Hermleigh falls to undefeated Blackwell

HERMLEIGH — Blackwell relied on its passing game and had two defensive scores to claim a 64-35 win over Hermleigh Friday night.
Blackwell’s Brandon Brinkman completed 7-of-11 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns while Michael Lowry connected on 5-of-13 passes for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Lowry caught four passes for 118 yards and Caleb Simons had four receptions for 106 yards. Hermleigh (2-3) held Blackwell (5-0) to 100 yards rushing on 24 carries.
“Our run defense slowed them down, but Blackwell showed we need to work on pass defense,” Hermleigh head coach Sam Winters said. “We need to get better in that department. When you have two weapons like (Brinkman) and (Lowry), it’s hard to stop both of them. They used them well and did good things.”
Payton Rivera, who was cleared after suffering a concussion last week, finished with 134 yards rushing and three touchdowns. He completed 8-of-11 passes for 84 yards and one touchdown.
“We scored 35 points and Blackwell didn’t ruin what we wanted to do,” Winters said. “We learned what we can do on offense. Anytime you can develop depth, it benefits the team. Blackwell broke out in the third quarter, but we contained them in the fourth quarter.”
Hermleigh played without linebacker Luis Gonzalez  and Kelton Carroll, a starting receiver and safety, due to injuries.
“We had injuries, but guys stepped in and learned new positions,” Winters said. “We talked after the game about learning from our mistakes. This is why we play six non-district games, so we can be ready for district. We learned from it and improved. Blackwell is a good team and will make noise this year in the playoffs.”
Winters said he will use the game as a teaching moment during practice.
“They took a lot of pride on what they are doing,” he said. “When we did things right, we did it perfect. When we did things wrong, it was obvious. It was a learning step. We changed our defense without Luis. One bright spot was Tyler Thompson coming from the JV and playing well at receiver. The game was good for Tyler to experience and we moved other people around. This will help us down the road.”
Blackwell scored two touchdowns within the first four minutes of the game. Lowry completed a 22-yard pass to Brinkman and Junior Guia returned a fumble 55 yards to give the Hornets a 12-0 lead.
“When you make mistakes like the fumble return, it is difficult to overcome,” Winters said. “We spotted them two touchdowns.”
Hermleigh took the lead when Rivera and Devin Hildebrand scored on runs of four and nine yards, respectively. Rivera made both 2-point conversion kicks as the Cardinals took a 16-12 lead into the second quarter.
Blackwell reclaimed the lead with 28 points in the second quarter.
Brinkman scored on a 3-yard run and Caleb Simons caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Lowery. Brinkman’s conversion kick gave Blackwell a 26-16 lead.
Rivera’s 25-yard touchdown run cut Blackwell’s lead to 26-22, but Lowry scored on a 35-yard run and Brinkman’s kick gave the Hornets a 34-16 lead with 5:01 left in the first half.
Hermleigh answered with Rivera’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Preston Carr and 1-point conversion pass to Colton Messick. Blackwell was able to take a 40-29 halftime lead when Simons caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Lowry.
In the third quarter, Brinkman threw touchdown passes of 14 yards to Cameron Coldiron and 61 yards to Lowry. Brinkman made both conversion kicks as Blackwell took a 56-29 lead into the fourth quarter.
Rivera scored on a 17-yard touchdown run with 8:22 left in the game to cut the deficit to 56-35. Blackwell’s final score was on a Devan Cower fumble recovering in the end zone.
Hermleigh will conclude the non-district schedule at Bronte Friday. The District 4-1A Division I opener will be at Aspermont Oct. 12.
“Our goal is to be ready for district,” Winters said. “We want to win the final non-district game and have momentum. We will begin district at Aspermont, which is a very good team. We need to fine tune everything.”
 

BLACKWELL 64, HERMLEIGH 35
Blackwell    12    28    16    8—64
Hermleigh    16    13    0     6—35
First Quarter
BLACKWELL — Michael Lowry 22 pass from Brandon Brinkman (kick failed), 8:00.
BLACKWELL — Junior Guia 55 fumble return (kick failed), 6:36.
HERMLEIGH — Payton Rivera 4 run (Rivera kick), 4:54.
HERMLEIGH — Devin Hildebrand 9 run (Rivera kick), 1:43.
Second Quarter
BLACKWELL — Brinkman 3 run (kick failed), 9:52.
BLACKWELL — Caleb Simons 32 pass from Lowry (Brinkman kick), 7:22.
HERMLEIGH — Rivera 25 run (kick failed), 5:54.
BLACKWELL — Lowry 35 run (Brinkman kick), 5:01.
HERMLEIGH — Preston Carr 28 pass from Rivera (Colton Messick pass from Rivera), 1:46.
BLACKWELL — Simons 42 pass from Lowry (kick failed), 1:35.
Third Quarter
BLACKWELL — Cameron Coldiron 14 pass from Brinkman  (Brinkman kick), 6:40.
BLACKWELL — Lowry 61 pass from Brinkman (Brinkman kick), 3:02.
Fourth Quarter
HERMLEIGH — Rivera 17 run (kick failed), 8:22.
BLACKWELL — Devan Cower fumble recovery in end zone (Brinkman kick), :43.
            BHS           HHS
First Downs    15    11
    By rush    2    5
    By pass    12    4
    By penalty    1    2
Total yards    391    304
Rushes-yards    24-100    30-207
Passing yards     291    97
Comp-Att-Int    12-24-0    10-16-0
Punts     1-4    0-0
Fumbles-lost    1-0     2-2
Penalties-yards    5-50    11-75
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Blackwell, Brandon Brinkman 16-55, Michael Lowry 2-41, Cameron Coldiron 5-3, Junior Guia 1-1. Hermleigh, Payton Rivera 21-134, Devin Hildebrand 9-73.
PASSING — Blackwell, Brandon Brinkman 7-11-0 for 160 yards, 2 TDs; Michael Lowry 5-13-0 for 131 yards, 3 TDs. Hermleigh, Payton Rivera 8-11-0 for 84 yards, 1 TD; Devin Hildebrand 2-5-0 for 13 yards.
RECEIVING —  Blackwell, Michael Lowry 4-118, Caleb Simons 4-106.Cameron Coldiron 3-51, Devan Clower 1-9. Hermleigh, Preston Carr 3-54, Tyler Thompson 2-9, Devin Hildebrand 2-19, Blake Hancock 1-17, Payton Rivera 1-1, Tucker Barton 1-(minus 3).