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November 15, 2009

Hornets score 28 in fourth quarter to win first playoff game since 1991

By Tom Waddill The Huntsville Item Sun Nov 15, 2009, 12:15 AM CST

GEORGETOWN — The Hornets weren’t going to let this one slip away.

After being staggered by a couple of third-quarter punches, Huntsville tightened up and delivered the knockout blow in the fourth. The Hornets scored four touchdowns in the final period Saturday afternoon and ran away from the Hays Rebels 45-14 in a bi-district playoff game at Birklebach-Eagle Stadium.

“It sure feels good to get this one,” Hornets coach Mitchell Coey said. “Last year we let one get away from us, then today in the third quarter it started getting a little close. Buda Hays kept fighting and kept fighting, but our guys stepped up and got the job done.”

Huntsville (8-3), which won its first playoff game since 1991, advances to the area round of the Class 4A Division I playoffs to meet Beaumont Central, a 7-0 winner over Baytown Goose Creek on Friday.

The Hornets and Jaguars (8-3) will play Saturday at 6 p.m. at Thorne Stadium in Houston.

Hays, the runner-up in District 17-4A, scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and cut Huntsville’s once 17-point lead to three. Momentum seemed to be on the Rebels’ side, especially after they marched 69 yards in eight plays late in the third quarter and scored on a 1-yard run by junior Torrance Smith.

That made it 17-14, and Hays (4-7) soon got the ball back when the Hornet offense stalled without senior quarterback Justin Gilbert. Leg cramps forced Gilbert out of the game early in the third, and Huntsville failed to do anything offensively while he was on the sideline.

The Hornet defense decided it was time to take over. After backup punter Chris Crawford unloaded a 47-yard kick and got Huntsville out of a tough spot, senior safety Gabe Franklin came up with the biggest play of the day.

Watching the eyes of Hays quarterback Sam Breyfogle, Franklin broke on a pass and snagged it in full stride. Franklin sped 25 yards to the Rebels’ 13.

“I read it all the way,” Franklin said of his third interception this season. “I read it when he rolled out and I read it when when he threw it. I knew if I caught the ball that would be motivation for the team.”

Motivation? Franklin’s interception appeared to be the exact kind of pick-me-up the Hornets needed. And it was exactly what the Rebels did not need.

Two plays after Franklin’s interception, senior running back Shaqulle Ross did his best Earl Campbell impression, chugging through a jersey grab and banging over from 8 yards out to put the Hornets on top by 10.

“Once Gabe intercepted that ball, our confidence shot straight up,” Coey said.

After stopping the Rebels in three plays, Huntsville got the ball back following a 4-yard punt. Gilbert returned to the game and scored his second touchdown of the day, this one on a 4-yard run that put Huntsville on top 31-14.

The Hornets added two more scores to turn a nail-biter into a rout. Ross picked off a pass and ran it 56 yards for a touchdown, then sophomore speedster Henry Ford broke loose for a 46-yard scoring run.

“Our offense executed and our defense shut them down,” a happy Franklin said after the two-time district champion Hornets were presented another gold football for being bi-district champs. “We were just on point today.

“I was a little nervous when they scored those two touchdowns,” Franklin added, “but coach (Shane) Martin told me to step up and be a leader. That’s what I did.”

“This is what we’ve been working for our whole lives, ever since the Huntsville Youth Football League days,” Huntsville senior Kase Delaune added.

The Hornets got off to a great start Saturday. Three minutes into the game, Huntsville held a 14-0 lead.

Gilbert gave Central Texas fans their first glimpse of athleticism, Huntsville style, when he took off on a 46-yard touchdown run. After rolling left and seeing nothing there, Gilbert zipped back to the right and found lots of room.

Three Rebel defenders had an angle on the speedy Gilbert, but the Huntsville quarterback turned on the jets and raced untouched to the end zone.

The Hornets got a break following Martin Juarez’s successful point-after kick. Hays’ Anthony Garza slipped and fell on the field turf while trying to catch a bouncing ball on the kickoff.

Huntsville sophomore Darius Evans sped down the field and recovered the ball. He cruised into the end zone, but the ball could not be advanced.

That mattered little. Two plays later, Ross powered over from the 6-yard line and put the Hornets on top 14-0.

Juarez, who was perfect on extra points, threw in a 21-yard field goal early in the second period to give Huntsville a 17-0 halftime lead.

“They made a mistake early,” Coey said, “and we made them pay for it. We drove it in the red zone two more times in the first half, but didn’t get anything out of it. That had me concerned at halftime.”

The way it turned out, Coey didn’t have to worry. The Hornets took care of business and are moving on to the next round.

