2011 Spartan Football

The St. Stephen’s football team traveled to Krum, Texas, north of Fort Worth to play their final game of the season. It was a great atmosphere and a great night for football, with a north Texas chill in the air. Krum is a 2A team who was having a good season coming into the game at 6-3, while the Spartans were trying to come back from their overtime loss the week before.

Krum is a well-disciplined team that really executes their game plan. Their misdirection offense gave St. Stephen’s trouble early and the Bobcats scored quickly to take a 7-0 lead. Krum executes a series of onsides or pooch kicks on every kick off. After their first score they were able to successfully recover the kick off and after another offensive drive the Spartans were in 14-0 hole to start the game.

St. Stephen’s was able to start to adjust to both the kick offs and the Krum offense. The Spartans moved the ball on their first drive but couldn’t put points on the board. The next Bobcat drive was stopped when defensive end Reid Shaw made a tackle on 4th down to stop the Bobcats short of the first down. The Spartans scored on the next possession to start the 2nd quarter on a one yard run by Carl Austin III. Austin III was explosive all game rushing for 141 yards from the quarter back position and making numerous tackles on defense.

The second quarter saw a lot of offense. St. Stephen’s struggled to stop the Krum rushing attack, as the Bobcats scored two more touchdowns. The Spartans had a nice touchdown drive of their own, but faced a 26-14 deficit at halftime.

The second half started much like the first when Krum recovered a perfectly executed onsides kick to begin the third quarter. However, the momentum turned three plays later when senior Adam Wallace intercepted a Bobcat pass and returned it 78 yards for a spectacular touchdown. This play inspired the Spartans and they played great football in the second half to secure a 34-26 come from behind victory.

Wallace ran for many of his 89 yards during the second half including the go ahead touchdown. He scored three touchdowns on the day, giving him 14 total on the season. Senior DB Thomas Kim intercepted two passes stopping Krum drives inside Spartan territory. The scoring was concluded when Emmannuel Velasco picked up a botched punt snap and carried it 26 yards into the end zone. The Bobcats where still just one score away when Kim intercepted his second pass. After the change of possession, St. Stephen’s sealed the game when Austin III had a tremendous 14 yard run on 3rd and 8.
St. Stephen’s finished the season 5-5 and ended on a high note with this exciting victory.

The Spartan JV football team finished their season with an exciting 7-0 victory over St. Andrew’s. Austin Harris scored the lone touchdown for St. Stephen’s in the first quarter of what was a defensive struggle.

The win gave the JV a final record of 5-2 on the season. The team finished strong with five straight wins over St. Mary’s Hall, TSD, Cedar Creek and St. Dominic Savio.

Congratulations to all the boys who played on the JV team. They did a tremendous job and really improved over the course of the season. Also, special credit to head coach Dean Mohlman and defensive coordinator Ben Hines, who did such a great job with this team.

St. Stephen’s squeaked out an exciting 24-21 win over San Marcos Academy friday night in San Marcos. Junior Colin Spears kicked the game winning field goal mid way through the 4th quarter to provide the margin of victory for the Spartans.

It was a physical back and forth game with both teams doing much of their work in the running game. Senior Adam Wallace rushed for 258 yards for the Spartans and Carl Austin III added over 100 contributing to 389 yards rushing on the night.

SMA struck first to take a 7-0 with their big running back Estevan Gutierrez doing most of the work. Gutierrez was tought o bring down all night. Two second quarter touchdowns put St. Stephen’s ahead 14-7. A Spartan miscue allowed the Bears great field position at the end of the first half and they threw a touchdown pass to tie the game 14-14 at the half.

The Bears controlled much of the clock in the 3rd quarter and took a 21-14 lead into the 4th. The Spartans made the big plays in the 4th quarter scoring ten unanswered points to secure the victory. Spears came up big kicking the clutch field goal and also had two touchbacks on kick offs. The defense held when they needed to, causing two fumbles to help seal the game.

St. Stephen’s is now 4-4 and will take on St. Andrew’s this Friday int he Episcobowl. The game is at St. Andrew’s at 7pm.

Oct. 14th was a big night for Spartan football. It was homecoming and senior night as the eight Spartan seniors played the final home game. It was an evening filled with fun and festivities and the on field result was exciting as well. The Spartans did not disappoint the home crowd, defeating KIPP Academy Houston 42-8.

The game started with a bang as junior Noah Schwartz recovered a fumble on the opening kick off. Four plays later the Spartans were in for their first touchdown as freshmen quarterback Taylor Brown snuck it in from the two yard line.

This trend continued throughout the first half as St. Stephen’s put up five more touchdowns for a 42-0 halftime lead. Field position was the biggest factor in this game. The aggressive Spartan defense shut down the Kerberos forcing short punts or turnovers and subsequently gave the offense short fields to work with.

There were many highlights for St. Stephen’s. Carl Austin III was a versatile star, catching a touchdown, throwing for a touchdown and intercepting a pass. Freshman Joey Carter had two touchdown runs, and senior Jonathan Bird, in his first game back from injury, threw his first career touchdown pass.

The eight seniors led the team as they have done all year. Blake Arledge, Jonathan Bird, Will Brothers, Jordan Greenberg, Harrison Huang, Thomas Kim, Huy Nguyen, and Adam Wallace closed out their final home game in the victory formation to finish the 42-8 win.

These eight seniors have had great careers and they are not quite down yet as St. Stephen’s has three big games to go. This week the Spartans travel to San Marcos Academy to take on the 5-2 Bears, game time is 7:30.

St. Stephen’s recording their second straight victory, defeating Texas School for the Deaf on the road, 47-24 in a wild game. A game that saw three onsides kicks and a kick off return for a touchdown was ulitmately determined in the trenches where the Spartans were able to control the Rangers. St. Stephen’s rushed for over 400 yards and five touchdowns on the day led by Adam Wallace with 229 yards on the ground.

The Spartans started quickly, scoring on their first offensive play after a TSD miscue on a punt. St. Stephen’s eventually built a 20-0 lead early in the game. The Spartan defense held the TSD run offense in check most of the game, but their speedy running back Jonathan Ford was able to break free for a long run in the second quarter which helped the Rangers get on the board. After a Wallace to Thomas KIm touchdown pass put the Spartans up 26-7, TSD answered with a big kickoff return for a touchdown on the last play of the first half.

The second half was back and forth, as the Rangers used the momentum generated at the end of the first half to spur their play after halftime. Ulitmately they could not stop the Spartan rushing attack. A goal line stand in the 4th quarter with the score standing at 40-24, sealed the game for St. Stephen’s.

This week the Spartans will travel to Fort Worth Country Day on Thursday at 6pm. St. Stephen’s will look to get a third win in a row against a tough Falcon team who was undefeated last season.