Most games with a lot of hype don’t live up to their billing but that was not the case Thursday night in Bridge City as the West Orange-Stark Mustangs held off the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears 38-32.
The Mustangs got the ball first and elected to go for it on a fourth and one from their own 40 but the Bears defense held, giving LCM a short field to work with. And they took advantage scoring five plays later on a 10 yd. run by Da’Marion Morris to take a 7-0 lead.
WOS responded on their next drive with Keyshawn Robinson scoring from 15 on a five play drive. A two point conversion made it 8-7.
The Bears got the ball back at the 35 and put together a time consuming drive, with Morris scoring from the four to take the lead back a 14-7 after a kick by Danyon Craft. The drive took 11 plays and almost six minutes off the clock.
As the second quarter began WOS gave LCM another short field with a 15 yd. penalty after a punt. QB Dean Reynolds went to the air, connecting with Jacob Pollock on a 24 yd. score. The PAT was missed making it 20-8.
But the Mustangs got a great kickoff return by Raymond Mallett and five plays later Jamaal Shaw scored from seven out, added another two point conversion to cut LCM’s lead to four.
WOS would get the ball right back after a Morris fumble and Dustin Helm scored from 12 yds and another two point conversion by Andrew Wilson made is 24-20 Mustangs.
The Mustangs got the ball back with 3:13 left after stopping the Bears on a fourth and nine try from the 25. And it was just enough time as they would drive, Robinson scored from 16 with 35 seconds left. And with another two point conversion, WOS took a 32-20 lead at the half.
In the second half, the Bears would fight back, scoring 12 unanswered points. First on a 33 yard pass to Elijah Allison on a fourth and 9 play. Then on a Reynolds TD run from two yds. Both attempts at a PAT failed and the game was tied 32-32 with 9:42 to play.
WOS then went to work putting together a six minute drive with heavy doses of the Wildcat offense using several players at QB. They converted twice on fourth down, including the TD run from the one by Andrew Wilson. The two point conversion would fail but the Mustangs had a 38-32 lead.
LCM had one last shot but the Mustang defense held and they improved to 2-0 on the season while the Bears fall to 1-1. LCM travels to BC next week and the Mustangs host PNG.
Social Media