The top of the hill has been ever so close for the Heritage Eagles football team this season as they dropped a close 38-36 game to the Austin Hill Country Knights at Vista Ridge High School on Thursday.
For the second week in a row, the Eagles (0-2) played tough with a Division 1 opponent and fought back into the game, thanks to a strong second half, but ultimately failed to secure the win. The Knights (1-0) rode a high-scoring first half to a win.
“Our guys fought really hard,” Heritage head coach Tim Shipman said. “We have to continue to reduce critical mistakes in order to find a way to win games.”

Hot Start
for the Knights
The Eagles got some early fireworks from senior Caden Bray, who returned a Knights’ kickoff 75 yards to get the Eagles on the board in the first quarter.
The rest of the quarter went to the Knights, however, as Hill Country got two passing touchdowns from Ethan Howard and another from Ty Curry. Hill Country’s Andrew Penrod hauled in two touchdowns in the quarter and the Knights built a 20-8 lead.
The passing game connected again for the Knights in the second quarter as Kyler Cline hauled in a pass from Howard and took it 43 yards for another score, extending the lead to 26-8.
Heritage got a long pass of their own as Bray took a pass from Jack Henderson 55-yards for another touchdown, but the Knights went into the half with a 32-16 lead.

Halftime adjustments
The Eagles came out of the half firing on all cylinders. Early in the third quarter, sophomore Tres Jons put a cap on a long scoring drive with a six-yard touchdown run, cutting the Knights’ lead to 32-24. Later in the quarter, the Eagles drew within a score (32-30) on a 14-yard scoring pass from Bray to Henderson, but a 19-yard touchdown run by Howard increased the deficit to 38-30 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Eagles managed to reach the end zone on an 8-yard run by Henderson in the fourth quarter, but came two points shy of forcing overtime, resulting in the 38-36 loss.
We gave ourselves a shot in the fourth quarter,” Shipman said. “We certainly played a better second half and fought our way back into the game. We have to go back to work and figure out how to be more consistent in our execution.”

Headed to Marble Falls
Things don’t get easier for the Eagles in Week 3 as they prepare for a road match-up against the Marble Falls Faith Academy Flames (2-0).
The Flames defeated Richland Springs 62-34 in Week 1 and are coming off of a 52-7 thumping of Living Rock Academy last week. Shipman said he and the Eagles are preparing for yet another tough game in Week 3.
“Marble Falls will be a tough test for us,” he said. “They return four starters on both sides of the ball from a deep playoff run in 2020. But there is no doubt we are hungry and giving everything we have to get better.”
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday at the Faith Academy Field in Marble Falls.

Hill Country Christian 38,
Heritage 36

Scoring By Quarters
HER    8    8    14    6    –    36
HCC    20    12    6    0    –    38

First Quarter
HCC – Nathan Bernoski 18-yard pass from Ethan Howard (2-pt. conversion good), 9:45.
HER – Caden Bray 75-yard kickoff return (Brooklyn Parsons PAT), 9:35.
HCC – Andrew Penrod 46-yard pass from Ty Curry (Christopher Silbermann PAT), 6:18.
HCC – Penrod 15-yard pass from Howard (2-pt. conversion good), 1:47.

Second Quarter
HCC – Kyler Cline 42-yard pass from Howard (2-pt. conversion good), 9:09.
HER – Bray 55-yard pass from Jack Henderson (Parsons PAT), 3:40.
HCC – Penrod 36-yard rush, 1:13.

Third Quarter
HER – Tres Jons 6-yard rush (Parsons PAT), 5:07.
HER – Henderson 14-yard pass from Bray (2-pt. conversion fails), 3:26.
HCC – Howard 19-yard rush (2-pt. conversion fails), 2:26.

Fourth Quarter
HER– Jack Henderson 8-yard rush, (2-pt. conversion fails), 5:00.

Statistics
 HER    HCC
35-153    Carries-Rush yards    27-174
Passes
6-18-1-141 Comp-Att-Int    11-26-1-243
294    Total Offense    417
1-0    Fumbles-Lost    1-0

Rushes-Yards
HER – Jack Henderson 21-96, TD; Tres Jons 5-33, TD; Bridger Welch 7-21; Caden Bray 2-3.
HCC – Ethan Howard 14-72, TD; Andrew Penrod 2-49, TD; Riverson Shaw 5-33; Kyler Cline 4-11; Ty Curry 2-9.

Passing
HER – J. Henderson 1-3-0-55, TD; C. Bray 3-12-0-40, TD; T. Jons 1-1-0-40; B. Welch 1-1-0-6; Brooklyn Parsons 0-1-1-0.
HCC – E. Howard 9-20-0-197, 3 TDs; T. Curry 2-4-1-46, TD; R. Shaw 0-2-0-0.

Receiving
HER – C. Bray 2-61, TD; Gage Nelson 1-40; J. Henderson 2-27, TD; B. Parsons 1-13.
HCC – A. Penrod 3-90, 2 TDS; T. Curry 3-47; R. Shaw 2-45; K. Cline 1-43, TD; N. Bernoski 2-18, TD.