Belton Clipped by Cuero, 40-28: Gobblers Rally from Early Deficit, Fight Off Tigers’ Comeback Try

BELTON — Belton head coach Brett Sniffin has been waiting all season for his team to play a full four quarters. The wait ended Friday night, though the Tigers still await of their first victory. Belton trailed Cuero by two points midway through the fourth following Will Shepard’s third TD run of the night, but the Gobblers used a physical ground game to drain the remaining 6 minutes and salt away a 40-38 comeback victory over Belton in a non-district affair on homecoming night at Tiger Field. Shepard ran for a team-high 114 yards — with scoring runs of 33, 17 and 1 yard — while throwing for 133 yards as he played the entire game but one series under center for Belton (0-5), which led the whole first half then swapped leads three times with Cuero (3-2) through the initial stages of the second as the Tigers sought their first win in their final non-district tune-up. “Offense was better, but we still have to finish some drives that we didn’t finish. The progress is there. Hopefully, people can see it. It didn’t come on the scoreboard like we really wanted tonight, but we have two more weeks of practice before (the district opener) and we just have to get better where we need to get better,” said Sniffin, whose team has an open date before league play begins in Week 7. The Tigers were up 23-19 at halftime, but the Gobblers took their first lead on the first play out of the break when Jaxxon Marie connected with Walker Dietze on a 66-yard touchdown throw for the last of their two TDs together. Marie finished with 166 yards passing and 258 rushing and three TDs on 16 carries as Cuero totaled 413 yards on the ground. Daylon Varela added 130 yards rushing on 15 totes while Dietze finished with 142 yards receiving on six grabs. Shepard responded with his 17-yarder through the left side on Belton’s next drive to pull the Tigers within 32-31 entering the final frame, before SeanDylan Salazar’s 14-yard run finished Cuero’s scoring early in the fourth. Belton nearly matched its season point output by halftime, notching touchdowns on its first two possessions while taking advantage of an early Cuero special teams miscue. Shepard kept it for runs of 16 and 33 yards on the Tigers’ opening drive, the last of which provided a 7-0 lead when the sophomore rumbled into the end zone just 1:20 into the game. It marked the first time for Belton to hold a lead this year. “Getting that first drive for a touchdown is something we’ve been talking about all year, so to get that was huge,” Sniffin said. “Then we got up 14-0 and kind of let down a little bit .That’s just stuff they have to learn. You can have all that celebration and hype over there but we have to get refocused and ready to play.” Cuero then had a bad snap on a punt attempt that Belton’s Sebastian Magana fell on to set up first-and-goal, and Kegan Sherwood promptly covered 9 yards on the next two carries to push the gap to 14-0 with less than 3 minutes elapsed. Cuero fought back from there, however. Belton’s Logan Lamberte intercepted a Marie pass to end the Gobblers’ next drive, but the Tigers didn’t turn it into points. Cuero cut the margin to seven late in the initial frame when Dietze sidestepped a Tigers defender and took Marie’s fourth-and-4 pass to the right sideline 30 yards for a touchdown. Marie had the first of his two 76-yard TD runs to get the Gobblers within a point early in the second period but Sherwood broke through to block the ensuing PAT, and Azian Wilkinson took it the other way for two points to preserve the Tigers’ advantage at 16-13. Belton then covered 42 yards in six plays on a drive set up by a long Sherwood kickoff return, extending its lead to 23-13 when Graham Chambley found Gino Zecca for a 7-yard TD into the left flat on Chambley’s lone series of the night. Marie tacked on his second 76-yard scoring keeper to cut the gap to 23-19 just before the break. CUERO 40, BELTON 38 Cuero 7 12 13 8 — 40 Belton 14 9 8 7 — 38 Bel — Will Shepard 33 run (Cole Angell kick) Bel — Kegan Sherwood 5 run (Angell kick) Cue — Walker Dietze 30 pass from Jaxxon Marie (Angel Hernandez kick) Cue — Marie 76 run (kick blocked) Bel — Azian Wilkinson blocked PAT return Bel — Gino Zecca 7 pass from Graham Chambley (Angell kick) Cue — Marie 76 run (run failed) Cue — Dietze 66 pass from Marie (pass failed) Bel — Shepard 17 run (Collin Sallee pass from Shepard) Cue — Marie 8 run (Hernandez kick) Cue — SeanDylan Salazar 14 run (Dietze run) Bel — Shepard 1 run (Angell kick) TEAM STATISTICS Cue Bel First downs 18 15 Rushes-yards 41-413 30-133 Passing yards 166 165 Comp.-Att.-Int. 9-17-1 11-16-0 Punts-average 0 2-30.5 Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0 Penalties-yards 7-70 5-30 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING — Cuero: Marie 16-258, Dayvon Varela 15-130, Salazar 7-37, Dietze 1-(-4), team 2-(-8); Belton: Shepard 17-114, Sherwood 3-13, Zecca 4-4, Chambley 2-2, Khy Griffin 4-0. PASSING — Cuero: Marie 9-17-1-166; Belton: Shepard 9-14-0-133, Chambley 2-2-0-32. RECEIVING — Cuero: Dietze 6-142, Brayden Hernandez 2-14, Tony Perez 1-10; Belton: Gavin Ross 3-61, Zecca 4-42, Rayshaun Peoples 1-24, Achilles Palomares 2-19, Josiah Martinez 1-19. PHOTO CAPTION: Cuero’s Melo Perez (9) and Jace Gamez stop Belton’s Graham Chambley in the Tigers’ 40-38 setback Friday night at Tiger Field.

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BELTON CLIPPED BY CUERO, 40-28: GOBBLERS RALLY FROM EARLY DEFICIT, FIGHT OFF TIGERS’ COMEBACK TRY

JON BROOKS | TELEGRAM STAFF

Temple Daily Telegram | 9/30/2024

PHOTO CREDIT: Jon Farrow/Special to the Telegram