Shiner, Weimar meet one more time

SHINER – Steven Cerny is a football coach, not a psychic.

But after his prediction on Oct. 5, the Shiner football coach could consider a career change if he desired. His Comanches edged Weimar, 33-32, nearly two months ago, and Cerny made a prediction following that game.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we run into Weimar again in the playoffs,” he said.

Sure enough Cerny was correct. Shiner (10-1) will meet Weimar (7-4) for the second time this season in a Class A-Division I region semifinal contest at 7:30 p.m. today at Matador Stadium in Seguin.

“I figured if we took care of our part of the bargain that we’d see Weimar again,” Cerny said. “We both continued to play well as the season progressed.”

In the first meeting between the Comanches and Wildcats, both teams combined for 65 points and 729 yards of total offense. Although Shiner won by a point, Weimar actually held the total yardage advantage, 401-328.

In addition to both teams scoring more than 30 points and gaining more than 300 yards of total offense, the game also featured a trio of ties and two lead changes. The Comanches also ran out the final 5:12 of the game clock to seal the victory.

“They’re still operating out of the pistol, but they also expanded the offense and added a few wrinkles,” Cerny said. “The key for us is going to be making open field tackles. We missed a lot of tackles the first time we played them and we have to correct that. This game could go down to the wire again.”

While Shiner enters tonight’s contest fresh off of a lopsided 62-13 win over Ozona, Weimar got here thanks to a gritty 34-21 win over Ganado last week. Wildcats quarterback Juwan Almeida passed for 104 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 27 yards and a score in the contest.

Other standouts for Weimar against Ganado were wide receiver Jalen Almeida (5 catches, 71 yards, TD) and running back JaKyle Harris (15 carries, 134 yards, 2 TDs). The Indians ran 79 offensive plays to the Wildcats’ 41, but Weimar recovered two of Ganado’s three fumbles and also intercepted two passes.

Both teams also come into tonight’s game on positive notes. Shiner enters the game with an eight-game winning streak, while Weimar has won five of its last six dating back to its loss to the Comanches.

In Shiner’s win over Ozona last week, the Comanches did not commit a turnover and scored on nine of their 11 offensive possessions. The only negative that occurred was an injury to starting quarterback/cornerback Trevion Flowers in the first quarter.

Backup quarterback Brady Cejka filled in nicely for Flowers as he completed both of his passes for 44 yards and a touchdown. Shiner ran the ball on 46 of its 48 plays last week.

“Brady is a cool operator and ran the offense well,” Cerny said. “We’re in good shape at quarterback in case Trevion can’t go.”

The winner of tonight’s contest meets the Mason-Thorndale winner next week in the Region IV-A-DI final at a time, date and site to be determined.