JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF

LLANO — The Llano High School football team can clinch a postseason spot with a win at Hondo on Oct. 31.

The District 13-4A Division II game is at Barry Field, 2603 Ave. H in Hondo, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

“We have to get a win, period, end of story,” Llano head coach Craig Slaughter said. “You still have a chance to get in the playoffs.”

The Owls (3-5 overall, 0-2 district) will want to establish their run game on offense. They are led by quarterback Carson Stoner who has completed 69 passes for 918 yards with nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions and has 60 rushes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Javier Alfaro has 54 rushes for 111 yards, and Rick Moreno has 44 carries for 106 yards. Receiver Willie Keilman has 22 catches for 418 yards and five touchdowns.

Hondo’s record does not reveal how good this opponent is, Slaughter said. Wimberley beat them 28-7 last week. But the Texans led 14-0 at the half, and the Owls trimmed that to 14-7 in the third quarter.

“Hondo needs a district win like we do,” Slaughter said. “They definitely have some solid players.”

The Yellow Jackets (2-6, 0-2) enter the contest after a 34-31 loss to Lytle on Oct. 24.

“A tough, tough loss,” Slaughter said. “It was a good high school game, but it was the second time this year we weren’t on the winning side at home.”

He said the two teams were evenly matched. Usually, a big play on special teams helps determine the outcome. And Llano gave the home crowd reason to cheer early.

The Yellow Jackets forced the Pirates to punt on their opening offensive series.

Llano’s Trevor Penny blocked the attempt, and Matt Cohen fell on the ball in the end zone for his first varsity touchdown.

The reason for the punt is because coaches thought they saw something they could exploit.

“It’s something we worked on and thought we could get,” Slaughter said. “It was nice to see the kids execute and go get it.”

That helped Llano build a 23-14 advantage at the half.

But Lytle’s opening possession resulted in a touchdown with the drive chewing up six minutes 57 seconds.

After that the two teams exchanged touchdowns.

So with about 90 seconds remaining in the contest, Llano reached the Lytle 14-yard line and faced a third-and-1. The Pirates ran through a busted blocking assignment for a six-yard loss.

“There was some miscommunication, and we did not block the defensive end,” the coach said.

On fourth down, the Llano pass went incomplete.

Still, Slaughter said the contest did not hinge on those two plays, noting he could think of at least 10 plays that had they gone the Jackets’ way, the outcome might have been different.

jfierro@thepicayune.com

Lytle 34, Llano 31 on Oct. 24

SCORE BY QUARTERS

FIRST QUARTER

Ll — Matt Cohen falls on the ball in the end zone on a blocked punt by Trevor Penny (David Forrister kick), 7:02

Ly — Christian Cedeno 63-yard run (kick failed), 6:37

Ll — Airon Layton 35-yard pass from Holden Simpson (kick failed), 4:33

SECOND QUARTER

Ll — Lance Revin 1-yard run (Forrister kick), 6:56

Ly — Preston Darby 6-yard pass from Bryan Bippert (Armando Martinez run), 2:56

Ll — Forrister 34-yard field goal :02

THIRD QUARTER

Ly — Armando Martinez 2-yard run (Martinez run), 5:03

FOURTH QUARTER

Ly — Cedeno 5-yard run (Bippert run), 7:46

Ll — Dalton Dewveall 54-yard run (Kasin Riley two-point pass from Simpson), 6:49

Ly — Cedeno 59-yard run (run failed), 6:30

TEAM STATS

LYTLE — first downs, 18; total yards, 434; rushes-yards, 52-376; passing, 58; completions-attempts-interceptions, 4-12-2; fumbles-lost, 2-2; penalties-yards, 7-54

LLANO — first downs, 13; total net yards, 280; rushes-yards, 33-120; passing, 160; completions-attempts-interceptions, 9-23-0; fumbles-lost, 1-1; penalties-yards, 5-32

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING – (Lytle) Matt Frias 4-15, Armando Martinez 2-6-1 touchdown, Bryan Bippert 15-90, Christian Cedeno 16-206-3 touchdowns, Nathan Medrano 15-59. (Llano) Lance Reven 14-34-1 touchdown, John Heflin 4-27, Trevor Penny 3-19, Doran Green 3-19, Holden Simpson 4-14, Aaron Moss 4-4, Trent Dechert 1-3

PASSING – (Lytle) Bryan Bippert 4-12-58-1 touchdown-2 interceptions. (Llano) Holden Simpson 9-23-160-2 touchdowns

RECEIVING – (Lytle) Preston Darby 1-6-1 touchdown, Chris Davila 2-9, Nathan Medrano 1-43. (Llano) Dalton Dewveall 1-64-1 touchdown, Airon Layton 1-36-1 touchdown, Tommy Yelvington 2-21, Kasin Riley 2-19, Reven 1-12