KYLE — Schulenburg football went down in a barn burner Nov. 10 at Bob Shelton Stadium in Kyle to Johnson City High School by a final score of 28-21.
This game was very back and forth as the two teams mostly answered each other’s scores throughout the event and Johnson City was able to make a big stop on defense in crunch time to seal the win. "That's a really good football team and you lose your best player, it’s gonna be really hard to win,” said Schulenburg head football coach Luke Hobbs. Shorthorns quarterback Aaron Janecek has been a playmaker all year and went down with an arm injury in the first quarter.
"Fourth down conversions, stuff like that where we have plays designed specifically for Aaron," Hobbs continued. "We had a number of plays designed for Owen (Brenek) at tight end and Aaron at quarterback. Now you switch that and you put an offensive lineman at tight end, you don’t have the same play sheet that you originally had to start the game. Our playbook was shrunk down a ton. It happens, but that was the difference. The execution on plays we haven’t run all week. It's the schematics of it I guess. This really has been one of the funnest football seasons of my life. I really enjoyed it and I cannot wait for next season al- ready." Schulenburg struck first at the 5:21 mark in the first quarter after a pass from Janecek to junior wide receiver Byron Johnson and a 6-0 lead after a missed extra point, which was quickly answered by Johnson City on a seven yard touchdown run to make it 7-6. Johnson City ran for another short score midway through the second quarter, then Schulenburg responded with a run up the gut by senior running back Rodney Walton after a long kick return to tie it at 14 that was finished on a roll out throw for a two point conversion.
The Eagles made a lengthy kick return also and grabbed the lead back on a 47 yard touchdown catch across the middle by receiver Marshall Jackson to go into halftime with a 21-14 advantage. Schulenburg junior wide receiver Jose Cortez caught a touchdown pass of his own for 21 yards on a go route down the Johnson City sideline to knot the game back up at 21 with 5:21 to go in the third quarter, which led to a strong drive from Johnson City all the way to the goal line and a two yard punch for a touchdown a couple minutes later on a quarterback keeper to put it at 2821.
A scoreless fourth quarter consisted of a lot of defense from both teams with Johnson City ultimately stopping Schulenburg on their last drive, resulting in the Eagles taking a knee and win- ning the game 28-21.
