A long trip and a bigger opponent may have taken its toll on West Orange-Stark. The Mustangs failed to hold on to a first half lead and lost to the Crosby Cougars on Friday night 35-24 at Cougar Stadium.
The 90-mile drive may not have been as significant as the facing a very good team that is a full classification above of them appeared to wear the Mustangs down in the second half. The Cougars outscored West Orange-Stark 28-7 in the last two quarters.
Crosby (3-0) used its no huddle offense to keep the WO-S defense on the field and did not allow the Mustangs to substitute. The Cougars’ Jaiden Howard did a good job at quarterback directing the offense. He only completed four passes for 60 yards, but also ran for 51 yards including a sensational touchdown after he fumbled the snap.
The Cougar defense held West Orange-Stark (1-3) without a first down in the second half until the Mustangs’ final drive. The initial first down came on one of Crosby’s fifteen penalties in the game.
Tyrone Wilson replaced Jerren Terrell at quarterback for the Mustangs and completed six of seven passes for 61 yards. The touchdown came on a screen pass from the 13 as Wilson tossed it to Ja’marcus Ross who dodged one tackler and jogged into the end zone for the score. It was too little too late bringing the score to 35-24 with 3:53 left in the game. Crosby ran out the clock after recovering the onside kick.
The Mustangs took the lead on their first possession of the game. After starting at their own 29 the Mustangs connected on a 22-yard pass from Terrell to Jay’zn Robinson for a first down close to midfield.
Two plays later Justin Sibley dashed 20 yards out of the Wildcat Formation for a first down to the Crosby 24. Wilson scampered 13 yards on the next play to the 11. West Orange-Stark netted minus five yards on the next three runs. Angelo Ibarra booted a 32-yard field to give the Mustangs a 3-0 lead with just over five minutes to play in the first quarter.
It would take West Orange-Stark one play on its next possession to up the lead to ten points. Terrell passed long down the left sideline where he found Deiondr’e Hawthorne at about the ten who ran the ball into the end zone to complete a 58-yard touchdown. Ibarra’s point after made the score 10-0 with 3:41 left in the first.
Crosby narrowed the Mustangs’ advantage using a hurry up offense out of the shotgun. The Cougars never huddled, but they hardly lined up before snapping the ball which worked effectively against the WO-S defense which appeared a bit tired.
Zach Simon picked up most of the yards with inside runs. Simon got the touchdown going around the right end from three yards out. Michael Hernandez kicked the point after to make the score 10-7 with 8:10 to go before the half.
West Orange-Stark responded taking the ensuing kickoff and driving 75 yards to go back up by ten points. Terrell completed three key passes in the drive, two to Robinson for 21 yards and one to Brettlin Wiley for 12.
West Orange-Stark faced a fourth-and-one at the Crosby 35 Sibley broke loose for 20 yards. Two short runs moved the ball to the Cougars’ 10. A high snap cost the Mustangs fifteen yards and setup a fourth-and-23 at the 25. The Mustangs used some razzle dazzle as Sibley from the Wildcat took the snap and swept left before handing to Wilson who rolled to his right. Wilson then stopped and threw back across the field to Sibley who made a spectacular catch just in bounds at the two for a first-and-goal.
Sibley scored on the next play with a quarterback sneak. Ibarra successfully kicked the point after to give West Orange-Stark a 17-7 advantage with 2:45 to go in the first half.
Both teams had one more possession before the half ended with no further scoring. The momentum would change when the teams came back for the second half.
Next Friday the West Orange-Stark Mustangs will return home. The opponent will be cross-county rival the Bridge City Cardinals. Crosby opens District 12-5A Division II play at Vidor next week. Both the Cougars and the Pirates enter district action undefeated.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
WOS 10 7 0 7- 24
CRO 0 7 14 14- 35
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