By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
MATHIS — Moses Wray rushed for five touchdowns and Cooper McCollum passed for three scores as Wimberly defeated Raymondville 63-35 during the area round of the University Interscholastic League Class 4A Division II playoffs Friday night at Pirate Stadium.
Wray got things started for the District 13-4A Division II runner-up Texans (9-3, 3-2 13-4A DII) with a 30-yard rushing touchdown at the 10-minute mark of the first quarter.
Wimberly will face Rockport-Fulton in the third round.
The District 16-4A Division II champion Bearkats (9-2, 3-0 16-4A DII) answered with a 57-yard rushing touchdown from Justin Cantu to pull even 20 seconds later.
The teams traded touchdowns twice more, as Wimberly’s Kennedy Strange hauled in a 21-yard touchdown reception on a quick slant from quarterback McCollum and ZaRaivion Armendarez rushed for a 55-yard touchdown. Wray then found paydirt again from 11 yards out, and Raymondville quarterback Jayson Cantu called his own number to deliver a 5-yard touchdown and tie the game at 21 with 7:37 to play in the second quarter.
“We knew that (Raymondville) had a lot of speed,” Wimberly coach Doug Warren said. “It was kind of a shock to our system. It took us a while to get adjusted to it. I don’t know if we ever really did get adjusted to it. … We gave up too many big plays, but we finally got a little cushion.”
A game with plenty of fireworks found temporary reprieve as the temperature dropped, and a Wimberly field goal attempt clanked off the upright as time expired to keep both teams deadlocked at halftime.
The momentum shift seemed to bode well for the Bearkats, as Armendarez intercepted a wobbly pass by McCollum. But Armendarez fumbled the ball on the next play at his own 30-yard line, leading to another touchdown by Wray.
“We had a hellacious second quarter,” Raymondville coach Frank Cantu said. “We came out and got an interception there in the third, but we gave it back. (Wimberly) found something that worked (in the run game), and they stuck with it.”
Armendarez redeemed himself with a 72-yard touchdown run to even the game at 28 with 6:54 to go in the third quarter, but Christian Marshall’s 11-yard touchdown catch with three and a half minutes left in the period provided Wimberly with 35-28 lead and put Raymondville squarely in the Texans’ rearview mirror.
After Raymondville fumbled the ball away on fourth down near midfield, Wimberly went up by two scores courtesy of a 34-yard rushing touchdown by Wray just 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Bearkats’ last gasp was Justin Cantu’s 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that put Raymondville back within striking distance, down 42-35 with 11:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.
But the Wimberly offense that had punished Raymondville on the ground found success through the air to put the game away. McCollum and Marshall connected again for a 10-yard touchdown, and Jaxon Watts caught a 36-yard touchdown pass to put the Texans up by 21 with six and a half minutes to play.
With just less than four minutes to go, Wray rushed for his fifth touchdown of the night, a 43-yarder, to punch his team’s ticket to the third round.
“(Wray) is a big load. He’s tough to bring down,” Warren said. “The young man carried the ball very well tonight.”
Even though Raymondville fans who were hoping to see a rematch with playoff nemesis Geronimo Navarro in the fourth round did not get their wish, the Bearkats’ coach said a bright future is in store for his program.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” Frank Cantu said. “A lot of these guys are coming back. Good things are coming for this team. We’ve got a lot of kids coming back. Some of these guys have been on the team since they were sophomores. They’ve gone 27-6 (in three seasons), and the only teams we’ve lost to have been perennial, big-time teams. I’m real proud, real happy of this team.”