Junior Varsity and Freshman Lions fall to Canyon Cougars

By Alonzo Garza
POST-REGISTER

The Junior Varsity Lions played the Canyon Cougars at Lions Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 4. The JV Lions experienced their first loss of the season losing 21-14 to the Cougars. The JV Lions record is now 4-1.
The Lion’s offensive contribution was widespread. Tyler Tolley threw for 37 yards. Other offensive standouts were Matt T

ienda who rushed for 86 yards and one 27-yard touchdown run. Kendall Till scored another touchdown on a 22-yard reception from Tienda late in the second half. Tony Moreno scored the two-point conversion making the final score 21-14. Other standouts included Ryan Houston, Brian Post on special teams, Jordon Officer, Brian Martinez, Josh Foster, Tim Herrera, Michael Pittman and Dion Turner.
The JV game began with the Lions receiving, but it was the Cougars who scored the first touchdown. With 7:18 left in the first quarter the Cougars made their first touchdown of the game with a 24-yard run. The extra point kick was good for a score of 7-0.
At 3:05 the Cougars scored their second touchdown of the game. The kick was good for a new score of 14-0. The first quarter ends with that same score.
The second quarter was scoreless and filled with flags and penalties. Both teams battled hard but no one advanced or scored. The first half ended at 14-0.
The third quarter started out with Canyon dominating the field. By 8:15 the Cougars had a first-and-ten despite a holding penalty against them. The Cougars had another first down on Lockhart’s 34-yard line later in the game and at 4:30 the Cougars were at second and goal. By 4:01 in the third quarter the Cougars scored their third touchdown and kick of the night. The quarter ended with a score of 21-0.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Lions who woke up the fans with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Tienda to Till at 7:18 in the quarter. A two-point conversion attempt failed with a dropped pass to Till.
With less than five and a half minutes left in the game the Lions scored again with a touchdown by Tienda and a two-point conversion by Moreno for a score of 21-14. The Cougars ran out the clock at the end of the game for a final score of 21-14 and the first loss of the season for the JV Lions.
“Next game is against Steele at their place,” Coach Bryan Robinson said. “I expect our team to respond this week and create some turnovers on defense, control the tempo of the game offensively and perform better in the first half of the game.”
The Freshman Lion game was 7-0 in favor of the Cougars at the half and it remained 7-0 until the end of the game. The Freshman Lions’ offense struggled in both the second and third quarters. They had strong drives in the first and fourth quarters but did not capitalize on any of the drives. Landon Rivera had an interception and two deflected passes. On defense the Freshman Lions turned out a tremendous performance against the Canyon Cougars. The defense had four out of five offensive stops.
The Freshman and Junior Varsity teams will travel to Schertz to play against Steele at 4:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
agarza@post-register.com