The Wimberley Texans football team jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first half and never looked back as Wimberley defeated the Navarro Panthers 35-14 to capture the Region IV title for the third time in the last four years and avenging their 24-22 loss in for the district championship.
The victory over the Panthers ties the all-time series between Wimberley and Navarro at 7-7 with the Texans leading the playoff series between the two at 3-0.
For Head Football Coach Doug Warren, the key to the Texans victory was setting the tone early against the Navarro Slot-T running attack.
“I thought we set the tone early, hit some big shot early in the game and got them out of their comfort zone,” Warren said.
“The kids played lights out on both sides of the ball and came with the big plays when we needed them too with big turnovers in the redzone and big offensive plays when we had to stretch the lead.”
Receiving the ball to start the game, the Wimberley offense drove down the field on the Navarro defense into Panther territory.
Facing 4th and 18, Senior quarterback Matthew Tippie hit Senior wide receiver, Ty Pruitt, for the 36-yard touchdown pass as the Texans took an early 7-0 lead.
The Wimberley Code Red defense responded to the touchdown by forcing the Navarro offense to go three and out to make the Panthers punt.
On the next play, Junior running back Moses Wray took the handoff and scored from 66 yards out as the Texans extended the lead at 14-0.
After trading possessions, the Navarro offense drove on the Texan defense into Wimberley territory despite being at their four-yard line.
Panthers failed to convert on third down but ended up going for it on fourth down due to the fact Navarro was set up on the Wimberley 25-yard line.
But the Code Red defense stood tall as the pass play from the Panthers fell short and gave the ball back to Wimberley.
After the fourth-down stop, the Texans struck again as Tippie found Pruitt again on a 75-yard pass as the Texans extended the lead to 21-0.
As the two teams traded possessions again, Navarro looked to climb back into the game down three scores.
But the Code Red Defense snuffed out the Panthers once again as the Texans forced a fumble which was recovered by Ethan Lancaster.
The Panther defense responded however as Navarro forced a fumble of their own and recovered the ball to give the Panthers a little bit of hope.
Again the Code Defense defense stepped up their game as Kaedon Gonce forced the fumble as Nova Rankin scooped up the ball and dove into the endzone for the score as Wimberley took a 28-0 lead.
The Panthers scored right before the half ended as running back Brody Whitson scored from 15 yards out to cut the deficit at 28-7.
Though the Panthers ended up scoring again in the third quarter following another Whitson touchdown run to trim the lead down to 28-14, Wimberley extended the lead once again as Tippie and Pruitt connected for the third time on a 47 yard touchdown pass to extend the lead back to a three-score deficit at 35-14.
The Code Red defense put together another phenomenal defensive performance in the second half which was puncateed by stuffing the Panthers on an epic goal-line stand, picking off two passes in the endzone and ending the game on another fourth-down stop to seal the Region IV title once again.
During the playoffs, the Texans have allowed an average on 12 points per game and have shutdown high powered offenses in the likes of Smithville (6), Hondo (14), Sinton (14) and now Navarro and held them to their lowest offensive outputs of the season.
“When you look at there at them (Wimberley), they don’t look imposing and they don’t wow you on the eye test with their size”, Warren said.
“But I tell you what, they are hard, fighting and they will get after you. They set the tone early against Navarro and got them behind the eight ball.”
The Texans will advance to the State Semifinal round of the playoffs where they will square off with the defending 4A D1 State Champions and the number one team in 4A D2 in the Carthage Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs are currently riding a 28 game winning streak with their last loss coming in 2018 in a State Semifinal game against Liberty Hill. Carthage is also 71-3 over the last five years having won three state titles in 2016, 2017, and 2019.
Wimberley Stats
Offense
Passing
Matthew Tippie 10 of 17 for 236 yards and 3 TD’s
Rushing (Overall 19 carries for 135 yards and 1 TD)
Matthew Tippie 3 carries for 20 yards
Moses Wray 15 carries for 100 yards and 1 TD
Nathan Simpson 1 carries for 15 yards
Receiving
Moses Wray 3 receptions for 4 yards
Jaxon Watts 4 receptions for 66 yards
Ty Pruett 3 receptions for 166 yards and 3 TD’s
Special Teams
Jack Bruner 5 for 5 PAT’s
Defense
Sacks
Kaedon Gonce 2 with one forced fumble
Fumble Recoveries
Nova Rankin -1 for 1-yard scoop and score (TD)
Ethan Lancaster - 1
Interceptions
Nathan Simpson - 1
Canyun Staton
