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Wharton County Leader-Journal, El Campo, TX (2026)

09/19/2026

Hornets battle to the end in 24-20 loss to Danbury

DANBURY — The Louise Hornets showed plenty of fight Friday night, but their comeback came up just short in a 24-20 road loss to Danbury.

Louise stayed within striking distance throughout the night and scored eight points in the fourth quarter, but Danbury answered with eight of its own to hold off the Hornets and send Louise home with a four-point loss.

The defeat dropped Louise to 1-3 on the season, while Danbury improved to 2-2.

Louise struck first and carried a 6-0 advantage out of the opening quarter. Danbury responded in the second period, but the Hornets added another touchdown of their own and took a 12-8 lead into halftime.

The third quarter proved to be the turning point.

Danbury held Louise scoreless while putting eight points on the board to take a 16-12 advantage into the final period.

The Hornets refused to go away.

Louise found the end zone again in the fourth quarter and added the two-point conversion, giving the Hornets 20 points on the night. Danbury, however, also scored eight in the final quarter and was able to protect its lead the rest of the way for the 24-20 victory.

Despite the loss, Friday represented a major step forward offensively for a young Louise team. The Hornets had scored only 14 points in their first three scheduled games, including a 52-12 loss at Granger and a 34-0 setback against Flatonia. Their game against Hull-Daisetta the previous week ended in a forfeit victory when the Bobcats elected not to play because of low player numbers.

Against Danbury, Louise put 20 points on the board and was in position to win the game in the fourth quarter.

Now the Hornets face another challenge — and perhaps their toughest one yet.

Louise returns home Friday, Sept. 25, to host unbeaten Ben Bolt at 7 p.m. in its final tune-up before District 15-2A Division II play begins.

The Badgers will arrive in Louise with a 4-0 record and one of the more productive offenses the Hornets have faced this season.

Ben Bolt opened its season with a 34-30 victory over Skidmore-Tynan, followed with a 46-14 win over Progreso and a 48-22 victory over Banquete. The Badgers remained unbeaten Friday night with a 50-28 victory over Marine Military Academy.

Through four games, Ben Bolt has scored 178 points — an average of 44.5 per game — and has scored at least 34 points in every outing.

The Badgers feature quarterback Cristian Chapa along with backs Noah Perez, Luke Estrada and Erick Ramirez.

For Louise, the Ben Bolt game offers another opportunity to build on the progress it showed at Danbury before the games that will determine the Hornets’ postseason hopes begin.

Following an open date on Oct. 2, Louise opens District 15-2A Division II play at home against Pettus on Oct. 9. The Hornets will then travel to Falls City before closing the regular season against Three Rivers, Charlotte and Yorktown.

Friday’s narrow loss may not have produced the result Louise wanted, but after falling behind in the second half, the Hornets were still battling Danbury for the victory in the closing minutes.

That is something Louise will try to carry with it as an unbeaten Ben Bolt team comes to Hornet Stadium next Friday.

09/19/2026

Bulldogs battle unbeaten Shiner, turn attention to district opener

SHINER — Boling had its opportunities against unbeaten Shiner Friday night, but the Bulldogs couldn’t come up with enough of the handful of plays coach Kevin Urbanek felt ultimately decided the outcome.

Shiner remained unbeaten with a 28-14 victory over Boling at Comanche Stadium, dropping the Bulldogs to 1-3 as they wrapped up their non-district schedule.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game in a great atmosphere,” Urbanek said. “I felt our kids handled the atmosphere really well and played with great effort. We had our chances to win it.

“As always, a football game comes down to four or five plays that decide the outcome. We got better last night and I feel we are ready for the district schedule.”

Shiner grabbed a 6-0 advantage in the opening quarter before extending its lead during the second.

Boling answered with a big play from Damon Heard, who hauled in a 27-yard touchdown reception to get the Bulldogs on the scoreboard.

Shiner carried a 20-7 advantage into halftime, and neither team scored during the third quarter as the Boling defense kept the Bulldogs within striking distance.

The Comanches added eight points in the fourth quarter, while Boling answered with a 2-yard touchdown run from Jerren Salinas to account for the final 28-14 margin.

Boling’s defense continued to play with the effort and intensity Urbanek has stressed throughout the non-district schedule.

Morgan Mahalitc led the Bulldogs with eight tackles, while Connor Spacek recorded six tackles and a sack.

Heard made an impact on both sides of the football. In addition to his 27-yard touchdown reception, Heard finished with three tackles, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble defensively.

The loss completed a difficult non-district stretch for the Bulldogs.

Boling opened the season with a 14-6 victory over Weimar before losses to Ganado, Hallettsville and Shiner. The Bulldogs faced a Shiner team Friday that improved to 4-0.

