Meri Elen Jacobs - For The Record

The District Championship was on the line Friday night when the Mustangs took the field at F.L. McLain Stadium. A loss to the Bobcats would give both teams the “Co-Championship” title. WO-S put on a show and showed just how stingy they can be. They weren’t willing to give up their title, or many yards and certainly not any points as they beat Orangefield, 60-0 for the outright District title.

“We got after them pretty good,” Head Coach Cornel Thompson said. “Several of them were a little embarrassed with the way they performed against Liberty last week. We executed well on offense and defense and we had lots of points set up by our special teams. I felt like we played a pretty close to complete game and I told them congratulations for being the District Champions.”

The Mustangs took the opening kick-off and marched down the field in 9 plays, as senior Mandel Turner-King burst through the middle for the first six points. Kicker Chad Dallas’s PAT was good and the Mustangs led, 7-0 and never looked back Orangefield couldn’t get anything going and ended up punting it right back to WO-S. It only took three plays for Dallas to hit KJ Miller for a 32 yard pass for a touchdown. The Mustangs scored on their next possession in four plays when Dallas hit Keion Hancock for a 69 yard touchdown.

On the last play of the first quarter, Bobcat Caleb Kress attempted a pass that was intercepted by Cory Skinner. Skinner took the ball 40 yards before being run down at the 13 by several Bobcats.

The Mustangs hit the end zone two times in the second quarter. Rufus Joseph scored to start the second quarter with a two yard catch from Dallas. Freshman kicker Paulino Santos, who was 5 for 6 on the night, made his first PAT and the Mustangs were up, 26-0. Miller scored his second touchdown of the night on a 40 yard pass from Dallas. Miller finished the night with 2 catches for 72 yards, both touchdowns. Dallas completed 7 of 11 passes for 208 yards and four touchdowns.

Orangefield started the second half with their longest drive for the night, racking up 2 first downs and eating up over 5 minutes off of the clock. On fourth down, the Chain Gang defense held and the Mustangs got the ball on the 39 yard line. Five plays later, Jeremiah Shaw punched it in from 10 yards out for the score.

The Mustangs special teams dazzled the crowd as Jarron Morris returned three punts for touchdowns, with one called back for holding. The first touchdown was a 55 yard return in the third quarter and the second was a 66-yard return and the final score for the Mustangs in the fourth quarter.

Dominique Tezeno scored to start the fourth quarter on a 19 yard run. “This is the time of year that everyone has been waiting for,” Thompson said. “We are fortunate to be 10-0 but we have also prepared ourselves to be 10-0. It’s now sudden death. One bad game and it’s over.”

The Mustangs will now face the Tarkington Longhorns in the first game of the play-offs Thursday night at 7:30 at the “Butch” in Beaumont. The Longhorns (3-7) lost a close game Friday night to Madisonville, 22-15. They are coached by Stan Howard, who was at Bellville last year.

The Longhorns run basically the same offense that the Brahmas ran last year, the wing T, the spread and the slot T, so according to Thompson, the Mustangs must be prepared for everything. Senior Clay Jones , who plays both ways, is their go to guy on offense. Jones is the slot back, who runs sweeps and reverses out of the back field. Kolby Hvamstead also carries the ball and according to Thompson, can flat out run. The Longhorn’s go to receiver is Tight End Jared Haltom.

On the defensive side of the ball, Tarkington runs the 50 and the 40 4 man front, so the Mustangs must be prepared for both.

“Tarkington is a fairly young team with 2-3 freshmen on varsity that play and a bunch of sophomores so they should be pretty good next year,” Thompson said. “We will prepare ourselves to play this week and take them one at a time, starting with Thursday night. This is Texas High School Football play-offs. Someone is going to get beat that shouldn’t. Don’t let it be the Mustangs!”

Tickets will be on sale at the WO-S athletic office Wednesday, 9-12 and 1-3pm and Thursday, 9-12 only. Adults are $6 and students $4 with prices the same at the gate. The Mustangs are the visiting team.

The combined 9/JV team ended the season 9-0 with a 22-6 victory over the Orangefield Bobcats. Jay’zn Robinson scored on a 15 yard pass from Tyrone Wilson. Jalin Mims scored the two point conversion. Ja’Vonn Ross scored on a 15 yard run and Wilson scored from four yards out and the two point conversion.

Good luck to all of the other Orange County teams who made the play-offs. Support all of the schools and if possible, go and cheer on the other teams! With gamesThursday, Friday and Saturday, it shouldn’t be hard to do!