After two weeks of practice, the Cuero Gobblers looked ready to hit someone not wearing green and white. They traveled to Kerrville on Friday night to take on the Tivy Antlers in the first scrimmage for both teams. The Gobblers, from District 15 Class 4A Division II, played up a couple classifications to compete against the Antlers from District 13 Class 5A Division II.
The scrimmage consisted of 10 play drives along with Redzone and length-of-field type scenarios. Afterwards, the two teams played two timed quarters to finish the night.
The Gobbler offense, led by Junior QB Jaxxon Marie, moved the ball against the Kerrville defensive unit, with relative ease, in their opening series but fumbled the ball in the endzone to end the drive. In his 2nd series, Marie found WR Walker Dietze on a 53yard TD pass.
On the defensive side of the ball, a Cuero defender intercepted the Antlers first pass attempt of the ballgame. Tivy didn't fare much better on their next drive, failing to move the ball much. In the Redzone-like portion of the scrimmage, the Gobblers scored on a jet sweep from inside the 5 yd line, but the play was called back due to a penalty. The drive then stalled a couple plays later.
The Gobbler secondary continued to be a problem for both Kerrville QBs. Both Redzone drives ended with interceptions from the Cuero defense.
Cuero's offense then took the field with its back to the endzone. After going 3 and out for the first drive, back-up QB Aiden Strecker hit WR David Leinen in stride along the sidelines on his way to a 97-yard TD.
After going 3 and out, Tivy finally got on the scoreboard with a 99yard touchdown pass to finish off the set-play portion of the scrimmage.
In the timed portion of the contest, Cuero's offense picked up a couple of 1st Downs before stalling. The Antlers up- tempo, spread offense then marched the ball downfield on the Gobblers, with a good mix of runs up the middle and passes to the outside. Tivy was inside the 10 yard line, when a Cuero DB intercepted a pass with nothing but open field ahead of him, but referees blew the whistle dead due to scrimmage rules. The Gobblers moved the ball downfield through the air , but on a miscue,spiked the ball on 4th down, giving the ball back to Kerrville with 8 seconds left in the quarter. After Tivy turned the ball over on downs, the Gobblers wasted no time finding the endzone with a welltimed, 65 yd screen from Marie to Davyon Varela. Kerrville then went 4 and out, giving the Gobblers the ball and a short field. The Gobblers were inside the 10, as time ran out on the clock.
Overall, the Gobblers moved the ball effectively through the air, with touchdown passes from Marie to Walker Dietze and Davyon Varela, along with the 97-yard strike from Aiden Strecker to David Leinen. Jace Gamez and Seandylan Salazar led the rushing attack.
The Gobbler defense was physical and performed well overall.
'I feel our defense was physical. That's what really helped us out,” Gobbler Cornerback Jordan Mays said. “The secondary, on the other hand, just needs a little bit of work. We need to read our keys and stay disciplined.'
The Gobbler Secondary contributed, intercepting five passes: Jossiah Taylor caught two, Jordan Mays, Brayden Hernandez, and Tony Perez each had a pick as well. The Gobblers scored three times to Kerrville’s once.
Mays added, 'We need to improve on our conditioning because everyone was a little gassed and tired, but other than that, I think we will have a great season.”
The Gobblers will scrimmage Comal Davenport at Gobbler Stadium on Thursday in their final tune-up. Cuero will face Columbus in its regular season opener on August 30th at Gobbler Stadium.
