The Sealy Tigers closed the regular season with a 43-0 win over the La Marque Cougars to secure the No. 2 seed from District 12-4A-D2 behind strong performances from members of the Class of 2022.

Sealy is set to face Silsbee in the bi-district round of the playoffs next week with details still to be determined as of postgame.

Tiger senior Connor Krenek opened the scoring on the receiving end of a 14-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback D’vonne Hmielewski and also pulled down two interceptions to help secure the momentum on the hosts’ sideline.

“We scored in like two or three minutes and we came out strong and that was a really good confidence boost for the rest of the game,” Krenek said. “On the second interception they ran the same route and I read it off the receiver and took it like candy. On the first one, it got tipped in the air I saw the ball was a little high so I stayed back and the ball fell into my arms and I tried to get as many yards off it as I could.”

Classmate Gage Grigar supplied leadership and two tackles from the defensive backfield and said the defensive unit smelled blood after La Marque’s first-half drives ended with five punts, an interception and the end of the half.

“We had to win by 17 for district so we definitely wanted to hold them as low as we could,” Grigar said. “After those first few drives when they didn’t score, we got that mentality to not let them score at all and we kept that mentality throughout the game and that’s how we finished.”

The final turnover that sealed the contest with only 1:30 left in regulation was a fumble recovered by senior Myki Harris but Head Coach Shane Mobley wasn’t sure if it was senior Roberto Casas of freshman Caysen Bolden that forced it.

“I think Casas caused it and Myki was right there, that was big at the end, two seniors making a big play,” Mobley said. “I’m not sure I also gotta throw out Cason Bolden, a freshman we pulled up, it might have been him it was one of the two inside linebackers that helped cause that fumble at the end.”

Hmielewski took what the Cougar defense presented the Sealy offense and broke off long runs of 60 and 55 yards and uncorked a 46-yard hookup with senior Graham Samonte on top of two scoring connections with junior Haden Wernecke.

“I got really close to probably every senior this year, it sucks to see them leave but to have their last game at home be a 43-0 district win and all of them ball out was great. We played this game for them, we dedicated it to them, we told them this is their night and I’m happy it went the way it did,” Hmielewski said. “Graham made a great catch and run, Thomas had a great catch and run, Connor had a touchdown, offensive line was huge, they were all big-time playmakers so I’m proud of them.”

Offensive Coordinator Chris Carruthers agreed this senior class has been a special one and his goal was to get as many of them into the end zone Friday night.

“I was trying to get Samonte a touchdown, you always tell the seniors at the beginning of August, ‘November is so far away,’ and as a senior you blink your eyes and you’re playing your 10th game of the season and the last one at your home stadium. Coach Mobley did a good job of instilling that idea of, ‘Hey make your last game on your field a good memory,’” Carruthers said. “These guys were eighth graders when we got here and we’re not the biggest team in the world, usually we’re not the biggest team on the field, but they fly around and that’s a big testament to those guys to go out with a win like this on their senior night.”

Although the seniors were celebrated, they knew that was not the end of the road and looked forward to carrying momentum from Friday into the postseason next week.

“Definitely have a lot of momentum going in with a shutout, that gives us a confidence boost,” Grigar said. “Silsbee definitely has some good athletes they’ve got a good receiver, from what I’ve seen from the little bit of film on them, but having a shutout like that is a big confidence booster and it’s going to help us have momentum going in.”

“It means the world because we’ve worked so hard since junior high and we were always looked down on but we’ve just been proving people wrong,” Krenek said on the magnitude of the win in the home finale. “We looked really good as a brotherhood tonight, played really well together and I think we have a lot of potential if we stay healthy.”

With the bi-district championship against Silsbee on the horizon, Mobley had a good idea of where the game-planning was going to start.

“We’re going to have to spend a week of reflecting back to Bellville, Lake Creek, Stafford just a totally different mentality because it’s do or die now,” Mobley said.

Scoring Summary

LM 0-0-0-0

Sealy 15-21-0-7

Q1

5:31: Sealy D’vonne Hmielewski to Connor Krenek 14 pass, Krenek 2-point rush, 8-0

3:04: S Hmielewski 55 rush, Amador Lopez kick, 15-0

Q2

11:53: S Hmielewski to Haden Wernecke 6 pass, Lopez kick, 22-0

10:04: S Hmielewski 9 rush, Lopez kick, 29-0

1:13: S Hmielewski to Wernecke 24 pass, Lopez kick, 36-0

Q3

Q4

10:30: S Bryson Johnson 12 rush, Lopez kick, 43-0

Stats courtesy Sealy Tiger Sports Network

D’vonne Hmielewski: 18-26 passing, 241 throwing yards, 3 touchdowns; 16 carries, 192 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns

Jeffrey Neu: 7 tackles

Haden Wernecke: 7 receptions, 115 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns

William Forrester, Richard Hahn: 4 tackles

Connor Krenek: 4 catches, 18 receiving yards, 1 touchdown; 1 tackle

Jonathan Monterroza, Hector Murillo, Rylan Reichardt: 3 tackles

Thomas Clark: 3 receptions, 31 receiving yards; 2 tackles

Graham Samonte: 2 catches, 56 receiving yards

Gage Grigar, Jace Jarilillo, Mason Klotz, Tanner Ellis, Caysen Bolden, Joel Chavez: 2 tackles