Tyler Mikes and Collin Bujnoch meet at the ‘mesh’ point Thursday night against Santa Maria. Each player had one touchdown in the 61-0 Shiner win. Photo by Mark Lube. [ NOTE: click on any photo to enlarge ]

ROBSTOWN — Everyone had a hand in this one.

The Shiner Comanches opened the 2017 playoffs with a 61-0 shutout of Santa Maria Thursday night at Cotton Pickers Stadium.

“Everybody stepped up and did a good job,” Shiner head coach Steven Cerny said.

Nearly every single the player on the playoff roster, from the experience veterans to the freshmen got to see action. “For a freshman to see a couple of plays in a playoff game is something you dream about,” Cerny said. “You don’t always get those kinds of opportunities; when you do, you have to seize it. I thought our young ones did today.”

“They struggled a little in the first half and did better in the second half after we talked about it at halftime.”

With a mixture of experienced varsity players, freshmen and junior varsity players seeing action, there was a chance for not everyone that was on the field at the time being on the same page but all the Shiner players knew the system, the plan and their individual jobs.

“We looked like we knew what we were doing and we looked organized. When you play a lot of people, sometimes you get confusion. Hats off to our coaches for being on top of things,” Cerny said.

Coming in as Wing-T team, the Cougars did a not-Wing-T-thing, tossing a pass for a 5-yard gain on the first play. They then ran twice for a 1-yard gain and had just an 8-yard punt to their 32. Jacob Cowan took a toss play for 24 yards and Collin Bujnoch scored on the next play for a 7-0 lead.

Santa Maria had a longer punt of 23 yards to their 45 that Tyler Palmer returned 43 yards to the 2 and Lane Nevlud scored on the next play.

Santa Maria’s next drive was short and ended with a turnover as Dustin Petras intercepted Jesse Ortiz at the Cougar 25 and returned it for a touchdown.

Shiner had another drive start inside the Cougar 10 after another short punt to the 7. Tyler Mikes ran a shotgun speed option play and cut inside for a touchdown run for a 26-0 lead.

Shiner scored once more before the end of the quarter, going 8 yards in two plays and Cowan scoring on an 8-yard run.

Early in the second quarter, Santa Maria tried a fourth-down conversion at its own 33 but lost 4 yards on the play. On Shiner’s first play of the next drive, Mikes was taken down for a loss on the play back to the 37 and Donyai Taylor scored on the next play for a 40-0 Comanche lead, the only score of the second period.

To open the third period, Shiner started at midfield and drove for a touchdown in eight plays. Backup quarterback Christian Wagner ran for 12 yards on the quarterback option of 9 and 7 yards by Palmer. The drive ended as Wagner tossed a 6-yard pass to Cross Rankin.

The Comanches’ next score came 15 seconds in the fourth frame on a 12-yard run by Zane Rhodes and Wagner had another touchdown pass, 25 yards to Jacquis Miller, with 6:15 left in the game.

Shiner will play Mason at 7 p.m. tomorrow ( Friday, November 24, 2017 ) at Pfield in Pflugerville in the 2A-DI area round.

GAME STATISTICS

    Shiner 61, Santa Maria 0
      Class 2A, Division 1, Bi-District Playoff (first round)
      Thursday, November 16, 2017, 7:00 p.m.
      Cotton Pickers Stadium, Robstown


   SCORING SUMMARY:

                   1    2    3    4      F
  Santa Maria      0    0    0    0  --  0
  Shiner          33    7    7   14  -- 61


   SCORING DETAILS:

     First Quarter
       S — Collin Bujnoch 8 run (Cole Jalufka kick), 9:22 1Q.
       S — Lane Nevlud 2 run (Jalufka kick), 7:20 1Q.
       S — Dustin Petras 25 interception return (kick failed), 6:15 1Q.
       S — Tyler Mikes 7 run (kick failed), 3:23 1Q.
       S — Jacob Cowan 8 run (Jalufka kick), 0:38 1Q.

     Second Quarter
       S — Donyai Taylor 37 run (Jalufka kick), 9:21 2Q.

     Third Quarter
       S — Cross Rankin 6 pass from Christian Wagner (Jalufka kick), 6:10 3Q.

     Fourth Quarter
       S — Zane Rhodes 12 run (Connor Winkenwerder kick), 11:45 4Q.
       S — Jacquis Miller 25 pass from Wagner (Winkenwerder kick), 6:15 4Q.


   TEAM STATISTICS:

                 Santa Maria     Shiner
   First downs             2          9
   Rushing              37-4     37-135
   Passing                13         46
   Passes              2-5-1        2-5
   Penalties            5-28       2-15
   Fumbles               4-0        1-0
   Punts              5-11.6      0-0.0


   INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

   Rushing
     SM: Alex Perez 12-25, Julio Vega 5-3, Ismael Rodriguez 12-2,
         Edward Martinez 1-0, Jesse Ortiz 4-(-13), Matthew Sanchez 3-(-13).
     S:  Donyai Taylor 1-37, Jacob Cowan 2-32, Tyler Palmer 6-26, Zane Rhodes 2-18,
         Christian Wagner 6-17, Trevor Haynes 4-14, Dustin Petras 2-11, Collin Bujnoch 1-8,
         Noah Nevlud 1-6, Lane Nevlud 1-2, Tyler Mikes 2-(-1).

   Passing
     SM: Ortiz 2-5-1-13.
     S:  Wagner 2-2-0-46, Petras 0-2-0-0, Mikes 0-1-0-0.

   Receiving
     SM: Vega 1-8,Sanchez 1-5.
     S:  Jacquis Miller 1-25, Cross Rankin 1-6.