First, the good news. The Salado Eagles outscored the #8 Wimberley Texans 28-17 in the second half of their Oct. 11 road game.

Now, the bad: the Texans shut out Salado 42-0 in the first 24 minutes of play.

Salado’s Kenneth Angel intercepted a third-and-10 pass, returning it to the Salado 42 with 9:59 left in the first.

But the Eagles could not convert and punted.

Nolan Waida dropped the punt at the Texan 25, stumbled to pick it up and then dashed down the home sideline to score with 8:50 in the first. Bo Holeman made it 7-0.

The Eagles went three-and-out with the Texans taking over at midfield. Ten plays later, Ivan Becken scored on a 9-yard run with 4:25 left in the first. Holeman made it 14-0.

On the ensuing series — thanks mostly to a 52-yard pass from Lincoln Hossfeld to Landen Noske — Salado drove from their 26 to the Texan 17, where the Eagles ended up trying a fake field goal that failed, giving the Texans the ball at their 30 yard line.

Six plays later, Cody Stoewer followed his big line into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown with 11:20 left in the half. Holeman’s kick gave the Texans a 21-0 lead.

The Texans, forcing Salado to a three-and-out, took advantage of a good return and short field. On the first play of the drive, Stoever hit Jace Morales for a 33-yard toucchdown and Holeman toed it to 28-0 with 10:05 left in the half.

On the next series, the Eagles fumbled, giving Wimberley the ball at the Salado 40. Seven plays later, Stoever scored on a 2-yard run and Holeman made it 35-0 with 1:16 left in the half.

The Texans, utilizing a time out with 38 seconds left, forced a Salado punt to take over at their own 44 with :30 left on the clock,. Two plays later, with nine seconds left in the half, Stoever hit Bryson Anderson for a 49-yard touchdown and Holeman gave the Texans a 42-0 halftime lead.

The Eagles took the second-half kick at their own 25 and drove the field in 10 plays, highlighted by a 43-yard strike from Hossfeld to Gabriel Merriman. Luke Bingham would score on a 9-yard run with 7:26 in the third. The point-after failed and Salado trailed 42-6.

Wimberley answered with a 76-yard drive, scoring on a 53-yard run by Josh Belanger with 5:36 left in the third. Holeman made it 49-6.

Salado then drove 83 yards on five plays, including a pass of 33 yards to Brendan Wilson and a scoring pass of 53 yards from Hossfeld to Korbin Konarik. Hossfeld found Merriman in the end zone for a two-point conversion to make the score 49-14 with 3:14 left in the third.

Wimberley drove 73 yards on seven plays with Jackson Parker diving in from the Salado 1. Holeman made it 56-14 with 11:55 left to play.

Salado drove 65 yards in six plays to score from the Wimberley 4-yard line on a fourth-and-goal pass from Hossfeld to Wilson. Hossfeld hit Bingham on a 64-yard pass to set the Eagles up with first-and-goal at the Texan 5. Townes Sather toed the point after to bring the score to 56-21 with 8:47.

Salado held Wimberley to one set of downs and took over at the Texan 49 with 7:00 left in the game. With a run of 20 yards, a pass of 20 yards to Noske and a 7-yard pass to Wilson, Hossfeld would then score on a 3-yard run with 4:23 left in the game. Sather made it 56-28.

But the Texans would take the next four minutes before Holeman kicked a 37-yard field goal with 31 seconds left to play and the final score of 59-28. [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”884″ gal_title=”2024.10.11.SaladoEaglesfootballatWimberley”]