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Waco — An interclass top ten matchup between Wimberley and Brock was expected to be a championship heavyweight fight.
With both teams going the equivalent of 12 rounds, there could only be one left standing.
Withstanding a furious 16-point comeback from the Eagles, Wimberley scored nine points during the final two minutes in a span of 15 seconds to knock off Brock 32-23 in a hard fought victory at Baylor’s McLane Stadium.
Wimberley moves to 3-0 overall while Brock falls to 0-3 with all three losses coming against teams ranked in the UIL 4A-DII top ten.
The biggest key in the game was turnovers — the “Code Red” defense forced five takeaways throughout the game which was converted into 25 of the Texans’ 32 points.
Three of the five turnovers came on three-straight drives from the Eagles which led to Wimberley taking a commanding 23-7 lead at halftime after being tied at 7-7 for most of the first half.
“When you play good defense, you win championships,” head coach Doug Warren said. “Our team feeds off that, and you can see it out there. It breathes confidence.”
While most teams could have withered underneath the massive deficit, Brock fought back.
“You can’t go into halftime thinking ‘Fellas we got this’,” Warren said. “That’s not how football works, especially with a great football team over there. They had us on our heels early in the second half then we fumbled the ball to give them life.”
On the opening possession in the third quarter, the Eagles scored on a 62-yard halfback run before converting the two-point conversion to make it 23-15. The Eagles struck again in the fourth quarter on a 15-yard touchdown plus a successful two-point conversion to tie the game up at 23-23.
Despite giving up 16 unanswered points in the second half, there was no sense of dread on the Wimberley sideline.
“The thing about it was that there was no panic among the kids,” Warren said. “It’s a matter of — ‘Hey, just keep playing hard and eventually a good play is going to happen’ — you just have to convince them to keep playing hard. They continue to grow and get better.”
After the two scores, the Code Red defense needed a stop. For senior linebacker Wyatt Franchione, it was focusing on what they learned at two-a-days that helped them pull through.
“We went back to the basics,” Franchione said. “Coach Lambert brought us back to doing what we have been doing since day one.”
The change in the game plan worked as the defense got a sack on fourth down during Brock’s next possession.
After the Eagles forced another punt, the defense needed one more stop on 4th down with Brock deep in Wimberley territory looking to take the lead.
A fumble recovery put an end to Brock’s drive on the next play, as sophomore quarterback Cody Stoever hit Jack Boyle for a touchdown to go up 30-23 with 2:00 left in the game. It was a play that helped the Code Red defense be able to push themselves over the top in the waning minutes of the game.
“It was awesome and felt like a breath of fresh air,” Franchione said. “It got our defense to be upbeat and let us finish the game.”
The woes continued for Brock as in the ensuing kickoff return, the return was muffed and the Eagles started at their own six yard line.
The next play saw the defense force an intentional grounding penalty inside the endzone to force a safety and get the ball back on the kickoff to eventually drain the clock out.
Wimberley returns home on Sept. 16 in a huge rivalry showdown against Fredericksburg with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.
