By Richard C. White
Sports Reporter
Wimberley —
As sixth-ranked Wimberley (2-0) hosts a historically downtrodden Smithville (0-2) team at home Friday night, Texans head coach Weldon Nelms knows given certain circumstances, matchups like this could represent the perfect disaster for a trap game.
“It’s been an unusual week with Labor Day and all this rain causing problems and forcing us inside a lot, so sometimes you never know how that stuff is going to affect your team,” Nelms said. “It’s taken us quite a bit out of our norm.”
The Tigers haven’t posted a winning record in any of the last six seasons and this will be the first time the two teams have met in quite a while. The winless Tigers would love nothing more than to come into Texan Stadium and cause a stir by upsetting one of the top teams in the state.
“I’ve been here eight years and we’ve never played them before,” said WHS offensive coordinator Jeff Whitehead. “We expect another test for sure. We figure they’re going to be very excited to come over here to our house and play us.”
The Tigers, still trying to find their rhythm this season, are in many ways an erratic team. After enduring a massive 60-0 shutout to Lexington, Smithville just came up short last week, losing 42-41 to Wharton.
Failing to record a single score in one game while putting up 41 the next has raised some eyebrows among the Wimberley coaches who know on any given night any team can beat another.
However, it’s the apparent lack of a defense the Texans’ offense, led by junior quarterback Brady Lambert, will look to disrupt as Smithville is giving up more than 50 points a game.
After a self-described disappointing performance in last week’s win over Dripping Springs, Lambert hopes he can post similar impressive stats like he did in the team’s season-opening win over fourth-ranked Cuero where he scored two passing and two rushing touchdowns.
The one thing the Wimberley coaches love more than the high expectations Lambert has put on himself is the belief that he can not only reach, but overcome them — especially given his dual threat natural scrambling ability.
“Some kids just have that ability to feel the pocket collapsing and feel the pressure and get out of there and Brady is one of those kids. He has a knack for it,” Whitehead said. “I’d love to take some credit for that but I don’t think that’s something you coach.”
Wimberley will also rely heavily on junior running back Dennis Smith, who’s had over 100 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns in each of Wimberley’s first two games.
The Texan coaches are monitoring Smith’s touches to make sure he isn’t burdened with carrying too much of the load for fear of exhausting their star rusher.
“Our goal is to play December football,” Whitehead said, “and if you’re pounding some of those guys too much early in the year, then come November and come crunch time those guys aren’t going to be there, aren’t going to be near as fresh for you.”
This season the Tigers have relied on an even 50-50 mix of passing and rushing, something senior linebacker Jeremiah Kuenzli and junior linebacker Nick Alana can’t wait to get in the middle of as the two have emerged as the anchors of the defense.
“They’ve set the pace, tackling with their big hit abilities,” Nelms said.
The Texans know there’s still much to accomplish. After starting the season unranked, Wimberley’s meteoric rise to sixth in the state after just two games is something Nelms doesn’t let his players focus too much on, given that the state championship they’re after is still months away in December.
“We try not to get overconfident,” Nelms said. “It’s not where you start but where you finish that counts and I hope we’re still climbing at the end.”
