Comanches run past Eagles in final preseason tuneup for both teams

SHINER – According to Steven Cerny, the Shiner football team made a “big step” on Friday.

The Comanches’ football coach was a little happier with his team’s performance in Friday’s scrimmage than he was a week earlier when they scored just one touchdown against Karnes City. Shiner ran for more than 250 yards and five touchdowns and also held Luling out of the endzone in the final preseason scrimmage for both teams.

“We made a big step in the right direction,” Cerny said. “We’re in better shape than we were (against Karnes City) and we did a better job of knowing our assignments. We got what we expected out of the running game and our defense improved. We also communicated and played more aggressive.”

Although Luling was unable to find the endzone against the Comanches, Eagles’ coach Colby Hensley remained optimistic.

“We drove the football, but we just couldn’t get across the goalline,” Hensley said. “We had some dropped passes and penalties that killed drives, and we had problems lining up on defense. But these are things that can be corrected. If we line up right and execute, we’ll be fine.”

The scrimmage was scripted as such – 20-play drives for each team’s starting offense followed by 15-play drives for both second-team offenses. A 12-minute quarter followed the scripted portion of the scrimmage.

Shiner held Luling out of the endzone on the Eagles’ first 20 plays, and the Comanches managed to score twice during their first 20 plays. Trevion Flowers and Caleb Curtis both had touchdown runs for Shiner on its first offensive series.

Luling’s second-team offense was kept out of the endzone as well, and the Comanches’ second unit scored twice as well. Isidor Cerny and Marcus Coleman both had touchdown runs for Shiner during the second offensive series.

Both teams were subject to three-and-outs on their first possessions of the 12-minute quarter. But the Comanches managed to strike again as Flowers scored on a 71-yard run on a third-and-one from his team’s 29-yard line.

“The line blocked great and I hit the hole with the intention of pitching to Jacob (Stafford),” Flowers said. “But the defense keyed on him so I tucked the ball in, cut to the left and took off toward the endzone.”

Flowers was moved to quarterback during the opening week of practice, while Stafford – last year’s starting quarterback – was moved to tailback. A wide receiver a year ago, Flowers noted a big change from last season.

“Playing quarterback was hard at first,” he said. “It’s a big step up from playing wide receiver, but I have to do what I have to do for the team.”

Although he moved to tailback, Stafford and Brady Cejka are the Nos. 2 and 3 quarterbacks – not necessarily in that order.

Following Flowers’ touchdown, Luling drove into Shiner territory thanks to pass completions of seven yards from Trayden Staton to Keeton Coe and an 8-yard run from Brendan Cubit. But a sack and a false start backed the Eagles up before they had to punt.

Both teams begin their seasons on Friday.

Shiner visits Vanderbilt Industrial and Luling hosts Randolph with both games slated to kick off at 7:30 p.m.