Now none of those four games have any bearing on Boling’s district record.

The Bulldogs get a fresh start Friday when they host Van Vleck in their District 14-3A Division II opener at Bulldog Stadium.

Van Vleck will come to Boling with a 3-1 record after defeating Wharton 28-14 Friday night.

The Leopards have already made a significant turnaround after finishing 1-9 last season. Under first-year head coach Cody Carney, Van Vleck opened the season with a 42-14 victory over Anahuac. After a loss to Brazosport, the Leopards responded with consecutive wins over Sweeny and Wharton.

Urbanek knows the Leopards will present a challenge, particularly with their athletes on the perimeter.

“We open up with Van Vleck at home,” Urbanek said. “Offensively, we just have to do what we do, sustain long drives and hold on to the ball. Defensively, keep playing with the intensity and effort that we have been playing with.

“Van Vleck has some really good skill players that we are going to have to contain.”

Boling has enjoyed recent success in the series with the Leopards, including a 34-18 victory at Van Vleck last season.

The Bulldogs have won four of the last five meetings between the programs. Boling edged Van Vleck 14-13 in 2023 and posted victories of 34-7 in 2022, 35-6 in 2021 and 35-20 in 2020. Van Vleck’s victory during that stretch came by a 24-7 score in 2024.

But previous results will mean little when the two teams begin district play Friday.

For Boling, the difficult non-district schedule was designed to prepare the Bulldogs for this point of the season.

With the records resetting to 0-0 in district play and playoff positioning beginning immediately, Urbanek’s message entering Friday night is a simple one.

“The goal is to be 1-0 when we walk off the field on Friday night,” Urbanek said.

Kickoff between Boling and Van Vleck is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Bulldog Stadium.

09/19/2026

Brahmas suffer first loss despite big passing night

HOUSTON — East Bernard’s unbeaten start came to an end Friday night, but the Brahmas may have found another dimension to their offense in the process.

Houston Second Baptist handed East Bernard its first loss of the season, 45-28, as the Brahmas fell to 3-1 heading into next week’s district opener against unbeaten Brazos.

East Bernard finished with 419 yards of offense — actually 20 more than Second Baptist — and quarterback Slade Seay threw for 307 yards and three touchdowns. But three interceptions helped the Eagles build a lead the Brahmas could never completely overcome. hudl-boxscore_31824_33526539_9_19_2026_11_14_26_AM-ad4469536470437f8c50f62a34c01af9.pdf

Developing the passing game was one of East Bernard’s primary objectives entering the contest.

“Going into last night’s game we felt like it was a perfect opportunity for us to work on getting our young quarterback comfortable in our passing game,” East Bernard interim head coach Daniel Ball said.

“Over the course of our last two games we had completed just seven passes, so this was one area of offense that we felt like we needed more data to evaluate. That was our mindset going into the game.”

Second Baptist jumped in front 14-0 in the opening quarter behind a 3-yard touchdown run by Chase Bob and an 85-yard touchdown pass from Casey Dunn to Brian Broadus II.

East Bernard answered with its newfound passing attack as Seay connected with Amare Jones for a 62-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 14-7.

The Eagles stretched the advantage to 21-7 on a 15-yard Dunn touchdown pass to Jake McManus, but the Brahmas responded again. Landon Krenek scored on a 9-yard run to pull East Bernard within 21-14.

Second Baptist then seized control before halftime. Dunn threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Johnson and followed with a 32-yard scoring strike to Bob, sending the Eagles into halftime with a 35-14 advantage. hudl-boxscore_31824_33526539_9_19_2026_11_14_26_AM-ad4469536470437f8c50f62a34c01af9.pdf

Bob’s second rushing touchdown, another 3-yard run, increased the lead to 42-14 in the third quarter.

East Bernard, however, didn’t go away.

Seay and Jones connected again, this time for a 34-yard touchdown, and Seay found Gage Jenkins for an 8-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Brahmas pulled within 42-28. Second Baptist closed the scoring with a 41-yard field goal. hudl-boxscore_31824_33526539_9_19_2026_11_14_26_AM-ad4469536470437f8c50f62a34c01af9.pdf

Seay finished 18-of-25 for 307 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. He also led the Brahmas in rushing with 36 yards on nine carries.

Jones was his biggest target, catching seven passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns, including the 62-yarder. Jenkins caught four passes for 43 yards and a touchdown, while Krenek had three receptions for 33 yards in addition to rushing 11 times for 35 yards and a score. hudl-boxscore_31824_33526539_9_19_2026_11_14_26_AM-ad4469536470437f8c50f62a34c01af9.pdf

East Bernard’s passing performance was particularly noteworthy considering Ball’s emphasis on getting Seay more opportunities through the air. The Brahmas finished with 307 passing yards and 112 rushing.

