Fresh off their bye week, a well-rested San Antonio Reagan team marched into Unicorn Stadium to pound out a 31-14 win over New Braunfels on Friday.
Rattler running backs Diego Flores and Taylor Small led Reagan (5-2 overall, 4-1 in District 26-5A) to the win, scoring two touchdowns apiece and rushing for all but 57 of its 213 yards.
Flores finished the night rushing for 113 yards on 24 carries as Small compiled 43 yards on six touches.
But it was the Rattlers’ defensive unit that assisted the duo in their output, recovering two fumbles and intercepting four passes to put Reagan’s offense in solid scoring position.
The Rattlers successfully converted both fumbles into two Flores touchdowns (6 and 7 yards) to take a 17-0 lead with just under seven minutes to play until halftime.
“You just can’t give a good team like that field position like we did in the first half,” New Braunfels coach Chuck Caniford said. “You don’t turn the ball over that many times and expect to win.”
The Unicorns (5-3, 3-3) put up a strong defensive effort early on, holding the Rattlers to Jake Wilcox’s 20-yard field goal following Small’s 71-yard opening kickoff return.
Reagan, however, managed to return the favor as it kept New Braunfels scoreless for nearly 44 minutes of action.
“I just think we played very physically tough football tonight,” Reagan coach David Wetzel said. “Even though we got bogged down early we still managed to get some points on the board. I think that set the tone for the rest of the evening.”
Small provided Reagan’s final two scores of the game, rushing in from five and four yards out, respectively, to give the Rattlers a 31-0 advantage with 7:35 to play in the third quarter.
New Braunfels’ offense then came alive in the final four minutes of the game when backup junior quarterback Micajah Poole (0-1-1) scored on a 10-yard run to prevent a shutout loss.
Poole finished with 28 yards on four carries, but it was Karimu Osman who led the Unicorns in rushing. The junior running back racked up 76 yards on three carries and captured New Braunfels’ lone highlight of the night, a 60-yard touchdown run with 1:13 remaining in the contest.
Jeremy Garcia added 62 yards rushing with Kevin Monreal providing 58.
John Simmons had 45 yards on the ground to go along with 7 completions on 17 attempts with two interceptions and 60 yards passing.
Highlighting New Braunfels’ defensive highlights on the night was linebacker Brett Rychel, who finished with two interceptions.
“They just flat out beat us up front on both sides of the football,” Caniford said. “Tonight, we just couldn’t get a hold of it.”
