San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Steele 28, Wagner 21
Quick take: Steele held off a furious comeback from Wagner to win 28-21 and stay unbeaten in District 27-6A on Friday night at Rutledge Stadium.
Down 14 points late in the fourth quarter with Steele trying to run out the clock, the Thunderbirds used all of their timeouts to force a punt.
Wagner's Joshua Collazo ran down the right sideline for an 80-yard touchdown to make it a one-score game.
The Thunderbirds' Jeremiah Cherry recovered an onside kick after it bounced off a Steele player to make things even more interesting, but Wagner could not get out of its own way on its final drive. An illegal procedure penalty followed by a block in the back on a reverse play forced a desperation heave from Pharrell Arellano that was intercepted by Tevon Cortez as time ran out.
The win moved the Knights to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in district.
Wagner (2-3, 0-2) dropped its second straight district game. Highlights: Wagner put a scare in the Knights late in the third quarter when the Thunderbirds took their first lead of the game. Darrrion Thomas' 6-yard touchdown run put the Thunderbirds up 14-13 with 2:49 left in the quarter.
The score was set up by a 15-yard punt that gave Wagner the ball at the Knights' 40. On the next play, Steele was called for a facemask penalty to move the ball farther up the field, and five plays later, the Thunderbirds had the lead.
But Teshaun Singleton, who had four rushing attempts for 21 yards on Steele's ensuing drive, helped the Knights respond quickly. Joe Perez gave Steele the lead back for good with a beautiful 13-yard run around the left side that he finished by reaching for the pylon. A 2-point conversion from Connor Vincent to Edmarrion Contreras made it a seven-point lead.
On the Knights' next drive, Jaydon Bailey was the workhorse with eight carries and finished it off with a 25-yard run.
In the first half, Steele marched 68 yards on 11 plays on its first drive, including a 18-yard run by Perez on a first-and-20 play after a holding call pushed the Knights back in their half of the field.
Bailey finished off the drive behind Alex Garza, Israel Oritz and Ethan Gates, the right side of his offensive line, for a 1-yard scoring run.
Michael Patterson's pointafter attempt was blocked.
Steele had a chance to add to the lead when the Thunderbirds' punter couldn't handle the snap, and Josh Fahrner recovered the ball at the Wagner 21. But after a holding call pushed Steele back, Greg Williams recovered a Knights fumble at the Steele 47.
But Wagner went nowhere, with Fahner and Ethan Pena stopping Jeremiah Cherry in the backfield on a fourth-and-short play.
Steele got on the board again early in the second quarter, with a 1-yard run by Singleton capping a 68-yard drive.
The Thunderbirds got a break when Steele committed a face mask penalty on the ensuing kickoff. Wagner took the ball at the Steele 39 and finally got the ball moving against the Knights' stingy defense.
Cherry, Wagner's short-yardage quarterback, punched the ball over the middle of the Knights' defensive line for a score to finish the drive.
Game balls: Bailey, Steele's junior running back, finished the game with 134 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns.
Steele's defense also came up huge, stopping a Wagner rushing attack that came in averaging 338 yards per contest. The Thunderbirds finished with just 208 yards on the ground, with a big chunk coming on Collazo's long fourth-quarter run.
Mar'Kel Ford was the workhorse for Wagner with 25 carries for 86 yards.
Up next: Wagner has the week off before visiting East Central on Oct. 8l. Steele will host New Braunfels in two weeks at Lehnhoff Stadium.