For the ninth straight season West Orange-Stark has made it to the regional finals of the state football playoffs. The Mustangs earned their berth in the elite eight by defeating the Bellville Brahmas 24-14.
Coach Cornel Thompson evaluated the win by the Mustangs. He called it a good win against a very good Bellville team. West Orange-Stark got off to a good start which was imperative since the Brahmas’ offense started the game like their hair was on fire.
A lull in third quarter by the Mustangs did not make Thompson happy and neither did a late touchdown by Bellville. “Overall, I was happy with the win, but disturbed with our performance,” Thompson admitted.
West Orange-Stark plays district foe Silsbee in this round of the playoffs. Thompson pointed out the Tigers will use a trio of running backs against the Mustangs. Silsbee gears its run-oriented offense to different formations and plays depending which runner is in the backfield.
All three Tiger backs are good, but Drayln Taylor may be the best. Coach Thompson believes Taylor could be the most valuable player in the district. He was the leading rusher for Silsbee in the earlier meeting this year with 84 yards on 13 carries and scored the Tigers only touchdown in the game played back in October.
Alternating with Taylor at tailback is Chris Martin. Like Taylor, Martin is fast and elusive. The Mustangs did a good job holding Martin to 41 yards on ten carries in the first meeting. The third spoke in the Tigers’ running game is Antonius Arline who also is capable of breaking routine runs into long touchdowns.
West Orange-Stark won the earlier district meeting in Silsbee 17-9. Thompson warned, “It’s very difficult to beat a team twice in one year when you’re as evenly matched as we are.”
On defense the Tigers are very tough. Coach Thompson analyzed the Silsbee defense which is 50 just like the Mustangs. The Tigers are big in the defensive line and hard to move. The secondary is very athletic.
Anchoring the defense for Silsbee is the noseguard Ayden Bell. At 330 pounds Bell has the size to clog a lot holes. Lined up next to Bell is Lawrence Williams at a tackle position. Williams is also a tight end on offense and has good size with the mobility to penetrate into the opponents’ backfield. The Mustangs’ coach observed that most teams will not be successful running right at those guys there will have to be a mixture of pass with the run.
West Orange-Stark and Silsbee finished one and two in their district defensively. “It only seems inevitable that we were going to meet up again if we took care of our business because of the way we play defense,” Thompson commented.
This week’s game will be the fourth meeting in two years between these two teams. The Mustangs have won two out of three in those previous games. It has been eight weeks since West Orange-Stark and Silsbee played in the district opener.
Both teams have improved since the meeting in October according to Thompson after he watched a number of films on Silsbee. He believes playing in consecutive weeks during that stretch without any weeks off and a minimum of injuries have the Mustangs and Tigers playing their “A” games now.
Thompson said this contest will pit two very evenly matched opponents together. Thompson predicted, “We’re both better, how much better I won’t be able to tell you until about 10:30 on Friday night.”
Coach Thompson provided the keys for the Mustangs to advance to the final four next week as doing the basics of blocking and tackling better than the Tigers. Mistakes can raise their ugly heads too like they did in last year’s Regional Final when West Orange-Stark lost three fumbles and the game to Silsbee.
The coach repeated his strategy for winning the game. “We’ve got to hang on to the football and execute our offense, tackle on defense get lined up correctly, and have a great kicking game. You’ve got to win two of those three to have a chance to even win a game, and that’s the key to success in this game and any other game the rest of the year,” Thompson concluded.
The West Orange-Stark Mustangs and the Silsbee Tigers play at 7:30 Friday night in Beaumont’s Memorial Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on KOGT.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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