The Herald-Zeitung

SAN ANTONIO — New Braunfels kept its postseason hopes alive Saturday as it defeated San Antonio Johnson 17-7 at Heroes Stadium.

New Braunfels scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns to take the lead, and the Unicorns’ stout defense made sure they never relinquished it.

“I thought our kids played great on defense,” New Braunfels coach Chuck Caniford said. “Johnson is explosive offensively. They don’t put a lot of points on the board, but they do a great job of keeping your offense off the field.”

The Unicorns (6-3, 4-3) snuffed out any of Johnson’s explosiveness in the first half. New Braunfels held Johnson (5-5, 4-4) to just 88 yards and four first downs.

The offense went to work quickly as Jeremy Garcia bulldozed in a four-yard run on the first drive of the game, and Matt Schmid scored on a 20-yard John Simmons screen pass in the first quarter to give New Braunfels a 14-0 lead at halftime.

“That’s a big part of our offense, and we just wanted to get the ball in our playmakers’ hands,” Caniford said of the screen pass. “They did that tonight when we got the ball out there.”

New Braunfels piled up 265 yards of first-half offense and marched deep into Jaguars territory on five occasions. The Unicorns scored just twice though, seeing drives end on downs, a missed field goal and an interception.

“We have to do a better job of capitalizing in the red zone,” Caniford said. “We were moving the ball really well all night. We just got down there and didn’t put points on the board a couple of times. We’ve just got to get better at that.”

Johnson’s Cohner Mokry scored on a five-yard run on the Jaguars’ first possession of the second half to cut the deficit to 14-7, but Aaron Hayduk booted a 40-yard field goal for the Unicorns on the next drive.

After many players have battled injuries this season, the Unicorns offense had a full complement of players in its backfield. Jeremy Garcia led the Unicorns with 110 yards and a touchdown on 13 rushes, and John Simmons was second on the team with 80 yards.

Running backs Kevin Monreal (17 yards) and Karimu Osman (22 yards) both rotated into the backfield.

“It’s nice to be able to roll those guys in and out there with fresh legs,” Caniford said. “Late in the game, we were able to take control, so I was real proud of those guys.”

The Unicorns’ offensive line allowed zero sacks as Simmons went 13 for 27 passing for 122 yards and a touchdown.

“I thought our offensive line played great,” Caniford said.”Johnson did some crazy stuff up front that gave us some fits, but the line didn’t let that get to them. Our kids responded, came out and made plays.”

With the win, the Unicorns are still eligible to make the playoffs. They need to beat MacArthur (5-4, 3-4) in next week’s regular season finale, and they need a Roosevelt loss to Smithson Valley to move into fourth place in District 26-5A and clinch the loop’s final playoff spot.

It’s going to be tricky, Caniford said.

“I don’t think anything is easy in this league, and nothing is a given,” he said. “We’ll go back to work on Monday and get ready to try to beat Mac.”