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WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 11:41 am
by Windthorstfan
Ex-newspaper writer wrote a Substack article regarding his 5 most memorable Windthorst games he covered. Below is my comment to his story of other memorable Windthorst games that he did not include on his list.
As Windthorst’s stat guy, Sideline dancer, since 2000. Here are some of my memorable games through the years: 2002 Bi-District against St Jo Chad Green boots a 30 yd FG in waning moments to win game 22-21, the following week lose to Knox City 7-14 when they score in the final minute. Funny story about 2003 Area Round game against Paducah, following our scores we kickoff and their returner twice tried to return it 5 yards deep out of the end zone. The third time he tried was tackled by his own teammate!!
2007 we backed into the playoffs after losing to Munday, AC, and Seymour, but finished in 3-way tie with Petrolia and AC and won points tiebreaker finished 4-6. Had a bye in the 1st Rd and faced #5 11-0 Gorman Black Friday afternoon. They came into the game averaging 51 points and 350 rushing yards a game. But the Trojans DLine of Jarrett Carr, John Schreiber, Kameron Steinberger, and Travis Vietenheimer and the rest of the defense limited Gorman to 80 yards on 28 carries in a 14-0 win. Beat Goldthwaite the next round to set-up a rematch with Munday, who beat us 33-3 earlier in the season. Munday fumbled a punt which we returned for a touchdown and when they were forced to punt from their endzone they kicked the ball into their upback which scored us a safety. Turnovers ultimately did us in as Munday escaped 17-16 after recovering a fumble in the waning moments as we were almost in Brian Hoff FG range.
2008 Bi-District against Albany, we were a 22 point underdog per Pigskin Prep. We dropped an interception in the final 2 minutes of the game on the next play they score on 70-80 yard tunnel screen to beat us 16-20.
2014 @Hawley trailed 40-14 with 9:51 left in the 3rd quarter after the returned a fumble for a TD. Trimmed the lead to 40-34 with 8:16 left in the game. Hawley had 1st and goal from the 3 but were denied 4 times as the Trojans took over at their 10 with 2:18 left. Had 1st and 10 from their 12 but 3 incomplete passes later left the Trojans with a do or die 4th down. Chandler King would be sacked for a 19 yard loss but they were called for defensive holding. Back then d holding was just a 10 yard penalty if the ball was not thrown and since we were at their 12 it was half the distance to the goal, so it brought up 4th and 4. King found Garrett Syrus for a 6 yard TD pass with 18 seconds left. They would block the XP but were offsides and Broady Flach’s second kick was true. Trojans won 41-40 to move to 3-0 in district
Side note game had a long delay with the lights went out. The following week we played Anson and since they had already lost two district games they needed to beat us by 7 or 8 points to have the points tiebreaker to make the playoffs if we lost the season finale to Stamford. They took a 26-22 lead late in the game but needing more points attempted an onside kick to get the ball back. We recovered and King again threw a TD late in the game to secure a 28-26 victory.
2017 Bi-District against Scott Ponder’s Bells team. We won a see-saw battle 46-42. Every time in the 2nd second it seemed like we seized control we would have a turnover. They took a 42-39 lead with 5.5 minutes left in the game on an 85 yard int return. Following a good return the Trojans were 51 yards away from paydirt. We would move the ball down to their 10 yard line but were called for holding moving us back to the 20 yard line. Nathan Bales would score on a 20 yard run swinging gate play with 2:43 left in the game. Bells would move the ball to our 12 yard line with 21 seconds left in the game. Following 3 incomplete passes, Koy Pennartz would intercept the 4th down attempt in the end zone as time expired.
2019 @Archer City game was deadlocked at 12. Cy Belcher’s punt had pinned the Wildcats at their 5 in the waning seconds of the 3rd quarter. Wildcats moved the ball to our 10 yard line and faced 3rd and 8 with 9 minutes left. On the ensuing play Haven Veith forced a bad pitch which Awtry Blagg snagged out of the air and took it 90 yards to the house for a 18-12 lead. The teams traded 3 and outs and the Wildcats had took possession at our 46. They faced 3rd and 14 with 4.5 minutes left when Gage McAnally would intercept the screen attempt and return it 50 yards for a 24-12 lead. AC scored a minute later but Windthorst would recover the kick and pick up two first downs on 3rd and 4th down to end the game.
