For nearly two and a half quarters, the Sealy Tigers not only hung with but led the Class 5A Lake Creek Lions on the road Friday night in non-district action. Down the stretch, Sealy suffered multiple injuries and Lake Creek’s depth eventually took over to win 41-34, capped by a 21-point fourth quarter.

The Tigers started hot and built a 28-13 lead in the third quarter but Lake Creek provided the answering score 14 seconds before the fourth quarter to seize momentum. The Lions took that into the fourth quarter and all but stymied the Sealy offense and took a five-point lead with 3:30 remaining to cash in on an interception.

Despite the Tigers’ late 74-yard score from junior quarterback D’vonne Hmielewski to senior receiver Connor Krenek, Lake Creek secured an interception after its score with 45 seconds left to seal the win to move to 3-0.

Sealy’s Friday loss drops the overall record to 2-1 on the season and serves as its first loss in the regular season since the 31-30, overtime defeat to Bay City at home Sept. 25, 2020. Head Coach Shane Mobley said the world is not over after just one loss and that there are plenty of takeaways.

“More often than not you can learn more in a loss than in a win and it was a physical game, my hat's off to them. We made them better and they made us better,” Mobley said Friday night. “We've just got to get back in and regroup, we know we've got another tough week next week against Stafford. They're playing some really good teams, they're 0-3 but look at the three teams they've played (Angleton, Calhoun and Bellville).”

Mobley said the plan during the halftime intermission was to come out with a strong third quarter and he felt the team did just that.

“When we went in at halftime, we were up by a touchdown and we were there last week. The challenge was to come out and play a good hard third quarter and we did. We came out and the offense took the ball down and scored and went up by two,” Mobley said. “Defensively, we made some adjustments and the kids played fine. We had a couple of missed tackles, a couple at one time and they capitalized on it and go ahead and take a lead.”

There were plenty of new faces that got playing time due to injuries but Mobley feels the reps will only benefit the team down the road.

“That's what I like about playing about the bigger schools because by game three or game four, you want to try to get into the best shape you possibly can,” Mobley told the Sealy Tiger Sports Network. “You get your guys out there, the ones that are going both ways play a little bit longer, and it turned into a dogfight and we expected it to be a dogfight. Hector Murillo came up off the JV and we played him in the second half. I don't think if he came off and he made some plays.”

He hoped the team bond would grow stronger as those who are able to still play band together to carry the load while those injured can rest.

“Guys have got to bow their heads and we're gonna have to roll,” Mobley said to STSN. “You’ve got guys like Callen Rabius that's a senior, he's gone right now but they've got to fight for guys like that who don't get that opportunity to be out there anymore.”

Stafford will make the trip to Sealy next Friday in what will be the Tigers’ homecoming game. The Spartans most recently fell to Bellville 48-26 and dropped last year’s meeting against Sealy 12-10.

SCORING SUMMARY

Sealy 7-14-7-6

Lake Creek 6-7-7-21

Q1

9:10: Lake Creek Cade Tessier to Justin Freeney 37 pass, two-point fail, 6-0

4:25: Sealy A’vonte Nunn 2 rush, Amador Lopez kick, 7-6

Q2

6:01: S Nunn 6 rush, Lopez kick, 14-6

2:52: S D’vonne Hmielewski 45 rush, Lopez kick, 21-6

0:38: LC Tessier to Debraun Hampton 1 pass, Jace Newkirk kick, 21-13

Q3

7:33 S Hmielewski to Graham Samonte 32 pass, Lopez kick, 28-13

0:14: LC Tessier to Hampton 28 pass, Newkirk kick, 28-20

Q4

7:15: LC Tessier to Same Lee 10 pass, two-point fail, 28-26

3:30: LC Freeney 29 rush, Newkirk kick, 33-28

2:05: S Hmielewski to Connor Krenek 74 pass, two-point fails, 34-33

0:44: LC Tessier to Lee 53 pass, two-point pass from Tessier to Hampton, 41-34