The Sealy Tigers raced out for 22 unanswered points in the first quarter and never looked back en route to a 43-14, season-opening win over the Brazosport Exporters Friday night on Mark A. Chapman Field at T.J. Mills Stadium.

After Amador Lopez scored the first points of the season with a 32-yard field goal, junior quarterback D’vonne Hmielewski provided two touchdowns each on the ground and through the air to build a lead. Haden Wernecke (21 yards) and Graham Samonte (18 yards) were on the receiving end of scoring connections.

Although the first of his two interceptions was returned for a touchdown by Brazosport’s Toric Goins, a double-pass screen play from Hmielewski to Connor Krenek left Wernecke wide open for a 36-7 halftime lead.

A 26-yard connection from Randon Fontenette to Josiah Winkleman was the Exporters’ lone second-half touchdown before Hmielewski capped the scoring with an 8-yard scramble.

The last time these teams met, visiting Brazosport mounted a comeback and kicked a last-minute field goal to escape with a win. As a sophomore on that team and a senior leader of this team, Krenek said there was a little extra motivation to come out and win the first game of the year.

“Two years ago we lost to them 21-20, I was determined to get some revenge,” Krenek said. “We have a good team, I’m glad how we’re all coming together as a family, we’re all pretty close and I think it was a good first game of the season but we’ve got a long way to go.”

Offensive Coordinator Chris Carruthers echoed similar thoughts and said this was a game that had been on the radar for a while.

“The last time we were on the field with these guys they put a dent in our season and a few of the guys were a part of that game, some of these seniors were young guys on that team so we had kind of marked it on our calendar,” Carruthers said. “Of course, it’s different teams but it was good to play well against them and have a good output on the offensive side.”

Krenek supplied two interceptions to the defensive effort and viewed them as momentum-builders for the team.

“If we’re low on energy I think interceptions or turnovers are a good energy boost, they get the team hyped and closer to another win,” Krenek said.

Head Coach Shane Mobley said he was very pleased with the overall defensive effort and looked forward to watching the film back.

“Richard Hahn played very well, I’ve got to go back and see the film but he seemed like he was all over the place, always where he was supposed to be,” Mobley said. “Watching things up front on the running game and in contain, Ethan Hart is a young man that didn’t play last year but came back out for his senior year and is a difference maker. … The guy that we threw in there right now (in the secondary) is Parker DeBerry and I’m excited to watch the film on him.”

Another big takeaway for Mobley was having scores more fans in the stands of T.J. Mills Stadium compared to last year which had capacity and spacing restrictions in place.

“It’s getting back to that Friday night lights environment where the community wants to come out and support the kids,” the head coach said. “It’s a great community for all the sports, our community gets involved and I don’t know if I’ve ever visited with anyone in the community that’s ever told me no or did what they could to help so for them to be back in the stands, it means the world to our seniors.”

Next week, Sealy will hit the road to face the Navasota Rattlers, who opened their regular season with a 49-0 win over Wharton, a district opponent of the Tigers’.

SCORING SUMMARY

Brazosport 0-7-7-0

Sealy 22-14-0-7

Q1

8:14 Sealy Amador Lopez 32 kick, 3-0 

6:54 S D’vonne Hmielewski to Haden Wernecke 21 pass, kick no good, 9-0

4:19 S Hmielewski 6 rush, Lopez kick, 16-0

3:03 S Hmielewski to Graham Samonte 18 pass, kick failed, 22-0

Q2

9:14 Brazosport Toric Goins 98 pick-six, Saul Jimenez kick, 22-7

6:51 S Hmielewski to Connor Krenek to Wernecke, Lopez kick, 29-7

27.6 S Hmielewski 4 rush, Lopez kick, 36-7

Q3

3:04 B Randon Fontenette to Josiah Winkleman 26 pass, Jimenez kick, 36-14

Q4

11:51 S Hmielewski 8 rush, Lopez kick, 43-14

Stats courtesy Sealy Tiger Sports Network

Sealy Tigers

Team

Rushing: 151 yards

Passing: 252 yards

Time of Possession: 21:46

Sealy ran a total of 58 plays for 403 yards (6.9 average per play)

Individual

D’vonne Hmielewski: 18 for 26 passing, 209 yards (2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions); 12 carries, 111 rushing yards (3 touchdowns)

A’vonte Nunn: 9 carries, 25 rushing yards; 2 catches, 15 receiving yards

Triston Coleman: 1 carry, 22 rushing yards

Haden Wernecke: 6 catches, 82 receiving yards (2 touchdowns); 3 tackles

Connor Krenek: 5 catches, 75 receiving yards; 1 carry, 2 rushing yards; 1 for 1 passing, 41 yards (1 touchdown); 2 tackles; 2 interceptions

Graham Samonte: 4 catches, 59 receiving yards (1 touchdown)

Callen Rabius: 1 catch, 22 receiving yards; 4 tackles

Jeffrey Neu, William Forrester: 6 tackles

Gage Grigar: 4 tackles

Jace Jaralillo: 3 tackles; 1 fumble recovery

Richard Hahn, Ethan Hart, Rudy Nava, Andres Murillo: 3 tackles

Thomas Clark, Jonathan Monterroza: 2 tackles

Brazosport Exporters

Team

Rushing:  121 yards

Passing:  71 yards

Time of Possession: 26:14

Brazosport ran a total of 53 plays for 192 yards (3.6 average per play)

Individual

Randon Fontenette: 8 for 23 passing, 71 yards (1 touchdown, 2 interceptions); 7 carries, 28 rushing yards; 2 tackles

Paul Woodard: 18 carries, 66 rushing yards; 2 catches, 10 receiving yards

Josiah Winkleman: 5 carries, 28 rushing yards, 1 catch, 26 yards (1 touchdown); 1 tackle

Darius Roberson: 6 tackles

Devlin Zavala: 4 tackles

Michael Edwards, Christian Scharrer: 3 tackles

Toric Goins: 2 tackles; 1 interception (1 touchdown)

Devaughn Davidson, LJ Holden, Kaeden Shoemake, Jadon Jarmon: 2 tackles