The Alamo Heights defense stepped up all night, holding the Chargers to just 10 points. Here they stack up Boerne running back Josh Wray for no gain at the line of scrimmage. The ball-hawking defense also intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble against Boerne Champion. Photos by Marvin Pfeiffer

By Marvin Pfeiffer
Staff Writer

Head coach Don Byrd breathed a sigh of relief as the final seconds ticked off the clock at Boerne’s Greyhound Stadium Friday night. His Mules had just pulled away for a 17-10 lead with 38 seconds left and the Mules were heading home victorious … but just barely.

Technically, it was the first time the two schools had met, as the new Champion High School just opened its doors this fall. But the rivalry with Boerne goes well beyond that.

The Mules knew that this game, as with all of the District 27-4A games on their schedule this year, would be tough. They got all they expected and more.

Alamo Heights had led the game since the end of the first quarter, but it was a tenuous lead at best. The Chargers, playing without their usual quarterback Chuck Thornally, who was out with an injury, were determined to control the clock and keep the ball away from the Mules quick-strike offense.

The plan worked, and when Champion capped a nine-play, 72-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown with 3:35 remaining, it was a new ball game at 10-10.

That’s when the Mules reached down deep and pulled out the win. It took some heroics and a great deal of determination to pull it off and Alamo Heights knew just what to do.

Heights started the final game-winning drive at their own 33-yard line. On a third-and-nine play, quarterback Drew Allen bootlegged right and threw the ball back across the field to a wide open Justin Rosenthal.

Rosenthal, who caught six passes for 104 yards and scored both Mules touchdowns, sprinted down the left sideline to the Charger 25-yard line for a 41-yard gain and the Mules were in business.

“I’ve got to give credit to Drew,” Rosenthal said. “Drew played perfect. Good play calling down the stretch helped. Our offense was playing awful in the first half, but we came out in the second half and executed.”

It was a play that the Mules had worked on in practice this past week, according to Byrd, and he pulled it out at just the right time.

Mules running back Justin Rosenthal dives across the goal line with 1:09 remaining in the first quarter for the first of his two touchdowns on the night. Photo by Marvin Pfeiffer

“We needed that one because we weren’t executing as well as we needed to,” Byrd continued. “But that play was the key one in that drive to go down and score and win.”

Rosenthal punched the ball across the goal line seven plays later for the go-ahead score, his second score of the game.

“I was thinking ‘Two hands on the ball, no fumbling, get in there’ and we’ll see what happens afterward,” Rosenthal said of the final score. “Good things happened!”

Drew Allen, who passed for 264 yards on the night and rushed for 60 more, gave a lot of the credit for the Mules success to his defense.

“Offensively, we were shaky the first half and third quarter, but the defense just stayed in there and dominated as always,” Allen said.

Allen nearly scored himself on the play immediately following Rosenthal’s big reception, but the play was brought back on an illegal use of hands penalty. But the determination was evident and the Mules were not going to quit.

That determination was crystal clear when Rosenthal bulled his way in from the six for the last touchdown.

“He looked at me and I saw it in his eyes,” Drew said of Rosenthal. “He wasn’t going to stop. We weren’t going to leave here with a loss.”

Although it didn’t come easy, Don Byrd was pleased with yet another victory.

“You know, in this district we’ll take any win we can,” Byrd said. “Defensively, we played well. Offensively, we didn’t execute. We moved the ball at times, but then we made that last drive when we needed to, so I was proud of them.

“They finally settled down and started playing,” Byrd said. “We’ve got to learn that after a big win over Clemens, we need to come back and play week in and week out. The good thing is we found a way to win when we weren’t hitting on all cylinders.”

Alamo Heights travels to San Marcos for a 7:30 p.m. game against the Rattlers Friday. San Marcos (2-3, 0-2 District 27-4A) dropped their second straight district game this past Friday night to New Braunfels Canyon, 48-14.

The Rattlers rely on a strong ground game and rarely take the ball to the air. They will certainly try to control the clock to keep the ball away from the Mules, but if Alamo Heights gets off to a good lead, San Marcos will probably struggle to catch up.