4th & Long: Rangers get off to a false start, advance to championship
After a first-round bye, the Smithson Valley Rangers, Freshmen Blue Team, finally stepped back onto the field for their continued pursuit of perfection. In a re-match of their Week 1 meeting against the Liberty Hill Panthers in the friendly confines of Jumbo Evans Sports Complex, the Rangers walked away with another dominant 26-6 victory that secures them a spot in the HCYFL Freshmen Championship game. On the other side of the bracket, the Pieper Warriors took down the Boerne Chargers to setup a highly anticipated winner-take-all rematch that has the greater Bulverde area buzzing. We’ll get to that later, but first, let’s take a look at what went down on Saturday for the Rangers.
The Rangers received the ball to start the game and took their opening possession down the field on a slow, methodical drive that ended with Christian “Johnny Red Gloves” Jordan reaching the endzone on a 36-yard touchdown run. The drive included four illegal procedure penalties that caused the fans and coaching staff to provide extra encouragement. Some sent their encouragement to the referees. Some tried to remind the players that they were playing a football game. Assistant Coach/Encouragement Coordinator Ed Bailey decided to hydrate. After converting the 2-point attempt on a jet sweep from Jaxon “Jackie-san” Wiatrek, the Rangers took an 8-0 lead.
The Panthers quickly responded with a touchdown of their opening possession with a long touchdown run off the edge but failed to convert the point after attempt to make it 8-6. That would be the only offense that the Panthers could muster as Beau “Breaux” Bailey and the Rangers defense kept them out of the endzone the rest of the game. Boston “Moolay” French added two tough rushing touchdowns from close range to take a 20-6 lead into halftime.
After the break, the Panthers possessed the ball for the entirety of the third quarter. Bolstered, once again, by uncharacteristic pre-snap penalties. Once again, sending the fans and coaching staff into a frenzy. Once again, causing Coach Bailey to hydrate. The defense was able to “Beau-up” deep in their own territory to turn the Panthers over on downs. The Rangers paid off the defensive effort with a long run from Jackie-san to make score 26-6.
With a very small glimmer of hope, the Panthers had another chance to catch the Rangers with their guard down as the palpable excitement from players and fans for a chance to go win a championship started to bubble. The Panthers tried to sneak another long run off the edge to make the score more respectable. Nope, not today. Not against Beau Bailey.
Bailey popped the ball carrier right in the solar plexus, separated him from the football, then helped him up off the ground. In the meantime, Tripp “I Only Sprint For Glory” Shepperd scooped up the loose ball and avoided a sprint to the endzone by losing his balance. The turnover put the game on ice and sent the Rangers into the championship game.
“Not our cleanest game today. Had a chance to make it a little more convincing there at the end, but the endzone looked pretty far away. We’re just happy to get the win and have a chance to play for a championship.” Shepperd said with muted excitement. “Do you know if Pieper won? If we play Pieper, I think I can wear my ‘Battle of 1863’ shirt again. My dad, I mean Coach, wouldn’t let me wear it after we beat them ‘cause he said that game is over. Well, I say let’s run it back!” he said as his demeanor moved from muted excitement to a mild fervor. “I wonder if we get a new Smithson Valley versus Pieper t-shirt if we play them again. Dad, I mean, Coach?!”
The clear Junkyard Dog (JYD) of the game was Bailey with his tone setting effort on the defensive side of the ball. Continuing his dominant 2024 season, Bailey was a thorn in the side of the Panther offense, collecting 12 solo tackles and a forced fumble. “What can I say? 10 had a good day. Bailey shoots the B-gap, Bailey shoots the C-gap. Beau makes a play and the crowd gonna clap.” Bailey said with his usual swagger. “I told the offensive tackle ‘If you were dreaming of blocking 10, you’d better wake up and apologize. Now it’s time to live out the nightmare.’ He didn’t have much to say, so Beau started trash talking in sign language just in case he was hearing impaired.”
We were able to catchup with “Rollin’” Royce Wyatt after the game for a rare post-game interview. “Obviously happy to get the win today, but we still haven’t met all of our team goals. At the beginning of the season, we set out to be perfect in everything we do. We set a goal to be great. As my man Billy Shakespeare said ‘Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.’ We achieve greatness with a win next week.” Wyatt said very stoically. “We had a number of mental errors today, but we were able to overcome those mistakes. That’s what great teams do.” he continued referring to the pre-snap penalties. “We’ll celebrate this one today and come out on Monday ready to manifest greatness.”
The focus now shifts to the championship game. A rematch of the only real challenge that the Smithson Valley Rangers, Freshmen Blue Team, has faced. This time around it’ll be for a lot more than local bragging rights or a ‘Battle of 1863’ belt. This time it’s for a trophy. This time it’s for the right to call yourself a champion.