The Herald-Zeitung

SAN ANTONIO — Zack Craig blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, and Parker Taylor scored on a 74-yard pass Saturday as Smithson Valley handed Churchill a 31-14 defeat at Comalander Stadium.

Smithson Valley dominated the special teams and field position battles to keep the Chargers out of scoring position, and Rangers coach Larry Hill earned the victory against his brother, Chargers coach Glenn Hill Jr.

“It’s bittersweet,” Larry Hill said of the victory over his older brother. “You hurt for your family when they don’t get what they worked hard for. Obviously, in this case, one of us had to not get it, and he wanted it to be me and I wanted it to be him. Of the two extremes, I’ll take this one.”

Craig burst through the line on Churchill’s first drive of the game, blocking a James Kemp punt. The senior returned the loose ball 44 yards to give Smithson Valley a 7-0 lead.

An 11-yard Robby Mecke touchdown run and a 28-yard Ryan Unruh field goal put the Rangers (5-3, 4-2) ahead 17-0 at the break.

Churchill (2-7, 1-6) fired back with long drive and a third-quarter touchdown, but Smithson Valley put the game out of reach with Taylor’s long, fourth-quarter touchdown reception. Rangers quarterback Parker McKenzie hit the tight end streaking along the sidelines, where he juked one defender and raced into the end zone.

In the end, Larry Hill said, that was the game-breaker.

“The punt block and the long pass are probably the game, really,” he said. “There might have been some other things — three points here or there — but that’s where it was won and lost. You look for turning points, and obviously that was it.”

Churchill added a touchdown with four minutes to go in the fourth to pull to 24-14, but Lach Labanna ran in a five-yard touchdown run with 42 seconds to go to put the game on ice.

Smithson Valley dominated on special teams, frequently pressuring Churchill’s punts and taking advantage of the good field position. The Chargers averaged 15.5 yards per punt on six punts.

The Rangers’ average starting position was their own 42-yard line.

“We couldn’t always take advantage of it, but when we couldn’t, we got to punt it back,” Hill said of the Rangers’ favorable starting field position. “That changed how far they had to drive and eventually how far we had to drive.”

Smithson Valley and Churchill had comparable yardage totals – Churchill with 245 and Smithson Valley with 235 – but the Rangers only gave up a pair of long drives.

“They’re hard-headed and I knew they would be,” Hill said. “If you look it them, this is how they play the game. They go on those long drives and eat up all the clock. You have to make some explosive plays – and we were lucky enough to get two – and get some stops. We’re just glad to get it.”

The Hill clan was well-represented in the matchup.

Not only was Larry facing off against his older brother Glenn, Larry’s son Alan Hill was roaming the sidelines as Churchill’s linebackers coach and Larry’s nephew Glenn Hill III was under center for the Chargers.

“It was my sons playing before, and now it’s his son playing,” Larry Hill said. “It’s kind of an end of an era. It’ll just be me and him – two old guys – now… and my son. That’s my son, who used to be a quarterback for us, coaching their linebackers.”

Joked Hill: “They’re all ganging up on me a little bit, but he’s got a job and he’s off my payroll.”

Robby Mecke had 62 yards and a touchdown to lead Smithson Valley in rushing. McKenzie was 7-of-10 passing for 120 yards and a touchdown.

Coming back from a concussion he suffered earlier in the season, Glenn Hill III passed for 144 yards on 18 completions and rushed for both of Churchill’s touchdowns.

“He’s a warrior, isn’t he?” Larry Hill said. “He hasn’t been there in a while, and he played really well after being out for three or four weeks. He’s just like his dad and his granddad and great-granddad. He’s a hard-head.”

Smithson Valley moves on to face district cellar dweller San Antonio Lee (1-7, 0-6) next week as the chaotic District 26-5A race heats up.

“The way it is now, you don’t even know who you want to win games,” Larry Hill said. “There are three or four of us who control our own destiny, and we’re one of them. We just need to win our games and let other things happen as they may.”