Second Baptist quarterback Casey Dunn was equally effective, completing 13 of 16 passes for 324 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. Broadus led the Eagles with 112 receiving yards, while Bob rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns and added a 32-yard touchdown reception. hudl-boxscore_31824_33526539_9_19_2026_11_14_26_AM-ad4469536470437f8c50f62a34c01af9.pdf

Statistically, there was little separating the teams.

East Bernard ran 57 plays to Second Baptist’s 47, held a 419-399 advantage in total offense and collected 19 first downs to the Eagles’ 16. The Brahmas were also 5-of-10 on third down and 1-of-2 on fourth down.

The major difference was turnovers. East Bernard’s three interceptions accounted for all three of its turnovers, while the Brahmas’ defense intercepted Dunn once. hudl-boxscore_31824_33526539_9_19_2026_11_14_26_AM-ad4469536470437f8c50f62a34c01af9.pdf

“Unfortunately we made a couple of mistakes along the way, and that ended up being the difference in the ball game,” Ball said.

East Bernard will have little time to dwell on its first loss.

The Brahmas open district play Friday with a trip to Wallis to face a Brazos team off to an outstanding 4-0 start.

The Cougars remained unbeaten Friday with a 28-25 victory over Ganado. Brazos has also defeated Caldwell 40-0, Hallettsville 35-28 and Wharton 54-0 and has outscored its first four opponents 157-53.

That makes Friday’s district opener a matchup between a Brazos team carrying an unbeaten record and an East Bernard squad that showed in Houston it has the ability to be much more dangerous through the air.

“We will learn from those mistakes and continue to grow moving forward as we move into district play next week against a very good Brazos team,” Ball said.

East Bernard and Brazos kick off Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Wallis.

09/19/2026

Leopards pull away in second half to hand Wharton 28-14 loss

VAN VLECK — Wharton battled Van Vleck to a deadlock through the opening half Friday night, but the Leopards took control after the break to hand the Tigers a 28-14 loss.

The Tigers scored twice in the second quarter behind running back Layden Wynn and went into halftime tied with the Leopards at 14-14.

Wynn accounted for both Wharton touchdowns, scoring on runs of four and one yards.

His 4-yard touchdown run put six points on the board, but the ensuing extra-point attempt was no good.

Wynn later found the end zone again from a yard out. This time Wharton went for two, and Evan Cantu carried the ball across the goal line for the successful conversion, giving the Tigers 14 points heading into halftime.

Wharton had an opportunity to build on that momentum after the break, but Van Vleck’s defense kept the Tigers off the scoreboard over the final two quarters while the Leopards scored 14 unanswered points to secure the victory.

Several key fourth-down situations proved especially costly for Wharton.

“Hats off to Coach Carney and his team,” Wharton head coach Jason Haddock said. “They played stout defense several times on 4th down when we needed to go ahead. We were able to clean up some personnel issues but penalties and some poor decisions continued to plague us tonight.”

Despite the loss, the performance represented a considerable improvement for Wharton following its 54-0 setback against Brazos the previous week.

The Tigers stayed with Van Vleck throughout the first half and Wynn provided the offensive spark with his two short touchdown runs.

But the Leopards made the necessary adjustments at halftime.

Van Vleck kept Wharton out of the end zone throughout the second half, and the Tigers’ inability to convert on several fourth-down opportunities prevented them from sustaining drives and putting themselves in position to regain the lead.

Penalties and costly decisions also continued to hamper a Wharton team trying to find consistency during a difficult opening stretch of the season.

The Tigers opened the year with a 55-14 loss to El Campo before coming close to breaking into the win column in a 16-12 loss to Fort Bend Willowridge. Wharton then fell 54-0 to Brazos before responding with a much more competitive effort against Van Vleck.

Van Vleck, meanwhile, continued its strong start under head coach Cody Carney. The Leopards improved to 3-1 after winning just one game last season.

Friday’s game showed Wharton is capable of putting itself in position to win. The next step for the Tigers will be eliminating the penalties and mistakes and finding ways to finish the drives that stalled against Van Vleck’s defense.

For two quarters Friday night, Wharton matched one of the area’s improved teams point for point. In the second half, however, the Leopards made the plays when they needed them and pulled away for the 28-14 victory.

09/19/2026

Ricebirds roll past Sweeny, 62-7

EL CAMPO — El Campo closed out its non-district schedule in dominating fashion Friday night, rolling past Sweeny 62-7 at Ricebird Stadium to remain unbeaten at 4-0.

The Ricebirds exploded for 41 first-half points and finished with 393 yards of offense on just 36 plays. El Campo rushed for 316 yards and threw for another 77, averaging 10.9 yards per offensive snap.

