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Snyder’s senior wide receiver Jayden Samaniego leaped to make the catch during Snyder’s 34-27 loss to Littlefield at Tiger Stadium Friday. Samaniego had two catches for 61 yards and a touchdown in the game.
Despite more than 300 yards of offense and two take-aways, the Snyder Tigers came up short 34-27 to the Littlefield Wildcats in the season-opener at Tiger Stadium Friday.
On the opening drive, Littlefield picked up a pair of first downs and looked poised to score first before Aiden Salinas came away with an interception for Snyder’s first take-away of the season.
Following a Snyder three-and-out, Littlefield drove the length of the field in four minutes to score the first touchdown.
Tyjae Chambers’ 23-yard touchdown run gave Littlefield the 7-0 lead with two minutes left in the half.
Snyder responded with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Leeroy Tavarez to Derek Dominguez. Snyder failed to get the extra-point kick and trailed Littlefield 7-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The Tigers scored the first points of the second quarter when Tavarez floated a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Samaniego.
Following the missed extra point kick, Snyder led 12-7.
The Wildcats wasted no time on the following drive, scoring on four plays to re-claim the lead at 14-12 with five minutes in the first half.
On the following Snyder possession, Greg Williams broke free for a pair of runs totaling 74 yards and setting the Tigers up at the Littlefield 1-yard line. Tavarez finished the drive with a quarterback sneak touchdown and a two-point conversion pass to Dominguez to give Snyder the 20-14 lead.
Looking to take the lead before half, Littlefield put together a long drive resulting in a touchdown with under one minute left in the half. The Wildcats scored on an 11-yard run by Davin Saldana, but the extra-point kick was no good and the two teams went into the half tied at 20-20.
The Tigers started the second half with the ball. Tavarez led the Tigers on a seven-minute scoring drive capped by a 1-yard run to give Snyder a 27-20 lead.
Tavarez threw for two touchdowns and ran for another two in the game. While senior Corey Landin got the start and played the game’s first drive, Snyder head coach Wes Wood said he told his quarterbacks he was going to go with the hot hand.
“I told both of them during pregame that it is make it, take it. If you score, you stay,” he said. “I love the way they support each other. They are both great competitors and they both have different strengths.”
Littlefield’s Blake Green scored on a 28-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 27-27 with a minute left in the third quarter and then got the ball back when Snyder fumbled on the kick return. Littlefield fumbled on the ensuing drive and the ball was recovered by Snyder’s Jorge Martinez.
The Tigers’ drive eventually stalled and Littlefield took over following a punt. The Littlefield rushing attack went back to work and Chambers scored his second touchdown of the game with seven minutes left.
The score gave Littlefield a 24-27 lead.
Snyder had a chance to tie the game, but a pair of dropped passes ended the Tiger’s hopes of tying the game.
The game was the first for Wood as a head coach and he said, despite the loss, his team played as hard as they could and will improve going forward.
“The toughness and effort was there and I am just so proud of our kids,” Woods said. “I love them and I’d go to bat for them. We are going to get stuff fixed and we are going to be OK.”
Snyder will be on the road next week to face Brownwood with kickoff set set for 7:30 p.m. Friday.