The Billies were a quarter away from pulling the upset of the year.

Fredericksburg High School varsity football held a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but fell short of the upset and lost, 37-34, in overtime to the Wimberley Texans on Friday night at FHS Stadium.

Momentum swings, game-breaking special teams play and multiple score changers were a part of a game with all of the feel of playoff football.

“Our attitude going in was we had to get ready to play a great football team,” FHS head coach Lance Moffett said. “We wanted to prove we were a great team. I think we did that. It’s very disappointing.

“We’re all hurt right now, we have tears welled up (in our eyes) because we had a chance to win that game against a great football team and a great program … we just let them off the hook.”

FHS led the ballgame 31-17 but Wimberley, the No. 5 team in the Padilla Poll’s Class 4A DII rankings, scored on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 31 with 5:32 left in regulation.

Wimberley threatened to put the game away late in the fourth with a long drive to the Billies’ 3-yard line.

FHS (4-1) held Texans senior running back Thomas Carruthers to a 1-yard run on first down and forced Wimberley quarterback Jordan Weeks to throw an incompletion with three yards to go for the score on second down.

The Texans (5-0) went for the pass on third-and-goal, but FHS senior cornerback Jaime Ortega came up with an interception in the end zone to get the Billies’ hope alive.

The Billies started the overtime period on offense and came with a 37-yard field by Daylon Nebgen to take a 34-31 lead.

Wimberley took its turn and Weeks hit tight end Matt Mitchell for a 12-yard pass on the team’s first offensive play of overtime.

FHS’s defense held them to two yards on the next two plays to set up a third-and-8 situation on the 11-yard line. Weeks handed to ball to Carruthers, who bounced off his left tackle and ran through two FHS defenders for the game-winning score.

“(It was) a hard-fought game between two quality football teams,” Wimberley head coach Doug Warren said. “I knew coming in it was going to be a dogfight over here. What more can you want on a Friday night then have two really good football teams go at toe-to-toe and get free football after a while? Luckily, we came out on the winning side of it.”

FHS senior quarterback Will Flannery threw two touchdown passes and junior quarterback Hobbs Price ran for 138 yards and a touchdown.

Junior running back Willie Sebera ran for a touchdown, and senior running back Tristan Sanchez and senior wide receiver Sean Majors both caught touchdown passes.

Weeks led Wimberley through the air by completing 19 of 39 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns.

Carruthers ran for 102 yards and two scores on 23 carries. Senior wide receiver Cade Stoever led Wimberley’s pass catchers with five receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns.