back in Johnny Ball.

As Wray and senior running back Chris Schatte have become the 1-2 punch in the running game, Ball has broken out as the another back the Texans can rely on.

“We’ve talked all year long about the stable of running backs we have,” Warren said.

“We can play any of them and while Ball was behind after missing the last couple of years, he is starting to get caught up, being more comfortable with the offense, and doing a great job for us.

Following Ball’s 60 yard run, Wray punched in the touchdown from the one yard line to make it a 21-0 game.

After the Titans scored on their next possession to close the gap at 21-8, Wimberley responded by scoring 49 unanswered points to eventually roll to their win.

As the Texans were cruising in their game, the homecoming festivities included honoring the 2005 and 2011 Wimberley State championship winning teams at the end of the 1st quarter.

Warren, who was apart of the staff during the 2011 season, said it was special moment to see all of his former players once again.

“Just to see a bunch of those kids that you haven’t see in a long long time and see them grow up and become young men,” Warren said.

“That was a pretty special year (2011), and I know that the other year (2005) was special too. It was a great time to get back and rehash some old memories.”

Now the Texans will focus on one of their biggest goals of the year next week as Wimberley will battle district rival Geronimo Navarro for the 4A D2 District 14 title at Texan Stadium.

With the two teams having battle for the last two district and regional titles for the last two years, the war between the Texans and the Panthers is expected to be intense.

“It’s a typical Navarro team that wants to run it down your throat and be physical with you,” Warren said.

“It’s going to be a typical Wimberley-Navarro game, the team that makes the least mistakes, doesn’t turn the ball over, and your margin error becomes smaller. It’s going to be a good test for us.”

Kickoff will be at 7:30 from Texan Stadium.