Published: November 14, 2009 01:12 am      

Warning: Mistakes can be deadly

Hornets looking to win first playoff game since 1991

The Hornets learned a valuable lesson in the first round of the football playoffs last year.

Mistakes are magnified.

Three lost fumbles, nine penalties and one costly defensive breakdown kept Huntsville from winning its first playoff game since 1991. Lockhart outlasted the Hornets 35-28 in a game that seesawed back and forth and wasn’t decided until the last few seconds.

History will not repeat itself, the 2009 Hornets insist.

The co-champs of District 18-4A, Huntsville (7-3) will end a long, 18-year dry spell against the Rebels of Buda Hays (4-6) if the Hornets take care of the football, minimize the penalties and play fundamentally sound football.

“No mistakes,” Huntsville senior Joe Maxey said Friday. “One mistake can beat you in the playoffs. We had Lockhart last year and we were going to overtime, but they busted a long run and it was over.”

After Huntsville’s Kevin Butcher blasted over the goal line to tie the score late in the fourth quarter, everyone on the Hornets’ sideline believed last year’s bi-district game was headed to overtime.

“That’s exactly what we thought,” Maxey recalls. “I was standing right behind coach (Mitchell) Coey and he said we were playing for overtime. That was our intention.”

That was Lockhart’s intention, too.

“We were going to give it to (running back) Dominique Hardaway every play. We didn’t want to take any big chances or turn the ball over,” Lions coach Troy Moses said. “I knew Huntsville was tired and I knew we were in better shape than they were, so I thought we would be OK if we went to overtime.

“I also knew we had No. 22 (Hardaway). I watched him all season and thought if they would just give him a seam, he could break one.”

Hardaway broke one all right. He found a gaping hole on the left side of the Hornet line and raced 47 yards to the Huntsville 20.

After Hardaway’s long run, the Lions had a change of heart. They suddenly wanted to score and end the game in regulation. Against a deflated Hornet defense, Lockhart patiently picked its way toward the end zone, scoring the game-winner on a 4-yard run with 12 seconds left.

Some of the current Hornets who played in that game said they were sick for days after that loss.

“That was horrible,” Maxey said. “I wouldn’t talk to anybody for about a week.”

“Mistakes killed us — fumbling the ball, not wrapping up, basic stuff really,” defensive tackle Marquel Kizzee said.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” Huntsville senior Quentin Smith added.

Huntsville, which rolls into the postseason this year on a five-game winning streak, has all the tools necessary for a long playoff run this fall.

The Hornet defense has been terrific at times, shutting out two playoff teams in Houston Waltrip and Waller, and holding a high-powered Montgomery team to two touchdowns in a thrilling 18-15 win that kicked off the current winning streak.

Offensively, the Hornets found a groove in the second half of the regular season. After rotating quarterbacks for much of the first half, Huntsville put the ball in Justin Gilbert’s hands and the senior has taken care of it nicely.

In the last five games, Gilbert has rushed for 649 yards and thrown for 543 more. The elusive and speedy quarterback has run for seven scores, thrown for three and caught one touchdown pass from junior utility man Mark Wheeler.

The Hornets have also found a bull in the backfield. Senior Shaquille Ross breathed life into Huntsville’s ground game a few weeks ago. He has rushed for 293 yards and three touchdowns during the team’s five-game winning streak.

During this stretch, Huntsville has turned the ball over only seven times, and five of those turnovers came in a 21-0 win over Waller back on Oct. 9.

The Hornets hope to put everything together starting today against Buda Hays.

“I don’t think we’ve shown what we can do yet,” said Huntsville lineman Forbes Baggett, who plays on the offensive and defensive lines. “When we do put it all together, we’re going to be pretty dangerous.”

Today, Huntsville clashes with a Buda Hays team that reversed its fortunes a little more than a month ago. After going 0-5 in the nondistrict season, playing a schedule that included playoff teams Bastrop (9-2), Austin Bowie (8-3) and Austin McCallum (8-2), the Rebels caught fire and won three district games in a row.

Hays lost in overtime to Del Valle in the battle for the District 17-4A championship, but the Rebels rebounded and beat neighborhood rival Kyle Lehman 27-7 last week.

Hays has a balanced offense, which is engineered by senior quarterback Sam Breyfogle. Breyfogle has completed 88-of-160 passes for 1,425 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.

The Rebels spread the ball around when they run and pass it. Trace Gandy (821 yards and five touchdowns), Anthony Garza (713 yards and five touchdowns) and Torrance Smith (304 yards and 13 touchdowns) are Hays’ top rushers.

Kaimen Carpenter (24 receptions for 431 yards and three scores), Smith (21-383-1 TD) and Gandy (21-359-3 TDs) are the team’s leading receivers.

The Hornets say they are feeling confident about today’s game. But there are several things Huntsville must do in order to stay alive in the state playoffs.

“We’ve just got to play hard, execute and don’t give up until the clock says 0:00,” Smith said. “I know this can be my last game ever to play football, so I’m going to leave it all on the field.”

“Yeah, this is my last season I have playing with these guys,” Maxey added. “We’ve just got to stay together, keep the team in mind and not ourselves, and play our hearts out. If we do that, we’ll be all right.”