By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
For Del Rio, it was too little, too late against New Braunfels Friday night.
The Rams scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to make up the 31-point deficit they’d put themselves in as the Rams suffered their second loss of the season, 31-14, to the New Braunfels Unicorns (2-1).
Del Rio has one more non-district game Sept. 20 at home when they host 5A powerhouse San Antonio Davenport. Del Rio won’t have a bye in its schedule until Week 8.
It didn’t take long for the Unicorns to find the end zone first. New Braunfels went 75 yards in six plays and two-and-a-half minutes, capping the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Jaxtyn Maples to Cayden Mills. William Tobias’ point after try was good and the Unicorns had a 7-0 lead.
After a Rodrigo Tamez punt set the Unicorns up at their own 36 New Braunfels looked to add to its score. The Unicorns got to the Rams’ 9-yard line, but Del Rio stuffed Harley Ramirez on first down, Jacob Ortiz deflected a Maples’ pass on second down, and Del Rio stopped Grant Franklin for no gain to force the Unicorns to try a 26-yard field goal. The kick sailed wide left and kept the score at 7-0.
Del Rio’s next punt traveled 27 yards to set New Braunfels up at the Rams’ 45. On the first play from scrimmage, Maples found Mills who showed off his athleticism and shifty moves to find the end zone for his second score of the game. The kick was good and the lead was 14-0 21 seconds into the second quarter.
The Rams’ offense struggled throughout the first half. Fermin Rodriguez had a 27-yard run on his first carry, but Del Rio was limited to just 50 yards in the first half and had just one run of more than 10 yards. They crossed midfield just once in the first half.
Del Rio’s defense did provide a bright spot for the Rams. Jayden Sanchez hit a leaping Brock Stewart to force a fumble. Sanchez’s teammate Ortiz leapt on the loose ball and the Rams turned away a potential Unicorns scoring drive.
But New Braunfels wasn’t done scoring in the first half. Stewart was able to find a gap through the middle of the defense and ran 17 yards to the end zone for the Unicorns’ third score of the night. Forty-four seconds later Maples hit Mills for their third score of the night, this time a 27-yard catch and run, to build New Braunfels’ lead to 28-0 by halftime.
Del Rio’s offense looked more in sync in the second half. Rodriguez broke off a 12-yard run on the Rams’ first drive of the third quarter, but Del Rio ended the drive with a punt.
The Rams got the ball back when Sanchez intercepted Maples at the Del Rio 1-yard line. Two plays later the Rams gave the ball right back when Rodriguez fumbled and New Braunfels’ Chris Hidalgo recovered for the Unicorns. New Braunfels would settle for a 36-yard field goal to take a 31-0 lead late in the third quarter.
Del Rio’s problems continued on its next drive when A.J. Rios intercepted a halfback pass delivered by Zane Hughes. However, the Rams defense held the Unicorns to just 15 yards on the ensuing drive and forced a turnover on downs to get the ball back with just under 10 minutes to play.
The Rams took advantage as Hughes took the pitch, outran the defenders to the edge and then zoomed up the near sideline 45 yards to the end zone for the touchdown. Tamez’s kick cut the lead to 31-7.
After forcing a Unicorns punt, the Rams put together a steady four-minute drive that ended with an eight-yard run through the heart of the Unicorns defense by Ivan Aguilar that ended in the end zone. Tamez’s kick made it 31-14 with 1:29 to play.
That was as close as the Rams would get as New Braunfels ran out the lock to finish the games.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