2020 3rd round playoffs against Albany. Cy Belcher gets hurt with just under 10 minutes left. We would later learn it was an avulsion fracture in which a small chunk of the bone attached to a ligament gets pulled away from the main part of the bone. We were clinging to a 12-7 lead at time. Albany would score with 3:01 left in the game to take a 13-12 lead. Cy hobbled back onto the field as we took possession at our 25. Somehow he managed to avoid a pass rusher and Kyle Wolf would get away from the defense to collect only his 2 catch and race 68 yards to their 7. Ethan Belcher would score from 5 yards out two plays later with 1:39 left in the game. The Trojans held on for a 18-13 win.
These were memories from before I was the Stat Guy!! Before I was the stat guy in 1997 Wes Johnson was our QB. Bi-District playoff game at Seymour against Munday, the game itself wasn’t memorable, a 21-28 loss, but a weather delay due to lightning during a blizzard! The 1996 3rd round game at Fair Park Stadium in Childress against Springlake-Earth played in bitter cold and snow a 20-0 dominating win. The following week against Wheeler in Vernon in the semifinals we were in a dog fight and right before halftime Quentin Berend stripping their QB and returning it for a TD to give us breathing room in a 48-33 win.
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 6:24 am
by HawleyRocks
Windthorstfan wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 11:41 am
Ex-newspaper writer wrote a Substack article regarding his 5 most memorable Windthorst games he covered. Below is my comment to his story of other memorable Windthorst games that he did not include on his list.
As Windthorst’s stat guy, Sideline dancer, since 2000. Here are some of my memorable games through the years: 2002 Bi-District against St Jo Chad Green boots a 30 yd FG in waning moments to win game 22-21, the following week lose to Knox City 7-14 when they score in the final minute. Funny story about 2003 Area Round game against Paducah, following our scores we kickoff and their returner twice tried to return it 5 yards deep out of the end zone. The third time he tried was tackled by his own teammate!!
2007 we backed into the playoffs after losing to Munday, AC, and Seymour, but finished in 3-way tie with Petrolia and AC and won points tiebreaker finished 4-6. Had a bye in the 1st Rd and faced #5 11-0 Gorman Black Friday afternoon. They came into the game averaging 51 points and 350 rushing yards a game. But the Trojans DLine of Jarrett Carr, John Schreiber, Kameron Steinberger, and Travis Vietenheimer and the rest of the defense limited Gorman to 80 yards on 28 carries in a 14-0 win. Beat Goldthwaite the next round to set-up a rematch with Munday, who beat us 33-3 earlier in the season. Munday fumbled a punt which we returned for a touchdown and when they were forced to punt from their endzone they kicked the ball into their upback which scored us a safety. Turnovers ultimately did us in as Munday escaped 17-16 after recovering a fumble in the waning moments as we were almost in Brian Hoff FG range.
2008 Bi-District against Albany, we were a 22 point underdog per Pigskin Prep. We dropped an interception in the final 2 minutes of the game on the next play they score on 70-80 yard tunnel screen to beat us 16-20.
2014 @Hawley trailed 40-14 with 9:51 left in the 3rd quarter after the returned a fumble for a TD. Trimmed the lead to 40-34 with 8:16 left in the game. Hawley had 1st and goal from the 3 but were denied 4 times as the Trojans took over at their 10 with 2:18 left. Had 1st and 10 from their 12 but 3 incomplete passes later left the Trojans with a do or die 4th down. Chandler King would be sacked for a 19 yard loss but they were called for defensive holding. Back then d holding was just a 10 yard penalty if the ball was not thrown and since we were at their 12 it was half the distance to the goal, so it brought up 4th and 4. King found Garrett Syrus for a 6 yard TD pass with 18 seconds left. They would block the XP but were offsides and Broady Flach’s second kick was true. Trojans won 41-40 to move to 3-0 in district
Side note game had a long delay with the lights went out. The following week we played Anson and since they had already lost two district games they needed to beat us by 7 or 8 points to have the points tiebreaker to make the playoffs if we lost the season finale to Stamford. They took a 26-22 lead late in the game but needing more points attempted an onside kick to get the ball back. We recovered and King again threw a TD late in the game to secure a 28-26 victory.
2017 Bi-District against Scott Ponder’s Bells team. We won a see-saw battle 46-42. Every time in the 2nd second it seemed like we seized control we would have a turnover. They took a 42-39 lead with 5.5 minutes left in the game on an 85 yard int return. Following a good return the Trojans were 51 yards away from paydirt. We would move the ball down to their 10 yard line but were called for holding moving us back to the 20 yard line. Nathan Bales would score on a 20 yard run swinging gate play with 2:43 left in the game. Bells would move the ball to our 12 yard line with 21 seconds left in the game. Following 3 incomplete passes, Koy Pennartz would intercept the 4th down attempt in the end zone as time expired.
