Africa-Press – Liberia. The historical significance wasn’t lost on Alamo Heights quarterback James Sobey after he gave teary hugs to his teammates.
He won’t look at his final game as the Mules signal caller with regret after Alamo Heights fell short against Liberty Hill 43-40 in a Class 5A Division II state quarterfinal at Texas State’s Bobcat Stadium.
“When I’m 25 years old, and I look back at this, I’m going to be able to smile and know that we were a great team and I got to go out with a bang,” Sobey said.
The Mules (13-1) lost for the first time since they were eliminated from the second round of the playoffs last year. Alamo Heights advanced to the state quarterfinals for the fifth time in program history. And they were on the edge of getting to the semifinals for the third time.
“We’re at the infant stages of doing something good at Alamo Heights,” said Ron Rittimann, who completed his second season as Mules coach. “I couldn’t be more proud of these kids. If you would have told me back in August that we’d be 13-1 and have a chance to win a quarterfinal game, I’d say, ‘Yeah, let’s go try that.’ I’m disappointed right now, but I’m proud of the kids. I thought they fought hard even at the end of the game.”
Liberty Hill (12-2), with its efficient ground game fueled by the slot-T, came up with plays in key moments that allowed the Panthers to create enough cushion to hold back the Mules.
The final blow occurred late in the fourth quarter when senior Andon Thomas broke free for a 33-yard touchdown run on third-and-6 with 3:44 left to put the Panthers in the lead 43-33.
A stop there, and the Mules are possibly playing for a game-winning score.
Instead, the score helped the Panthers withstand a late Mules rally. Alamo Heights answered the score with a 2-yard scoring run by George Flesher with 1:30 left that made it 43-40.
Liberty Hill recovered a Mules’ onside kick attempt that didn’t travel 10 yards to secure its third trip to the semifinals in the last four years.
The Panthers will play Crosby in the semifinals for a second straight season. Crosby beat Liberty Hill 62-61 in overtime last year.
Sobey threw for 266 yards on 19-of-30 passing and four touchdowns. All the scoring strikes were to junior Rett Andersen, who had 11 receptions for 182 yards. He had scoring catches of 30, 18, 29 and 4 yards.
“We knew that this game was going to be a close one, and we talked all week about how we needed to be on the same page the whole time,” Sobey said of his connection with Andersen on Friday.
Andersen’s 4-yarder put the Mules in the lead 26-22 at the 2:37 mark of the third quarter.
Liberty Hill quickly answered after the Panthers returned the subsequent kickoff 48 yards to the Mules 44. On the return, Alamo Heights was flagged for a face mask during the play and a personal foul after the play and was penalized 30 yards to the Alamo Heights 14.
That led to Andon’s 1-yard scoring run that put the Panthers in the lead for good, 29-26, late I the third quarter.
Liberty Hill then recovered a pooch kickoff on the Alamo Heights’ 43. Six plays later, quarterback Reese Vickers scored on a 1-yard sneak for a 36-26 lead with 10:12 left in the fourth quarter.
Sobey scored on a 1-yard run on the next possession to pull the Mules to 36-33 with 7:13 left.
Thomas broke away with his 33-yard scoring run on the following series.
Liberty Hill piled up 408 yards on 56 carries. Thomas had 108 yards on 11 carries. The Panthers, who entered with 28 pass attempts all season, completed 1 of 2 passes for 5 yards.
Vickers also had a 16-yard score, and fullback Logan Dyer broke free for a 71-yard touchdown run.
“We can’t give up 43 points, but I thought we were sound on defense,” Rittimann said. “But they’re pretty good and at executing what they do.”
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