Weiss Breaks the Curse, Holds Off College Station 40-38
The script felt all too familiar. Weiss had blown double digit halftime leads to College Station in each of the last two meetings, and Friday night at The Pfield, the Cougars came storming back yet again. This time, the ending changed.
Behind two blocked extra points and a game saving stop on a two-point conversion in the final minute, Weiss finally broke the curse, holding on for a wild 40-38 win.
The first half belonged to the Wolves. Quarterback Jaxon Schad got things rolling with a six-yard touchdown keeper and a 34-yard strike to Jordan Ibn-Anderson to build a 14-3 lead, with College Station answering both scores with field goals from Jacob Lopez. The Cougars found the end zone before the half on a 34-yard connection from Symank to Kash Adams, but Weiss answered right back with touchdown passes to Tre Moore and Anderson to head into the break in control.
Then, right on cue, College Station came alive. Trey Walton scored on a 28-yard run, but Weiss blocked the extra point. Symank punched in a keeper of his own on the next series, and Weiss blocked that extra point too. The Cougars’ defense started clamping down as well, forcing three straight Weiss punts to open the second half.
Early in the fourth, Weiss defensive lineman Tyler Hall ripped the ball loose from Symank, setting up a short field that Weiss cashed in with a 16-yard touchdown catch by Moore, his second of the night. A missed extra point kept the door cracked open, and College Station walked right through it, hitting a 50-yard touchdown strike from Symank to Walton. Weiss answered again, Schad finding Audric Williams for a 26-yard score, but another missed PAT left this one dangerously close.
The finish was pure chaos. Weiss defensive back Brandon Washington intercepted a pass that looked like the dagger, only for College Station’s Aidan Divin to return the favor moments later. One play was all Symank needed, launching a 75-yard touchdown bomb to Adams to make it a two-point game.
College Station went for the win. Weiss’ special teams had other plans, coming up with the stop that finally, mercifully, ended the pattern.
Afterward, head coach Malcolm Hill credited his team’s mental toughness, pointing to the word he’d given his players for the week: endure. That mindset, he said, was exactly what carried Weiss through a second half rally that had beaten them twice before.