2019 @Archer City game was deadlocked at 12. Cy Belcher’s punt had pinned the Wildcats at their 5 in the waning seconds of the 3rd quarter. Wildcats moved the ball to our 10 yard line and faced 3rd and 8 with 9 minutes left. On the ensuing play Haven Veith forced a bad pitch which Awtry Blagg snagged out of the air and took it 90 yards to the house for a 18-12 lead. The teams traded 3 and outs and the Wildcats had took possession at our 46. They faced 3rd and 14 with 4.5 minutes left when Gage McAnally would intercept the screen attempt and return it 50 yards for a 24-12 lead. AC scored a minute later but Windthorst would recover the kick and pick up two first downs on 3rd and 4th down to end the game.
2020 3rd round playoffs against Albany. Cy Belcher gets hurt with just under 10 minutes left. We would later learn it was an avulsion fracture in which a small chunk of the bone attached to a ligament gets pulled away from the main part of the bone. We were clinging to a 12-7 lead at time. Albany would score with 3:01 left in the game to take a 13-12 lead. Cy hobbled back onto the field as we took possession at our 25. Somehow he managed to avoid a pass rusher and Kyle Wolf would get away from the defense to collect only his 2 catch and race 68 yards to their 7. Ethan Belcher would score from 5 yards out two plays later with 1:39 left in the game. The Trojans held on for a 18-13 win.
These were memories from before I was the Stat Guy!! Before I was the stat guy in 1997 Wes Johnson was our QB. Bi-District playoff game at Seymour against Munday, the game itself wasn’t memorable, a 21-28 loss, but a weather delay due to lightning during a blizzard! The 1996 3rd round game at Fair Park Stadium in Childress against Springlake-Earth played in bitter cold and snow a 20-0 dominating win. The following week against Wheeler in Vernon in the semifinals we were in a dog fight and right before halftime Quentin Berend stripping their QB and returning it for a TD to give us breathing room in a 48-33 win.
The Hawley Game in 2014 with Windthorst, which was at Hawley... I never understood why Coach Ables had us drive the length of the field at the end of the game, running between the tackles, and if memory serves, we were getting 3 to 5 yards a carry. Then we get down on the goal line and call plays to run around the ends, plays that got strung out and did not go anywhere. That one was a tough outing and a tough loss. It was Coach Mitch Ables first year at Hawley and it was his worst season record, which was 7 and 5. Since then, he has built the Hawley program into something to be admired and to no longer be laughed at.
Coach Mitch Ables is in his tenth year at Hawley this year and he is now the longest tenured Head Football Coach to coach at Hawley. His record as of today is 114 & 25. He has seven district Championships and has a current running record of six in a row. He has finished 3rd in district twice and 2nd in district once. He has taken us to State twice, were we won it all in 2022 after going 16 and 0 that year. His playoff record currently stands at 24 & 9.
Oh, on the lights going out at the Windthorst game at Hawley. Some of the minor Hawley kids were playing football out on the practice field and the ball hit the light box and caused the power outage. I cannot remember exactly how long the lights were out, I don’t think it was an hour, but it may have been, I just cannot remember. But Hawley’s field has two scoreboards, one on each end, with the brightest one on the west end and it has a Mini-Tron for lack of a better word. This Mini-Tron shows all of the Hawley Varsity Football Player’s Pictures as well as all of the Hawley Varsity Cheerleader’s pictures on a rotation viewing all during the game. I mention this as it was not pitch dark, you could see to walk and go to the concession stand etc., as well as see the field. But the fun thing that happened that night was the two school bands played bouts against each other and all of those kids from both schools just had a ball and from our sideline it seemed that both crowds were into it and had fun as well.
