Cobras moving to playoffs, first time in five years

    The Industrial Cobras took the field on Friday night and lost to the Hitchcock Bulldogs with a final score of 34-19.
    Junior #35 Matthew Belcik said the Cobras just wanted to leave everything on the field. “We wanted to give it all we had, we’ve been working hard at practice trying to prepare so we had high hopes for Friday night,” he said. “This Friday we need to work on both sides of the ball just getting everything fine-tuned and make sure everybody is in sync with each other.”
    Senior Brock Werckle said execution and cutting down the penalties and mistakes will help the team next week. “I think the Bi-District game is going to be a great game, we should match up good against each other,” he said.
    Senior #84 Brennan Prukop, senior #19 Nick Kouches, and sophomores #74 Sam Smith and #82 Peyton Prukop took the field as Cobra captains. Industrial found themselves receiving to start the game.
    #11 quarterback Logan Gabrysch took the field and made some moves to Belcik. In less than five minutes Belcik ran in for a touchdown with 8:37 left in the first quarter. #83 Alberto Pineda kicked the point after touchdown and put numbers on the board, 7-0, Cobras.
    Pineda kicked the ball to the Bulldogs. #29 Jay Sandoval, #60 Wesley Sliva, #29 Bailey Kolb made some good stops for their team before the ball was back in Industrial's hands and found their way down the field again. Belcik for the Cobras scored another touchdown with 2:12 left in the first quarter. The football slipped on the PAT and the Bulldogs tried to recover the ball and do something with it, but the Cobras were able to stop them.
    The new score was 13-0, still in the Cobra’s favor. Stops by #54 Devon De Los Santos, #30 Ethan Brown, Kolb, #28 Avery Milner did what they could to keep Hitchcock at bay before the end of the first quarter.
    The Dogs responded with a touchdown of their own with 11:15 left in the second quarter with a good PAT. The new score was 13-7, Industrial.
    The Cobras tried to make it down the field once again, but the Bulldogs were ready to defend this time. The Dogs were unable to make a touchdown again until their last drive before halftime and made a touchdown with 41 seconds left in the second. The PAT was good and brought the score to 13 all at halftime.
    Hitchcock came back out onto the field and immediately scored a touchdown with 11:44 left in the third quarter. Their PAT was also good, and brought the new score 20-13, Hitchcock.
    Both Gabrysch and Belcik made moves to try and find the Dog end zone, but there was no luck there. Good stop were made by Sliva and Kouches.
    The Bulldogs were able to find the Cobra end zone again twice in the fourth quarter with 10:12 left in the game and again with 6:16 left. Both PATs were good and the new score was 34-13, Hitchcock.
    Some work done by Gabrysch, Sandoval and Prukop caused the Cobras to find the end zone once more before the time ran out on the game, with 2:20 they scored a touchdown, but the PAT was no good.
    #59 Kendrick Shelton, #65 Jacob Garza and Kolb made some good stops before the buzzer ran on the game. Final score was 34-19, Hitchcock.
    Head Coach and Athletic Director Kensey Allen said the team looks to once again cut down on their mistakes for the week and look forward to playing in the playoffs. “This is our first playoff game in five years,” he said. “Luling looks tough on film, however we feel like we have a great opportunity to come away with a victory and add a Bi-District title to this football program.”
    Kouches said the team needs to focus on the task at hand and win the upcoming game. “It feels great (moving onto the playoffs)! I hope we continue moving onto the next round, this was our main goal this season and we’ve done it, so it’s great,” he said. “I think we will put up a fight like they have never seen and hopefully come out with a win.”
    Brennan Prukop said the team is going to work on coming out strong. “We’re going to control the line of scrimmage and stay focused on all three aspects of the game: offense, defense and special teams.”
    This loss puts the Cobras at fourth in District 3A Division I. They will playing the Luling Eagles (4-6, 4-1) in Bastrop at the Bastrop Cedar Creek Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 13 for a Bi-district matchup. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m.