Harlandale clinched a share of the District 14-5A-II title as the Indians held off a late McCollum rally for a 23-20 win in the Frontier Bowl Friday at Harlandale Memorial Stadium.
The win by Harlandale assured a tri-championship for the district crown, which includes McCollum and Sam Houston. With the tiebreakers and positive points factoring in, Harlandale (7-3, 7-1) will go into the Class 5A Division II playoffs as the second-place team, while Sam Houston (8-2, 7-1) will go in as the first-place team and McCollum (7-3, 7-1) will take the third-place slot.
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Harlandale will host Liberty Hill in the bi-district round of the playoffs next Friday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Harlandale Memorial Stadium.
Harlandale was able to spoil McCollum’s bid to win the district championship outright behind a defense that held the Cowboys in check and a solid running attack, as the Indians have won nine of the last Frontier Bowl games against their neighborhood rivals.
Senior Jacob Schindler, who made two key plays for Harlandale, said his teammates kept their composure despite nearly giving up a 23-7 lead to McCollum in the fourth quarter.
“If you watch our game against Sam Houston (a 32-27 loss) we were composed but we had a little bit of mistakes,” Schindler said. “This week we stayed composed and we just stayed strong as a team. We played complementary football, special teams, defense and offense.”
As a senior, Schindler said it felt good being on the winning side in his final Frontier Bowl game.
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“It’s great,” Schindler said. “It’s even more great, we’re not done with this week. We have another one next week, but overall, the Frontier Bowl, the win is great. It’s great for the community, you see all these people here.”
Schindler gave Harlandale a spark in the first quarter when he returned a free kick 61 yards for a score at the 2:12 mark of the frame, finding a seam on his way to the end zone to put the Indians up 9-0.
The free kick that set up Schindler’s score came after the Indians were awarded a safety when McCollum punter Reed Gomez inadvertently stepped on the end zone line while he was preparing to punt.
McCollum put up its first score in the second quarter when Luke Tejeda threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Casares, the first of three scores between the duo, that narrowed the Harlandale lead to 9-7 with 6:32 left in the second.
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Harlandale answered on its ensuing possession, as Leo Reyes scored on a 2-yard run with 4:32 left in the first half, extending the Indians’ advantage to 16-7 at halftime.
Harlandale sophomore Leo Reyes runs the ball during a game between Harlandale and McCollum at Harlandale Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in San Antonio. (Andrew J. Whitaker/San Antonio Express-News)
Gabriel Salazar scored on a 3-yard run with over a minute left in the third quarter to put Harlandale up 23-7 before McCollum started its fourth quarter rally, orchestrated by Tejeda and Casares.
Casares scored on a 15-yard screen pass from Tejeda, cutting and weaving his way through the Harlandale defense, on his way to the end zone to get the Cowboys within 23-13 after the two-point conversion try failed with 7:13 remaining in the game.
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After forcing Harlandale to a three-and-out, McCollum scored on its next drive with Tejeda hooking up with Casares for an 18-yard score, to get the Cowboys within 23-20 with 3:46 left.
Harlandale got the ball back and never gave it up, as Reyes – filling in for injured starter Gio Silva – helped run time off the clock, running for a combined 31 yards on the last drive of the game, with the clincher being a 10-yard pass from Salazar to Schindler on third down that sealed the victory for Harlandale.
With two of Harlandale’s running backs, including Silva, out with injuries, Reyes was able to rise to the occasion, rushing for a hard earned 90 yards on 22 carries.
Harlandale coach Justin Lozano said Reyes was concerned about fumbling the football, but that he was able to reassure his sophomore running back that he could get the job done.
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“He didn’t want to fumble the football,” Lozano said. “He didn’t want to give anything up to them because I’ve been on all of them about securing the football. And there at the end, he started just running the way he can run the football and so that’s what really got us the extra yardage and the first downs down there. So, I was really proud of the way he finished off the game.”
While Tejeda finished with 273 yards passing, Harlandale made him work for it as he completed 22 of 40 pass attempts, forcing him to throw numerous incompletions.
“We knew going into this game that this was going to be a defense battle,” Lozano said. “They (McCollum) have a really good defense. But we have a great defense too. The game plan was to pressure them. We felt like our strength against their offensive line was our defensive ends.”
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This article originally published at Harlandale holds off McCollum in Frontier Bowl to claim share of district title.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