Another game between Hawley and Windthorst at Hawley was in 2019 was very one sided. Sorry Windy, I have to tell this… And another one of my good friends from Windthorst came over and sat on the Hawley side for the whole game and bless his heart, he had to hear all the H-Town fans complain about this and that, basically like you hear at every game that you go to, no matter the school. He is ‘WindthorstDad’ and used to be a regular on this site, at least until his kids graduated. I always knew that when we played in Windthorst, we would meet at the concession stand along with ‘WindthorstFan’ or ‘Windy’ and have a bratwurst wrap at half time, which if you ever get to Windthorst on a Friday night, you’re missing out if you don’t have one or two…
But as I stated this outing was very one sided. Windthorst was a very young team if I remember correctly, with a lot of freshman and sophomores playing. Hawley had Colton Marshall, and he was a wrecking ball of a running back. He had 516 yards on 12 carries for 7 touchdowns in that game. His longest run was for 90 yards, and he averaged 43 yards per carry. Coach Ables pulled him in the third quarter. Hawley won that game 73 to 20. Colton was just in beast mode all night…
That same year in 2019, we ran out of steam in the 4th round of the playoffs at Sweetwater’s Mustang Bowl. We were playing Post in the Quarterfinal Round of the playoffs. Everyone in that stadium knew who would have the ball on most all of the offensive plays for Hawley. Our receiving corps was all very young, so most everything ran through Colton Marshall. He had 199 yards on 30 carries for 3 touchdowns in that game. Colton got hurt in the 3rd quarter and was out a series but came back limping and still continued to run punishing down after punishing down. I talked to a guy from Post and was told that everyone was keying on Colton and though they did win the game in the end, they could not stop him from gaining all those yards. We lost a hard one 42 to 52.
During that season, we never used a place kicker and went for two after every score and most times it was successful. We had a play called the Beefmaster and it had seven big down offensive lineman, with one big offensive lineman in the backfield and we direct snapped it to Colton who was 6’1” tall and 215 lbs. of just pure bull, that just wanted to run through you. Yes, we lost this outing, and it was also a hard loss to take, but Colton carried us that year.
He ended up being third in the Nation amongst all levels of high school football in rushing. Six-Man through 6A, he was third in the Nation with 3501 yards rushing. The interesting part about all of that was Coach Ables pulled him off of everybody we played in most cases it was after the first series of the third quarter. He led all of Texas that year as the leading rusher for the state in 2019.
Another game that comes to mind was in 2014 and my oldest son was a senior that year. This was “DirtySims’” senior year at Hawley. Oh, and BTW, todays his birthday, Happy Birthday Son!
In 2014, Hawley was playing Colorado City, and this was when they were big and very competitive. We were down 32 to 16 at the half, but we came back and won it in overtime 68 to 66. If memory serves, we scored very close to the end of regulation to tie it and to force overtime and then won it in overtime in walk off fashion. It was a crazy win and since a lot of Hawley’s fair-weather fans left at halftime, they missed one of Hawley’s greatest comebacks in our football history.
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 11:01 am
by Windthorstfan
HawleyRocks wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2024 6:24 am
He had 516 yards on 12 carries....
I had him with 503 yards on 13 carries!!! I think the carry difference came in the second quarter as I credited a Colton with a carry on 1st and goal from the 7 with 8:44 left in the half. There was a mishandle on the hand-off and the ball hit ground in which Colton recovered for a 2 yard loss. Perhaps the play call was for the QB to keep and thus they didn't give that carry to Colton.
Colton had 2 carries in the 3rd quarter a 75 yard TD run on the 2nd play of the half and the 90 yard TD with 9:14 left in the 3rd!
I tried to forget this nightmare!!!
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 11:33 am
by HawleyRocks
Windthorstfan wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2024 11:01 am
HawleyRocks wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2024 6:24 am
He had 516 yards on 12 carries....
I had him with 503 yards on 13 carries!!! I think the carry difference came in the second quarter as I credited a Colton with a carry on 1st and goal from the 7 with 8:44 left in the half. There was a mishandle on the hand-off and the ball hit ground in which Colton recovered for a 2 yard loss. Perhaps the play call was for the QB to keep and thus they didn't give that carry to Colton.
Colton had 2 carries in the 3rd quarter a 75 yard TD run on the 2nd play of the half and the 90 yard TD with 9:14 left in the 3rd!
I tried to forget this nightmare!!!
Yes, it was very one sided... And I was sitting with CK from Windthorst and wanted to jump up and down and scream with every play, but out of respect for him, I was like, "Yeah, Go Team," and I would clap a little... It was a fun time to be able to visit with him and catch up on everything with his family and mine, but I felt bad as he had to endure a tough game on the wrong sideline, in enemy territory so to speak. Ha Ha. But he was a total gentleman as always and congratulated us and I knew that had to hurt a little...
As for the stats, that is what Hawley turned in on MaxPreps and I am not even sure who our statistician was at that time. But I would bet that one of the coaches watched the game film and created the stats for there, but this is a total guess on my part as I am not sure. 
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 12:50 pm
by HawleyRocks
BTW Guys... This group has had little or no activity besides the picks and scores as well as all the hard work that is done by HTIGFAN... <-- Thank you again BTW for all that you do...