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Hornet Sports

Back to work
Tick tick tick. Tick tick tick tick.
It won’t be long until the alarm goes off early Monday morning, signaling the start of high school football practice in Huntsville.
Freshmen hit the field at 8 a.m. Monday and Hornets head coach Shane Martin can’t wait. Huntsville’s defensive coordinator the past two years, Martin has been waiting seven long months for the first day of serious summer workouts.

July 31, 2010 1 Photo
Huntsville ISD hires new volleyball coach
On paper and in her head, Stephanie Branch quietly took notes while sitting in the stands at Bryan High School on Thursday night. She paid particular attention to the team from Huntsville, because in a little more than a month that bunch will be her’s.
The daughter of a teaching and coaching couple, Branch, 31, was hired this week as the Lady Hornets’ new head volleyball coach. She replaces Brittany Brumbelow, who stepped down from her position at the end of the school year to spend more time with her family.

June 17, 2010
High school notebook: Brenham boys edge Hornets at state track meet
Round one went to the Brenham boys. The Cubs won the District 18-4A boys track and field title last month in Willis.
The Huntsville boys took round two. Led by state qualifiers Justin Gilbert, Brodrick Hadnot, Henry Ford, Dimitri Collier and Cameron Simmons, the Hornets evened the score by outscoring the Cubs at the Region III track meet in Huntsville early this month.
In Austin last weekend, the Cubs edged the Hornets in the unofficial battle for track and field supremacy in District 18-4A.

May 18, 2010
Going for gold
It wasn’t that long ago. RaKira Turner stood in the shot put ring and with all of her might, flat-footed she heaved the heavy ball forward.
Her first throws from the discus ring were even more memorable. With no idea about how to hold the strangely shaped disc, Turner did her best but the results were far from pretty.

May 12, 2010 1 Photo
Hornets finish strong
They easily could have gone through the motions.
Sitting eighth in the team standings after a miserable first day at the UIL Boys Golf State Championships, the Hornets could have trudged around the Jimmy Clay Golf Course without a care.
They could have turned in another big score, gotten back on the bus and hit the highway headed home to Huntsville.
These Hornets had too much pride to mail in the second round of the tournament. On Tuesday, the Huntsville boys made a huge turnaround, shooting a team score of 307, which moved them up to sixth in the team standings.

May 11, 2010
Difficult district
The Lady Hornets played their best round of golf Monday at Raven Nest Golf Club. Unfortunately for the Huntsville girls, they are stuck in District 18-4A with two, and probably three, of the top teams in the state.
Led by junior Madison Ward, who shot a solid 79, Huntsville’s varsity team posted a 349 team score during the first round of the District 18-4A tournament. That total puts the Lady Hornets in fourth place behind Montgomery Gold (310), Montgomery Purple (313) and Magnolia A (319) heading into today’s final round.

April 12, 2010 1 Photo
Hornets finish first at Dayton track meet
The track teams from Huntsville High School did exactly what their head coach wanted them to do last week in the final tune-up before the all-important District 18-4A meet.
The Hornets finished first and the Lady Hornets placed third in the team standings at the Bronco Relays in Dayton.

April 12, 2010 2 Photos
Gilbert advances to 100-meter finals at Texas Relays
Huntsville senior Justin Gilbert booked a spot in the main event. With a sizzling showing in the prelims for the 100-meter dash, Gilbert earned a place in the finals of the Texas Relays this afternoon in Austin.
Hopefully, he will have some company as some of his teammates try this morning to advance to the finals at Mike Myers Stadium at the University of Texas.

April 2, 2010
‘I’m going to be nervous’
Austin’s Mike Myers Stadium is the place to be this weekend. The top track and field athletes not only in Texas, but from across the United States, will be competing inside a stadium full with the sport’s most passionate fans.
As a reward for weeks of hard work, and also to act as a possible tune-up for next month’s season-ending state meet, Huntsville High School is sending its best athletes to Austin, too.

April 1, 2010 2 Photos
Top-ranked Cubs bring big bats to Huntsville
On a night when Brenham’s Chase Wellbrock nearly threw a no-hitter, Huntsville head coach Jeff Brumbelow shook his head more about the Cubs’ impressive hit parade.
Brenham came to Kate Barr Ross Park on Wednesday and quickly took control on the District 18-4A baseball game against the Hornets. The top-ranked Cubs banged out 16 hits in the first three innings and scored 13 runs on their way to a commanding 18-1 win over Huntsville.

March 17, 2010
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Hornets score 28 in fourth quarter to win first playoff game since 1991

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