The hunt began for the Weiss football team this past Thursday when they played the McNeil Mavericks for the first game of the season. There is no doubt that fans in the bleachers were skeptical of what the game’s outcome would be with the rocky start that the Weiss players endured.
Just a little more than a minute into the game, McNeil intercepted Weiss’ ball, and scored the first touchdown of the night 2 minutes and 15 seconds into the game. Weiss failed to score when they got the ball back, but later picked off the ball with 7 minutes left of the first quarter. While on offense, Jaylon Alexander scored the first touchdown of the season, tying the game. As McNeil attempted to close out the 1st quarter on offense, they fumbled and Weiss picked up the ball, ending the first quarter.
Adding more anxiety to an already high-stress game, McNeil took over the game by scoring their second touchdown just 30 seconds into the second quarter. After six minutes of both teams moving the ball and hardly anything happening, McNeil scores their third touchdown with seven minutes left in the 2nd quarter. When Weiss is given back possession, they slowly but surely move the ball down the field, avoiding fourth downs until they are right in front of McNeil’s end zone. On the fourth down with one yard to Weiss’ second touchdown, Jaxon Schad scores a rushing touchdown, the score now 21 McNeil – 14 Weiss with nearly two minutes until half. On McNeil’s first down with the ball back in their possession, the ball was intercepted by Kaiden Haynes (23) and returned 25 yards. Seconds later Weiss scores another touchdown, tying the score with around two minutes left before halftime. With fifteen seconds left in the quarter, Jorian Guinn Jr (8) intercepted McNeil’s ball and ran the ball to McNeil’s 49 yard line.
After an intense first half with no shortage of penalties, interceptions, and touchdowns, the two schools are tied 21-21 going into the third quarter. Coach Hill later commented on the amount of flags received, saying, “I think we had, like, maybe 200 yards in penalties. You know, we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot offensively.” He elaborated that moving forward he and the team will work to improve their discipline to prevent making the same mistakes.
Kicking off the second half of the game right, Weiss scored a touchdown just three minutes into the quarter, taking the lead. For the majority of the quarter, Weiss worked in defense to keep the Mavericks back while they had possession of the ball for six minutes. Even after their attempts, McNeil scored a touchdown, tying the game once again, both teams with 28 points. With the ball back, Weiss’ defense fought hard to work down the field. With less than a minute left in the third quarter, Jaxon Schad (15) threw a 15 yard pass to Tre Moore (9) for a touchdown.
Now in the final quarter of the game, Weiss has the lead and the tension is high with a seven point difference between teams. McNeil pushed hard, narrowly escaping multiple fourth-downs, until Weiss recovered a fumble on their own 18-yard line. The effort didn’t reap any rewards, and McNeil got the ball back after Weiss failed to score with possession. With the same luck, McNeil also failed to escape a fourth down and returned possession back to Weiss just after two minutes. With renewed energy just five minutes left in the game, Jaxson Scad (15) throws another passing touchdown to Jonah Portillo (36). Not even letting McNeil have a chance to score again, Noah McPeak (6) intercepts a McNeil pass, taking back the ball for Weiss with five minutes remaining. Less than a minute later, Jaxson Schad (15) throws an 8 yard pass to Tre Moore (9) in the end zone, giving Weiss a three touchdown lead.
Tre Moore started the season with three touchdowns, and shared that his personal goal for the season is fifteen touchdowns. When asked about what his mindset was walking into the first game of the season, he shared, “The mindset was just to dominate, you know. Coming out here with a new coach, new coaching staff, we just wanted to dominate and show everyone what we’re about.”
Now with two minutes left, Garrett Stennett (21) intercepted a McNeil pass. Weiss made it to the fourth down and attempted a muffed punt, to which they recovered the ball and took it to the end zone for another touchdown. Right after Weiss kicked off the ball back to McNeil, the game ended with the Wolves’ victory. The end score was Mavericks 28 – Weiss 56.