Llano football earns another postseason shutout victory

CAPTION: Llano High School football head coach Matt Green praises his Yellow Jackets for their impressive win against Goliad Nov. 18 at Warrior Coliseum on the Comal Pieper High School campus. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Llano High School football team posted its second postseason shutout win in as many weeks when the Yellow Jackets beat Goliad 21-0 Friday, Nov. 18 in the area round of the playoffs.

“We knew they were a really good team, we had seen it on film,” Llano head coach Matt Green said. “(One of Goliad’s assistants) said, ‘We had hit our stride, we were playing our best football. Y’all were too much tonight.'”

Llano (12-0, 6-0 District 13-3A Division I) will face Vanderbilt Industrial (10-2, 5-1 District 15-3A Division I) at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25, at Heroes Stadium, 4799 Thousand Oaks Drive in San Antonio.

Against Goliad in the opening series, the Yellow Jackets did what they wanted offensively. Senior running back Carson Kuykendall ran for 11 yards on the first play, then junior quarterback Briggs Green found senior receiver Ross Prokop for a 17-yard completion and senior receiver Jackson Dillard for a 15-yard completion. In three plays Llano covered a third of the field to get to Goliad’s 48-yard line.

But the Tigers didn’t yield that easily. Instead, Goliad tightened on defending the run and forced the Jackets to convert two fourth-down attempts during the drive, none bigger than the 17-yard touchdown pass to Dillard from Green on fourth-and-4. Senior Bryce Mize added the extra point for the 7-0 lead with 7 minutes and 30 seconds left in the quarter. The 12-play drive covered 76 yards in 4:23.

Goliad tried to respond, though Llano had an answer defensively. The only big play for the Tigers was the result of a Jacket defensive back going for the interception and not getting it, resulting in a 50-yard Tiger completion, Goliad went for it on fourth-and-11 from the Llano 21 and got only six yards for the turnover on downs.

That set a precedent for both units throughout the night. The Tigers recorded a total of three explosive pass plays in four quarters of 50, 28 and 35 yards but couldn’t get their run game going thanks to a stingy Llano front seven that refused to be moved led by senior defensive end Jaxon Rhea who recorded a couple of sacks and never allowed senior quarterback J.P. Reyes to get comfortable.

The result was limiting the Tigers to 173 yards of total offense, 64 yards in the second half. Reyes completed 7 of 16 passes for 149 yards and an interception. Senior tight end Joseph Council caught 2 passes for 41 yards and junior tight end Caden Reagan had a 50-yard reception. The Tigers had 21 rushes for 24 yards, all unofficial.

“Our defense was outstanding,” Green said.

Meanwhile, the Jackets offensive playmakers shined.

Kuykendall scored Llano’s second touchdown on a two-yard run to cap a 14-play, 52-yard drive that took 4:03 to complete. The Jackets overcame two holding penalties to finish the drive for a 14-0 lead at the half.

With just under 2 minutes left in the contest, Goliad turned the ball over on downs and gave Llano a short field. The result was a 16-yard touchdown run by senior running back Miguel Hernandez to finish a two-play, 17-yard drive that took less than a minute to finish and a 21-0 win.

Llano had 339 yards of total offense.

Quarterback Green completed 16 of 22 passes for 183 yards and a touchdown. Dillard caught 6 passes for 74 yards and a score, while Prokop had 4 receptions for 70 yards. Kuykendall had 20 rushes for 105 yards and a touchdown, and Hernandez had 9 carries for 57 yards and a score.

Coach Green noted Llano’s offensive tempo gave Goliad fits in the first half and the Jackets deliberately slowed down in the second half.

“Goliad is an excellent team,” he said. “You’re beginning to see defenses thrive. It’s hard to overcome penalties, we have to clean those up. I think we left some plays on the field. The kids played well.”

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