• Mike Forman •
• Originally published September 12, 2009 at 1:34 a.m., updated October 7, 2009 at 5 p.m.

CUERO - Tyler Arndt wasn't going to let a little rain stop him from throwing the football.

Actually it was pouring at Gobbler Stadium, but it didn't keep the Cuero quarterback from putting the ball in the air.

"Did it surprise you that the first play of the game was a pass when it was pouring down rain," Arndt said. "When we need it, we're going to throw and we have confidence in that and we can get it done."

Arndt threw for 159 yards and three touchdowns to lead No. 9 Cuero to a 33-8 win over Devine at a soaking wet Gobbler Stadium on Friday night.

A heavy rain fell through the first half and a steady rain fell through the third quarter before tapering off in the fourth quarter. But the elements couldn't keep Cuero from improving to 3-0 and extending its win streak at Gobbler Stadium to 30 games.

"Our feelings are not to let the elements affect your game plan," Cuero coach Mark Reeve said. "Our game plan was to throw it some and so we did that. Tyler's got hands the size of a barrel. It just doesn't affect him much and our receivers did a really good job of catching the ball."

Arndt completed 10 of 14 passes, including a 21-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Barrientez in the second quarter and a pair of 9-yard touchdown passes to Tanner Hoffman in the second and third quarters.

"It's not very much fun," Arndt said. "You can't really get a really good grip on the ball. For me I'm used to that velocity on the ball and I didn't have that as much early in the game."

Cuero had the ball for only three plays in the first quarter and two of them were incomplete passes by Arndt. But he completed his next nine attempts to five different receivers.

"As far as velocity wise, I didn't have that much on it there tonight," Arndt said. "Another thing is not being able to control where your ball goes. You're not throwing it so hard to where you can place it. You just try to get the ball there to the receiver."

The receivers could tell Arndt wasn't throwing the ball as hard as he usually does, but he was still getting the ball to them.

"I think he does make adjustments for the rain," Hoffman said. "He won't tell you about it, but it seems like he does a lot of times. If he needs to get it there, he's going to get it there."

The Gobblers did a good job of catching the ball, missing only one catchable pass.

"It was heavy with your socks and shoes soaking wet, it's hard to pick up your knees and you just got to pick up your knees and run and keep your shoulders up and all that stuff," said Cuero receiver Mason Blaschke, who had three catches for 48 yards. "You have to look the ball all the way in and really focus on the ball. You have to keep your hands together and make the catch."

Cuero also did an outstanding job of holding onto a wet football. The Gobblers did not fumble, while the Warhorses (2-1) fumbled eight times and lost two.

"I thought one of the best things we did is we didn't have any turnovers," Reeve said. "The kids threw and caught the ball well in the pouring rain. They ran it well and that's the sign of a really good football team."

Cuero also proved it's a team that can overcome the elements.

"I've got an advantage, I have a big hand," Arndt said. "I can grip it well. I just tried to get the ball to our receivers."

Notes

Getting defensive: Devine came into the game averaging over 400 yards of offense. The Warhorses had 198 against Cuero, 75 of which came in the first quarter and 59 on a touchdown pass from Jacob Sadler to Jonathan Camacho late in the third quarter.

"They did a good job with that offense and we did a couple of things they caught us with," Reeve said. "Once we quit doing those things we were fine."

Finally a turnover: Cuero opponents had recovered their fumbles 10 times before Jonathan Banda recovered a Devine fumble in the second quarter.

Hard to run: The wet field made it difficult to cut. Devine's Matthew Lopez rushed 23 times for 90 yards. Cuero's Trent Jackson carried 14 times for 70 yards and Andrew Thibodeaux had eight carries for 38 yards.

Scoring: Thibodeaux scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter and Andrew Arguellez added a 5-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

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