Aggies outlasted by Blanco



Poteet Head Coach Darby House consoles senior offensive lineman Jonathan Lopez (60) following the Aggies’ 35-20 loss to Blanco in the bi-district round of playoffs on Friday night. J GARCIA | PLEASANTON EXPRESS

Despite striking first, the Poteet Aggies (8-3) fell to the Blanco Panthers (8-3) 35-20 Friday night in the bi-district round of playoffs at Medina Valley’s Panther Stadium in Castroville.

Head Coach Darby House praised the effort his team showed. He said he couldn’t ask for anything more from them and is confident in the direction his team is going.

“Our whole team is filled with sophomores and juniors,” House said. “I expect bigger things out of us next year. Hopefully we get that playoff win we’ve been fighting so hard the past two years for.”

The Aggies set the tone by scoring on their opening drive behind a two-yard touchdown from fullback Julian Moya. However, Blanco threw the ball down the field and eventually connected on a 34-yard touchdown pass to even things up. The game started out as a defensive struggle for both teams as the score remained the same the rest of the first quarter. 

The Aggies were able to pick up some stops in the first half to keep the game within reach. With only six seconds left in the half, Blanco connected on a six-yard passing touchdown to retake the lead.

In the third quarter, Poteet was able to cut the lead to a one-score game following a 20-yard touchdown pass from Alexander Lockamy to Diego Puente. Puente stepped up for the Aggies with five receptions for 59 yards and two scores. However, the momentum was quickly shut down following a 58-yard touchdown run from Blanco running back Devin Newsome.

The Aggies recovered a crucial onside kick late in the fourth quarter, down one touchdown. However, they saw their hopes fade away as they threw an interception the following play. Blanco proceeded to run the clock out after back to back first downs.

Poteet’s junior running back Ernest Davila finished the game with 143 rushing yards. This gave him over 2,000 rushing yards for the season. Davila is Poteet’s first running back to surpass 2,000 yards since Moses Rodriguez in 2007. He credited his team for helping him reach the accomplishment.

“I’ve been working really hard to reach my goals,” Davila said. “My team helped me reach this and I can’t ask for better teammates.”

Davila said he’s more focused on the team accomplishments and has high hopes for next season. 

“I think we played a very good game,” Davila said. “Unfortunately, they played a good game, too. Just a lot of back to back big plays and we just couldn’t get it done.” 

This loss marked the end for an experienced group of seniors at Poteet. This includes safety Giovani Magirl, who came up big for the Aggies with an interception in the third quarter. Magirl believes he and the rest of the seniors made an impact for the program.

“These next group of guys coming up have been playing with each other for a while,” Magirl said. “I know they are going to do great things. They have potential.”

He said the coaches have really disciplined him and believes they can have success next season as long as they stick together as a team.

House said the seniors’ impact for the team was big and emphasized their role to younger players. He added that the lessons taught this season went beyond the game of football.

One response to “Aggies outlasted by Blanco”

  1. Kevin A says:

    Thanks for the report! Good job!

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