Cowboys corral Cobras and secure playoff spot

by Millie Diaz
Sports Writer
    The Edna Cowboys won the first annual Lavaca River Showdown this past Friday night at home against the Industrial Cobras with a final score of 34-7.
    Head Coach and Athletic Director Huey Chancellor said he was really proud of the ‘Boys and believes they’ve gotten better with each week. “Defensively, they’ve played really solid and offensively we’ve had to move people around because of injuries but they’ve gotten better,” he said. “We had three interceptions on Friday night and we secured a playoff spot because of that win.”
    Cowboys #33 Logan O'Connor, #7 Marquis Broussard, #4 DeOntae Jones and #76 Dylan Kallus represented their team at the coin toss and Cobras #77 Levi Perry, #73 Travis Alexander, #32 Brady Karl and #61 Sean Bastian did the same. The Cowboys won the toss and deferred to receive in the second half.
    #12 Cowboy Issac Shelton kicked off the game, and #20 Trent Perry caught the ball around the 20-yard line. The Cobras pushed down the field a bit with #25 Trevor Ressman and Edna responded with their own pushing down the field. #20 Cowboy Alvell Robinson took down a Cobra with ease before #34 Cobra Ethan McMullen's pass to #10 Brock Werckle was good. McMullen was taken down in the next play but his handoff to Cobra #33 Tyler Conard around the 50-yard line allowed the Cobras to push a little more. Some mistakes were made before the ball was turned over, and Broussard darted his way through Cobras yard by yard. #18 Cowboy Landon O'Connor gave the ball to Broussard and was taken down hard by a herd of Cobras, and then O'Connor made an incomplete pass to #6 Cowboy Marquis Bates. That didn't faze the 'Boys though, and Jones scored a touchdown for his team with 6:26 left in the first quarter, and #60 Aaron Padilla kicked the extra point and made it good. The Cowboys led with a 7-0 score.
    Shelton kicked off again and the Cobras made their way down the field. Cowboys Kallus, Shelton, #33 O'Connor and #50 Noah Ortiz took down Ressman after he brought the ball down the field a few yards. An incomplete pass was made by McMullen before Conard kicked the ball to the 24-yard line, making it Edna's ball. Cowboy Shelton made an incomplete pass that a Cobra almost swiped, and then Shelton gave the ball to Broussard in the next play, causing him to be brought down by a group of Cobras. #33 O'Connor kicked the ball to the 45-yard line.
    Cowboy Jones made another touchdown for his team with 1:32 left in the first quarter, while Padilla kicked the extra point, making the score 14-0. Before that, Cobra Ressman made some good yardage, Cowboys Jones, #33 O'Connor and Robinson made a heavy tackle. A pass interference was made by Edna and Cobra #10 Werckle lost the ball and caught it again while it was bouncing up. Cobra Ressman continued the ball down the field and Cowboys kept taking him down.
    The second quarter was much of the same; Broussard showed great resilience and Jones helped him push the ball down the field, and a good tackle was made by Cobras #19 Nick Kouches and #11 Daniel Santillan. Cowboy Jones makes another touchdown with 6:28 led tin the quarter and Padilla kicked the extra point, making the score 21-0 in the 'Boys favor. Cobra Ressman kept getting the ball further down the field and Cowboy #12 O'Connor, #82 Andrew Mathis and Robinson made some good takedowns as well.
    Cowboy Jones made another touchdown with 9:49 left in the third quarter with the extra point good, making the score 28-0. Cobra McMullen made some good passes to Kouches and Werckle, and good tackle were made by Cowboys Ortiz, #34 Dillon Littleton and Robinson. More tackles were made by Cobras #50 Stephen Bethany, #28 Jeffrey Koch, #88 Bubba Garcia, Bastian, #80 Kayden Kurtz and Santillan. Edna earned a penalty and both teams fumbled before the fourth quarter.
    In the beginning of the fourth quarter Cowboy Broussard fumbled, picked the ball up and ran all the way to make a touchdown. The extra point wasn't good and made the score 34-0 in Edna's favor. The Cobras push their way back down the field with a good pass to #30 Ethan Brown, another one from McMullen to Brown and #55 Dylan Burgin made a good tackle and brought a Cowboy down.
    Edna's Jones and Broussard pushed the ball down the field, and at one point Cobras Santillan, #43 Kendrick Shelton and Kurtz took down Broussard with a touch of fury. Edna fumbles before giving the ball back to Industrial. McMullen, Ressman and Brown helped out in various ways to get the ball down the field, and with 1:27 left in the game, Cobra McMullen passed to Werckle, made a touchdown for their team and put some points on the scoreboard. The extra point was also good from Werckle, making the final score 34-7, still in Edna's favor.
    On the Cowboy side of things, Broussard had 23 carries for 239 yards and a touchdown, while Jones had eight carries for 72 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Landon O’Connor had four for 11 passing for 85 yards, while the leading tackler, Logan O’Connor had 15 tackles and an interception, and Shelton added an interception.
    Cobras Wesley Sliva had a tackle, an assist and a fumble recovery, Karl had three tackles, two assists and a fumble recovery, and Bastain had six tackles and an assist. Travis Alexander had a tackle and three assists, while Deveon DeLosSantos had four tackles and assists each. Koch had a tackle, Brown had a tackle and an assist, Garcia had a tackle and three assists, while Bethany had two tackles and two assists. Kurtz had three tackles and two assists, Santillan had five assists, Kouches had four assists and Jay Sandoval had a tackle.
    Head Coach and Athletic Director Jeff Rogers said the guys are disappointed about their losing streak, there’s no doubt about that, and he said they have let some scoring opportunities slip away. “Our kids have never quit and they continue to play hard. This entire season we’ve never gotten the bounce, the break, we haven’t had anything good happen,” he said. “But our attitude has been really good and the kids are playing hard. We’re a young and inexperienced team.
    “Rice had had some good ball games but they may feel like we do, being 0-3 in district,” Rogers continued. “We have to win our last two games if we want to get into district, and Travis Alexander addressed the team with a mindset, that the playoffs start on Monday, he said, so we’re thinking that way. We can’t afford to lose,” he said.
    The Cowboys will play the Palacios Sharks there on Friday, Oct. 31 and the Cobras will play Rice at home on the same night. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.