“Our defense has been playing really good throughout this non-district schedule and played well again tonight,” El Campo coach Travis Reeve said. “I thought our offense came out and executed the way that we’ve been accustomed to executing. Special teams played great. It’s a great way to enter the district race.”

Vlad Garcia was at the center of the offensive explosion, rushing for 181 yards and four touchdowns on just nine carries. Garcia averaged 20.1 yards per attempt.

The big night pushed Garcia’s season totals to 458 yards and eight rushing touchdowns on 42 carries through four games. He is averaging 10.9 yards per carry and 114.5 rushing yards per game despite El Campo’s game against Yoakum lasting only one half because of lightning.

Jordan Powell added 65 yards on six carries against Sweeny, while Jude Thibeaux carried 13 times for 64 yards. The trio combined for 310 of El Campo’s 316 rushing yards.

El Campo wasted little time taking control.

Garcia opened the scoring with a 16-yard touchdown run before quarterback C**t Reeve connected with Jesus Rodriguez for a 35-yard touchdown.

Garcia struck again before the end of the opening quarter, breaking loose for a 58-yard touchdown run as the Ricebirds quickly built a three-score advantage.

The Ricebirds continued to pour it on in the second quarter.

C**t Reeve connected with Aiden Ballejo for a 34-yard touchdown before Andy Russell provided one of the biggest defensive plays of the night. Russell stepped in front of a Sweeny pass and returned the interception 45 yards for a touchdown.

Russell also made his presence felt on special teams with a 38-yard punt return in the second quarter, helping the Ricebirds win the field-position battle.

Garcia later broke loose for a 35-yard touchdown, his third score of the half, sending El Campo into the locker room with a commanding 41-0 advantage.

Reeve was perfect through the air, completing all five of his passes for 68 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.

Garcia wasn’t finished. He added his fourth touchdown of the night on a 14-yard run in the third quarter before Powell broke free for a 34-yard touchdown run as El Campo stretched the lead to 55-0.

Sweeny finally put together its lone scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Jayce Bridwell capped an eight-play, 75-yard march with a 4-yard touchdown run, accounting for the Bulldogs’ only touchdown.

El Campo answered one final time when Grant Guttenberger connected with Jadyn Allen for a touchdown to produce the 62-7 final.

As impressive as El Campo was offensively, turnovers were another major factor.

Sweeny put the football on the ground seven times and lost three, finishing with four turnovers. Nathan Salgado, Jonah Poenitzsch and Thibeaux each recovered a fumble for El Campo, while Russell accounted for the fourth takeaway with his 45-yard interception return for a touchdown.

The Bulldogs finished with 206 yards on 52 offensive plays. Sweeny ran the ball 50 times for 202 yards while managing just four yards through the air.

Nathaniel Benavides paced Sweeny’s rushing attack with 71 yards on 13 carries, while Parker McCurdy added 57 yards on 14 attempts.

The difference in offensive efficiency was striking. Sweeny ran 16 more offensive plays than El Campo, yet the Ricebirds finished with 187 more yards. El Campo averaged 10.9 yards per play compared with just under four yards per snap for the Bulldogs.

For Reeve, the performance was a significant step forward after the Ricebirds struggled offensively in their 7-6 victory over Yoakum a week earlier.

“It’s all about execution,” Reeve said. “Last week, we talked about how we didn’t execute very well because we didn’t prepare very well. This week, we felt we prepared great this week in practice, and it showed tonight. We made a great step forward this week.”

Friday’s victory continued an impressive start for the Ricebirds. El Campo opened the season with a 55-14 victory over Wharton and followed with a 63-7 win over Gonzales.

The Ricebirds then defeated Yoakum 7-6 in a game that was called at halftime because of lightning and never resumed. While El Campo officially stands 4-0, the Ricebirds have played only 3½ games worth of football.

Through those four official games, El Campo has outscored its opponents 187-34.

Reeve is now 18-of-27 passing for 266 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions through four games, completing 66.7 percent of his attempts. Both interceptions came in the abbreviated Yoakum game.

The Ricebirds will now have an open week before turning their attention to district play

09/19/2026

Friday night football final scores:
El Campo 62, Sweeny 7
Van Vleck 28, Wharton 14
Houston Second Baptist 45, East Bernard 28
Shiner 28, Boling 14
Danbury 24, Louise 20

09/19/2026

FINAL: El Campo 62. Sweeny 7

09/19/2026

Jayce Bridwell puts Sweeny on the board with 7:52 left in game on 4-yd run. Birds up 62-7

09/19/2026

Gutenberger 9 yd TD pass to Allen puts Birds up 62-0 to begin 4th quarter

09/19/2026

Birds head to 4th quarter up 55-0 over visiting Seeeny.

Wharton County Leader-Journal

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