Friday night is the final game of the district, but it is more than a warm up for the playoffs it is actually for the district championship. Coach Cornel Thompson says West Orange-Stark is coming off a tough game with Liberty last week, and will be missing one key Mustang. They may have had some hurt feelings because the Mustangs did surrender some points to the Panthers and were limited to their lowest scoring output of the season. Thompson indicates Justin Brown at the Sam linebacker position remains out with a broken arm at this time.
The Mustangs play cross-county rival Orangefield Friday. The Bobcats will battle West Orange-Stark according to Thompson. This will be the seventh time the Mustangs have faced the Slot-T. Quarterback Caleb Kress guides the Slot-T Offense for Orangefield. Fullback Christopher McGee is the leading ball carrier, but just one of several quality runners for Orangefield. Thompson has the utmost respect for Coach Smalley and the Bobcats who are over achievers.
Orangefield lines up with many of the same players on defense as it does on offense. Hunter Evans at linebacker impresses the Mustangs’ coach. He anticipates seeing a 50 or a 4-1 defense from the Bobcats against the West Orange-Stark Spread. Coach Thompson states, “You don’t win with alignment you win with people. Those rascals come at you, they’re well coached, they play hard, and I’m impressed with them.”
The game carries a lot of extra incentive for a maximum effort from the Mustangs. There is the county rivalry aspect, the district championship is on the line, and Thompson adds it is the final preparation for the playoffs. The Mustangs must go into Friday’s contest with an attitude of being the best football team for 48 minutes. Thompson knows a team cannot go into the playoffs, and both teams are going to the post season, on a bad note.
The coach wants West Orange-Stark to execute its offense, its defense, and kicking game. The Mustangs cannot go out and have a bunch of turnovers on the offensive side of the ball, or allow Orangefield to control the ball all night like Liberty did against the West Orange-Stark defense last week, and like always they’ve got to win the kicking game. “Those are the things we’ve got to do this Friday night,” Thompson reminds.
The West Orange-Stark goes to Orangefield Friday night to play for the district championship. The game will be carried live on KOGT with the kickoff at 7:30 PM. A rebroadcast of the game between the Mustangs and the Bobcats will be carried at 7:00 AM on Saturday.
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