NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
SAN ANTONIO — Weslaco East came on strong in the second half, but a slow start was too much for the Wildcats to overcome.
Weslaco East faced a familiar foe, the Cibolo Steele Knights, and finished the year with the same result as last season. The Wildcats suffered a 36-21 loss in the Class 6A Division II Region IV semifinals at the Alamodome on Friday night.
Just three minutes into the third-round matchup, Steele jumped out to a 15-0 led by way of an opening-drive score and an interception returned for a TD.
The start evoked memories of a 56-0 drubbing in the same round last season, but East got better as time went on.
“We just made too many mistakes — players, coaches, everybody,” coach Mike Burget said. “We don’t point fingers. We just made too many mistakes that first half.”
De’Quavion Thomas added to Steele’s lead before Weslaco East got on the board with a 17-yard run by J.C. Vargas.
The halftime score was 36-6 after Steele added two more quick scores.
“I told them at halftime, because I knew they were going to keep their starters in, ‘Let’s go beat them second half,’” Burget said. “We made them play with their starters the whole game, and we haven’t done that the first time we played them. If we make a few more plays when we were down two touchdowns… Things got out of hand the first half, but I think the kids fought back.”
Weslaco East was burned in the first half by third-down conversions that extended Cibolo Steele drives. Wildcats linebackers Freddy Cardenas and Carlos Espinoza recorded sacks in the first half.
“They’re a great team. Hopefully, they make it to state. And, I mean, we didn’t give up,” Cardenas said. “We have so much heart. Everybody played out here, and I’m proud of ‘em. That score shouldn’t have been there. We should have come out and played first half.”
In the second half, the Wildcats received the ball first and began controlling the time of possession battle. Quarterback Richard LeFevre led a nine-minute touchdown drive during which East converted three fourth-down attempts. He scored his first TD of the night on one of his many QB keepers as a platoon of Knights attempted to drag him down.
LeFevre was emotional after the game and took a lot of blame for the first-half struggles. He threw two interceptions, and both led to points for Steele. The senior found it difficult to acknowledge individual positives, despite his dominance after the halftime break.
“I don’t know what happened first half,” LeFevre said. “We weren’t awake. We had bumps and bruises. We were having trouble moving the ball. Those touchdowns that they had were on me. If that doesn’t happen, then maybe we keep on going down and driving.”
The 15-0 second half was sparked by some moments of reflection and playing for pride.
“It was a quiet locker room. We all thought to ourselves, ‘We got to start playing,’” LeFevre said. “We kind of knew, backs against the wall at that point.”
Cardenas said the second half was the way the Wildcats wanted to play from the outset.
“That was East football right there,” Cardenas said. “We came out and we played the way we wanted to play. We came out and hit them, and we left a mark on them.”
Cibolo Steele coach David Saenz said the lengthy possessions East had in the second half were expected and even feared.
“Our biggest concern going into this game was what happened the second half,” Saenz said. “Game plan was to get stops early if we could, and for us to score and be explosive on offense so we can hopefully build a lead like we did. Our biggest fear was they hold the ball for nine minutes, and it’s a one-possession game where anything can happen. Quarterback did a tremendous job tonight. He’s a tough dude. I give my hats off to them.”
LeFevre carried the ball 33 times for 190 yards in his high school finale, scoring two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
Cibolo Steele advanced to play Austin Westlake in the Region IV final next week. Westlake beat Edinburg Vela 70-14 on Friday night in Corpus Christi.