EL CAMPO - Shiner executed a ground and pound strategy to run for 428 yards in a 41-7 win over Flatonia in a Class 2A, Division I regional playoff game Friday (November 27, 2015) at Ricebird Stadium.
The Comanches, who had 14 runs that went for double-digits gains, didn't bother to throw a pass all evening. The defense did the rest of the job, holding the Bulldogs to under 100 rushing yards.
"I thought we played physical and controlled the tempo of the game offensively," Shiner coach Steven Cerny said. "Besides the one score they had, our defense played really well. It was humid conditions. The only thing that really worried me tonight was we got a little tired out there."
Shiner (13-0) punched its ticket to state quarterfinals for the fourth time in the past five years. Awaiting them is District 15-2A rival Refugio (11-2), which pounded Weimar 48-7 Friday. The two teams will meet at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Alamo Stadium in San Antonio. The Comanches beat Refugio 30-19 in the district opener this season.
Flatonia (7-6) lost a regional game for the seventh straight time. The Bulldogs haven't beat Shiner since 1995. The teams have not been strangers, playing for the fourth time since 2013, including a 28-0 Comanche road win Nov. 6. In general, Cerny isn't a fan of playoff rematches.
"Personally, I never like to play people a bunch, because obviously we don't change much, and they don't change much either," he said. "You get to know each other so well, but I thought we handled it well tonight. We made good adjustments from what we did the first game we played."
In the Nov. 6 game, Shiner only scored one touchdown in the first half.
"The first time we played them we didn't come out so strong," said Shiner senior running back and linebacker Chad Neubauer said.
That also was the case with the first drive Friday. It ended with Dadrian Taylor fumbling after an 11-yard gain. Blaine Besetzny fell on the ball at the Shiner 39 for the Bulldogs. Flatonia got to the Comanche 24, but the drive ended with incomplete passes on third and fourth down.
"We had the fumble, but we didn't let it bother us," Cerny said. "The defense made a big stop and we got on track on offense. Taylor really ran well tonight. He looked super."
Shiner's first scoring drive featured several big runs. Taylor gained 13 and 14 on two runs to the right. Neubauer had a pair of 11-yard gains as well. Quarterback Ty Boedeker capped the drive with a 1-yard sneak for the touchdown.
After a Flatonia three-and-out, Taylor muffed the ensuing punt return. The ball fell back to the 11, but Taylor was able to beat out several Bulldogs to the ball. He atoned for the mistake on the next play with an 89-yard touchdown run. Taylor actually ran for more than 100 yards on the play, since the run started left and featured a cutback to the right.
Taylor added another touchdown run with 2:41 left before halftime on a 14-yard run. He finished the first half with 173 yards on 10 carries.
Flatonia twice got to the Shiner 35 in the second quarter, but could not keep the drives alive. A 4-yard pass from Casen Novak to Raul Olmos left the Bulldogs 1 yard short of the marker on a fourth down late in the first half.
Shiner extended the lead in the third quarter on two more Taylor touchdown runs of 16 and 21 yards.
"We run the ball, that's what we do," Cerny said. "The last game we played high on the offensive line. We preached today that we have to do a better job coming off the ball, and we did."
Flatonia avoided the shutout with a 15-yard touchdown run by Matt Kozelsky. The senior had 35 yards rushing on the night and caught one ball for 10 yards. He was one of six different Bulldogs who caught passes in the game.
GAME STATISTICSsource: https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/sports/games/results/football/flatonia-at-shiner/6208/ Shiner 41 vs. Flatonia 7 November 27, 2015, 7:30 p.m. Ricebird Stadium, El Campo SCORING SUMMARY 1 2 3 4 F Flatonia 0 0 7 0 -- 7 Shiner 0 21 14 6 -- 41 SCORING DETAILS: First Quarter no score Second Quarter S - Ty Boedeker 1 run (Chad Neubauer kick), 11:16 S - Dadrian Taylor 89 run (Neubauer kick), 8:50 S - Taylor 14 run (Neubauer kick), 2:41 Third Quarter S - Taylor 16 run (Neubauer kick), 8:37 F - Matt Kozelsky 15 run (Blaine Besetzny kick) 5:21 S - Taylor 21 run (Neubauer kick), 0:36 Fourth Quarter S - Dustin Petras 2 run (kick failed), 5:12 TEAM STATISTICS: Flatonia Shiner First Downs 9 19 Penalties 5 2 Penalty Yards 30 46 Attempted Passes 21 0 Completed Passes 7 0 Passing Interceptions 0 0 Passing Touchdowns 0 0 Passing Yards 80 0 Rushes 27 50 Rushing Yards 99 428 Rushing Touchdowns 1 6 Fumbles 1 2 Fumbles Lost 0 1 Punts 3 0 Punting Yards 150 0 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Passing Player Comp Att Pct Yd Int Flatonia Casen Novak 7 19 36.8% 80 0 Shiner Ty Boedeker 0 0 0.% 0 0 Rushing Player Rush Yd Y/R Flatonia Casen Novak 3 3 1.00 Gabe Smith 7 23 3.28 Gabe Smith 7 23 3.28 Matthew Kozelsky 11 35 3.18 Braydon Mica 6 38 6.33 Shiner Chad Neubauer 11 81 7.36 Charles Haynes 5 17 3.40 Dadrian Taylor 18 245 13.6 Justin Stein 7 64 9.14 Dustin Petras 1 2 2.00 Ty Boedeker 8 19 2.37 Receiving Player Recv Yd Avg Flatonia Corey Lyons 1 12 12.0 Gabe Smith 1 31 31.0 Gabe Smith 1 31 31.0 Lucas Herrera 1 10 10.0 Matthew Kozelsky 1 10 10.0 Raul Olmos 2 9 4.50 Samuel Netro 1 8 8.00