I want to challenge everyone that reads this Line Entry to enter a story or two or something of interest from your school... Come On and Show Your School Pride and Spirit. I know there are prideful people out there... Thanks...
It can be anything... Here let me show you...
I was sitting at a Hawley JV game, and the two Junior High teams had played, and it was hot hot... Well, they drank all of the Gatorade in those two games... I looked down there and there were two JV managers mixing Gatorade on the sideline. Well, that is not much to see, but they had forgotten the stir stick or the big spoon, so rather than go and get it, the one kid takes his shirt off and sticks his hairy, sweaty, dirty, nasty, arm with arm pit hair in there and stirs it all up... We laughed about that for just about the whole game... Kids being Kids... It's what this is all about... God Bless Them...
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 1:17 pm
by dripdrop
don't remember year or final score,Albany vs Windthorst at Wichita Falls,Albany running the ball 3/4 yards Windthorst could not stop them,would have been go ahead score,then they do some weird trick play that Windthorst intercepted and won game,felt very sick and mad at coaches,Albany and Windthorst had some great battles last 20 years,unfortunately Windy came out on top in most of them
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 3:01 pm
by Faded Blue Trojan
Ok, HawleyRocks, I got one for you.I played back in the 70’s when during practice you were lucky to get one water break.The head coaches young son would fill plastic cups with lukewarm water and you learned to drink with your eyes closed so you would not see the mold growing in the bottom of the cup.When Gatorade came out, we got Gatorade.One day,one of the players was in the field house when he was mixing the Gatorade. He was using an old broom handle to stir the Gatorade. We threw away that old broom pretty quick.After a few days,we got to wondering what he was using to mix,so we sent a freshman player up to spy on him. The young coach’es son had rolled up his pants leg and was using his leg to stir the Gatorade mix.Needless to say,nobody was thirsty that day and we got him a big ladle to use after that.
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 4:29 pm
by HawleyRocks
Faded Blue Trojan wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2024 3:01 pm
Ok, HawleyRocks, I got one for you.I played back in the 70’s when during practice you were lucky to get one water break.The head coaches young son would fill plastic cups with lukewarm water and you learned to drink with your eyes closed so you would not see the mold growing in the bottom of the cup.When Gatorade came out, we got Gatorade.One day,one of the players was in the field house when he was mixing the Gatorade. He was using an old broom handle to stir the Gatorade. We threw away that old broom pretty quick.After a few days,we got to wondering what he was using to mix,so we sent a freshman player up to spy on him. The young coach’es son had rolled up his pants leg and was using his leg to stir the Gatorade mix.Needless to say,nobody was thirsty that day and we got him a big ladle to use after that.
Oh My Goodness... That's a great story !!!! Gotta love kids... They are very resourceful... That is too funny, thanks for shared story...
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2024 10:11 am
by Windthorstfan
dripdrop wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2024 1:17 pm
don't remember year or final score,Albany vs Windthorst at Wichita Falls,Albany running the ball 3/4 yards Windthorst could not stop them,would have been go ahead score,then they do some weird trick play that Windthorst intercepted and won game,felt very sick and mad at coaches,Albany and Windthorst had some great battles last 20 years,unfortunately Windy came out on top in most of them
Probably would have been 2004 at Memorial Stadium. We won 28-19. The previous year we played at Shotwell and won 21-14. We lead by 14 throughout and Albany scored late. We recovered the onside kick and got the 1st down needed to end the game. Heck 2020, it took 4 turnovers and a busted coverage to beat you! Gave us everything we wanted and more!
Someday someone needs to make a movie about our 2020 Cinderella season!!! It's crazy how fortunate were to win the Albany, Wellington, and Mart games. It's truly stuff that you wouldn't believe. But as my man Aces always use to say 1 or 99, doesn't matter find a way and we did in all those games. Much like we have found a way to win 16 in a row now against AC.
Re: WindthorstFan's Memorable Windthorst Games
Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 10:56 pm
by Piper
Man 2020 we got you guys at Windthorst 14-0 in a good hard fought game early in the season. Gave Albany a huge 42-6 home loss not sure that’s ever happened. We lost our RB 1st round but still had a hoss back there. Rolled into the 3rd round against Muenster looking like we had it figured out. Proceed to set a season high turnover number. Decided to stray from our ground game and air it out despite averaging 7+ yards a carry. Like watching a train derail even tho the tracks were perfect! To this day I can’t wrap my mind around not pounding it out and making it back to y’all. And just give our boys a chance. Would have loved to meet up again kids wanted Mart so bad that year but it wasn’t meant to be. Our boys and folks were dang thrilled for Windthorst.