JESUS SANCHEZ | Staff Writer
The TAPPS 5A Division II championship game was a back-and-forth battle in which the San Antonio Holy Cross Knights shut out the St. Jospeh Bloodhounds 19-0 to remain undefeated Friday night at Canales Field.
“We knew coming in it was going to be a tough battle, a physical battle, and the team that made the fewest amount of mistakes walked out of here with the win,” St. Joseph coach Tino Villarreal said.
After both teams failed to score during the first half, the Knights went into the third quarter with a newfound aggression. They traveled 59 yards to score their first touchdown of the game on an 8-yard rush by Jacob Olivares.
Early in the third, the Bloodhounds showed the same level of aggressiveness and were set on coming back after Antonio del Pozo recovered a loose ball for St. Joseph on Holy Cross’ 47.
“We knew coming down here we would have to be a ball-control offense, and we were going to have to run the ball between the tackles,” Holy Cross coach Mike Harrison said. “We had a lot of pressure on the offensive line, but the kids played with a lot of poise and a lot of character. … We knew it was going to be a hard-fought ballgame and it was, but it’s nice to come out with a district title tonight.”
Unfortunately for the home team, the closest it got to scoring was the Knights’ 20-yard line. The Bloodhounds turned the ball over on downs, and Holy Cross took advantage of it to score on the following drive, with an 8-yard run by Ethan Lara.
Down 12-0 early in the fourth, Mikey Mar-Maxwell ran for 50 yards during a kick return to give the Bloodhounds the ball on Holy Cross’ 23. However, the Knights intercepted a pass from Bloodhounds quarterback Tomas Edge on St. Joseph’s first play after Maxwell’s kick return.
From there, it only took Lara four carries to travel 23 yards and score the final touchdown of the game.
The 5-foot-6 senior finished the game with 212 rushing yards on 27 carries, and Olivares tallied 60 yards in 14 runs.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Lara said. “It was 0-0 for the longest time. Our ‘D’ made a stop and we were moving the ball, but we were also making mistakes. We kind of hurt ourselves there, but we came out in the second half and we fixed some things, and that’s how we were able to come back and win this game tonight.”
For St. Joseph, Sebastian Cuellar garnered 55 rushing yards on 12 carries, Edge 15 yards on 10 carries, and Maxwell had 35 yards on five carries.
“We have to keep our head up and move on to the next game,” Cuellar said. “We’re not just going to give up just because of a loss. We have playoffs. We’re just going to keep our heads up and keep fighting, move on to the next week, and have a good week of practice and a great attitude.”
Holy Cross will head to the postseason unbeaten in district play with a 3-0 record. Harrison said the Knights will face teams that may be more talented than Holy Cross, but it won’t stop them from giving it their all.
“The Houston schools have a lot of great athletes,” he said. “We’re going to have to be physically and mentally tough, and we’re going to have to be able to control the ball and do the things that are necessary to win games by shortening them.”
For the Bloodhounds, Villarreal said the team will focus on fixing mistakes and, no matter what happens in the postseason, he knows St. Joseph won’t give up.
“Every week we are getting better, and that’s the ultimate goal,” he said. “Their heart, their passion, is unparalleled and unmatched. We just have to come in and execute our game plan and focus on details.”
St. Joseph will travel to Houston next week for its playoff game after finishing district play 1-2.