I went to Hutto to see the Hippos in action against their district rival, the Cedar Park Timberwolves. Carl Abseck has been the head coach of Cedar Park for four seasons. The T'wolves lost their first two games of the season, then ripped off five straight wins. Brad LaPlante is in his first season as head man at Hutto. He was their offensive coordinator under Steve Van Meter for the previous four seasons. They entered this game with a perfect 5-0 record.
But before I talk about football, let's talk about barbecue. . .
The
Barbecue
With all the rain we’ve been getting in central Texas,
it was actually dry Friday afternoon.
Not being limited to a brick and mortar restaurant, I could eat outside
and not be afraid of being washed away by a flash flood. My wife went with me and we headed to KerlinBBQ.
Kerlin still serves barbecue from a food truck at 1700
East Cesar Chavez. I had not been there
since August 2016 (TP episode 3), but the nice lady in the window named
Ammaliese remembered me. I got my
standard order of moist brisket and pork ribs.
While not a “normal” side dish, I got an extra quarter pound of pork
belly burnt ends. My wife ordered some
brisket and pulled pork, then found us a picnic table where we could eat.
As it was the last time I visited, the barbecue was tremendous. The brisket had a tasty outer bark and was super tender. Moist and full of smoky flavor, my mouth doing a happy dance with each bite. The ribs were meaty and tasted great. The pork belly burnt ends were little flavor bombs packed with smoky goodness. Nice little treat. My wife enjoyed her lean brisket and pulled pork. I do have one complaint: their sauce. Somebody must have knocked over a fifty gallon jug of vinegar into the pot where the sauce was being made. It was so vinegary as to be almost inedible. Thankfully the barbecue was so good sauce was unnecessary.
As my wife and I ate, a group of people sat down at
our picnic table. Turns out they were in
town to see the big Formula 1 race at the Circuit of the Americas. They had heard about how good the barbecue is
in Austin and wanted to check it out.
Great barbecue has a way of bringing people together.
In 2016, I wrote: “ Kerlin BBQ is an undiscovered
gem. Spectacular food, friendly staff,
and a comfortable atmosphere. A great
place to hang out with friends and enjoy some great BBQ.” With so many things changing all around us so
fast, it’s great to see Kerlin BBQ hasn’t changed at all.
I rate this barbecue two Hook ‘Ems!
The
Game
Chux Nwabuko stands 5’6” and weighs 155 pounds dripping wet, but
he plays likes he’s ten feet tall and weighs a ton. He capped off the Hippos first drive with a
15 yard burst up the middle to give Hutto an early 7 point lead.
And then the rain really started coming
down.
Hutto regained the lead at 14-7 with a 33 yard screen
pass from Chase Griffin to Nwabuko. The
Hippos extended their lead to 21-7 when Hernandez was intercepted by linebacker
Jacob Berry for a pick six.
On the Timberwolves next drive, Hernandez fumbled the
wet football on fourth down. Hutto
recovered the ball and later scored in the second quarter on a swing pass to
Nwabuko that went for 28 yards.
The T’wolves returned the ensuing kickoff to the Hutto
47. That led to a 21 yard touchdown pass
from Hernandez to Brandon Breed. That
made the score 28-14 with 11:47 left in the second quarter.
Griffin threw to DJ Baptist for a 32 yard touchdown to
extend the lead to 35-14.
Hernandez completed a long pass to Will Udoye that put
the T’wolves in the Hippos red zone. But
Cedar Park turned the ball over on downs when Hernandez’s pass was broken up in
the end zone.
Hutto drove deep into Cedar Park territory. After an interference penalty, Nwabuko scored
from two yards out to push the lead to 42-14.
Late in the second quarter, Griffin teamed up with
Baptist for a 55 yard gain to the T’wolves five. Kendall Williams banged in a 24 yard field
goal to give Hutto a 45-14 lead they took into halftime.
Rather than sit in the driving rain for the second
half, I decided to head home where it is dry.
I later saw that Hutto won in a rout, 65-21.
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