I went to Dripping Springs to see the Tigers in action against the Hays Rebels. Les Goad is in his second year as the head coach of Hays. Galen Zimmerman is the head coach of Dripping Springs. Both teams made the playoffs in 2018. Both teams lost in the first round.
The temperature was around 96 degrees at kickoff. Weather was not a factor in the game.
Both teams won their opening game of the season and were looking to extend that winning streak to two. Tigers and Rebels. . . it should be a good one.
We'll get to the game in a moment. Let me first show you the barbecue I had earlier in the day. . .
The
Barbecue
This past summer, Texas Monthly published a list of
the top 25 “new” barbecue joints in the state.
Places that were too new or didn’t even exist when they published their
Top 50 list in 2017. One of the new
restaurants is The Switch in Dripping Springs.
It is an offshoot of Stiles Switch in Austin. I have enjoyed the que served at Stiles
Switch many times (Texas Passions episode 310), so I knew I need to head to
Dripping Springs.
The Switch is located in a large white building at 166
Hargraves Drive in the Belterra Village shopping area. I arrived just after 5 PM and was shown to a
table. They have “counter service” at
lunch, “table service” at dinner. A wee
bit fancy for a Texas barbecue joint, but I kept an open mind. I was waited on by two nice young guys,
Dagger and Jon. Jon took my order: a two
meat plate with brisket and pork ribs, sith a side of sweet corn casserole and
fries. While I waited for my food,
Dagger gave me some complimentary hush puppies.
These were really good, especially when dipd into the spicy aioli.
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| Dagger and Jon |
Just like at Stiles Switch, the food was
excellent. The brisket had a great outer
bark. It was moist and tender, with a
rich smoky flavor. The baby back ribs
might have been a little short, but they were long on taste. I chose a sweet glaze for them instead of the
spicy. The meat had to be bitten from
the bone, but it was well worth the effort.
The corn casserole also went down really good. My order came with a typical red sauce, sorta
sweet and not too spicy. There were two
sauces on the table. Lance’s Mustard
tasted of mustard and pepper. Popeye’s
Molasses had a bunch of coffee in it. I
sampled each, then went back to the red sauce when I wanted to dip a bite of
meat.
After I ate, I wandered around to the cooking shed
where I met Troy, one of their pit masters. A real friendly guy, he was kind
enough to open one of the pits and let me take a look. He took a brisket off the rack, wrapped it in
butcher paper, then returned it to the pit to finish its cook. Back outside, I met their wood gut, Joseph
from Chief Firewood. He was unloading a
huge batch of post oak wood that will end up being used to smoke somebody’s
barbecue. Oh yeah. . .
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| Troy the pit master |
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| Joseph the wood guy |
It’s easy to see why the food at The Switch is so
good: the people there put a lotta lotta love into all they do. When Texas Monthly publishes their next Top
50 list, I suspect The Switch will be taking a spot right next to big brother
Stiles Switch.
I rate this barbecue two Hook ‘Ems!
The
Game
The teams traded punts to start the game. Late in the
first quarter, Hays faked a punt to pick up the first first down of the game. Bobby Green took a handoff from quarterback Durand
Hill and swept to his left. Austin Hulon
made a touchdown saving tackle for Dripping Springs. As the game moved to the second quarter, Hill
was sacked on third and goal. Tom
Skrovan’s 27 yard field goal was good giving the Rebels a 3-0 lead.
Late in the second quarter, Grayson Winter was
pressured as he passed. His throw was
picked off by Liam Dahl and taken to the house.
The pick six gave the Tigers a 7-3 halftime lead.
Dripping Springs got the kickoff to start the third
period. Quarterback Preston Alford ran
up the middle for huge yardage to midfield.
Forced out of the pocket, Alford scrambled for a 42 yard touchdown as
the Tigers pushed their lead to 14-3.
Bryant Lewis took a handoff on a reverse. He turned the corner with blockers in front
of him, then raced down the sideline for a 58 yard touchdown. That made the score 14-10.
Here come the Tigers.
Curtis Cox took a handoff from Alford and burst through a huge hole in
the Rebels line for a 46 yard gain.
Alford ran up the middle for a 14 yard touchdown to extend the Dripping
Springs lead to 21-10.
As the game moved in the fourth quarter, Joeangel
Carrasco ran for a big first down. Hill
threw deep to an open receiver in the end zone for a touchdown. Hays try for two was stuffed, leaving the
score 21-16 with 8:44 remaining in the game.
Nursing a five point lead, Dripping Springs could not
move the ball and was forced to punt. A
60 yard kick by Cameron O’Banan pinned the Rebels deep in their own territory.
The Tiger defense did its job and forced Hays to punt. But a 76 yard boomer by Will Agnew flipped
the field and pinned the Tigers deep in their own territory. Dripping Springs tried to eat the clock, but
Alford was sacked on third down. A short
punt gave Hays the ball on the Tigers 45.
Quincy Jackson took the handoff, swept to his right,
and was forced out of bounds on the Dripping Springs 13. Xavier Green bulled his way up the middle for
the score as Hays reclaimed the lead at 22-21.
Their two point try failed.
With just over a minute to play, Alford was hit as he
passed and Hays recovered the fumble.
They ate all but one second off the clock. Alford’s desperation pass fell incomplete to
end the game. Twice down by eleven, Hays
took the one point victory 22-21.
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