West Orange-Stark finished the district season with a convincing 42-7 win over the Hamshire-Fannett Longhorns last week. The victory helped the Mustangs to capture another district championship.
Coach Cornel Thompson reminded that the Mustangs started their last game much as they have all season not clicking on all cylinders early. An early interception thrown by the Mustangs was turned into a quick score by the Longhorns.
Falling behind got the attention of the Mustangs. For the seventh time in eight games West Orange-Stark rebounded. Thompson advised, “We were fortunate enough to have won the game during the course of the contest because we were much better in the second half as compared to the first half.”
The Bi-District round of the state playoffs is this week. In recent years this round has almost been like a bye for the Mustangs since the competition has been so weak. The scores have found West Orange-Stark winning by usually over 60 points while even playing a lot of non-starters and using a running clock.
Thompson believes the Huntington Red Devils may be the best first round opponent West Orange-Stark has faced in several years. They only have one win, but will play hard with eight starters returning on offense and nine on defense. “Somebody’s going to get beat in the first round of the playoffs that shouldn’t, don’t let it be the Mustangs,” Thompson reminded his Mustangs this week.
On offense Huntington runs the Spread just like Hamshire-Fannett did last week. The Red Devils use many of the same plays as the Longhorns. They have changed coaches with Jim Kerbow taking over after being the offensive line coach.
One of the returners on offense for Huntington is fullback Andrew Faulk. He rushed for over a thousand yards last season and 12 touchdowns.
The offensive line is solid with five returning starters. The leaders in the line are Andrew Culpepper and Jasper Conn.
The Red Devils were underdogs in their lone win over Tarkington, but their defense shut down the Longhorns’ offense. Coach Thompson evaluated Huntington which uses a 50 Defense like the Mustangs manned by nine returning starters as underrated.
Only a junior, Jordan Payne is in his second year as a starter. He is a big factor in the middle of the Red Devils’ defense at noseguard. At defensive tackle is two-way starter Culpepper. He weighs in at about 350 pounds, but is a solid big force to deal with for blockers.
A leader in the Huntington secondary is Hunter Mayes. He led the Red Devils in tackles last season with 165 which Thompson pointed out is quite a lot for a safety. Thompson repeated, “I think they’re one of the better football teams that we’ve ever played in the first round.”
Thompson never takes an opponent for granted, but will try to get some playoff experience for some of the younger Mustangs. The coach moved about a half dozen players from the junior varsity up to the varsity for the post season. They may not get to play, but they will get to wear the cherished silver helmets of West Orange-Stark.
Other possible changes will be to play key offensive starters only as needed. Jayson Zeigler, Junior has been a starter at wide receiver, but Zeigler could spell Jerren Terrell at quarterback for a few snaps in the game.
As always West Orange-Stark will play to win the game, and Thompson will play everyone as much as necessary to ensure that happens. The Red Devils cannot be taken lightly they went in as more than four touchdown underdogs and won their only game. “You’ve got to go out and get it done on the grass, the game is not played on paper, and we’re going to play the people that we’ve got to play to win the football game,” Thompson concluded.
The West Orange-Stark Mustangs and the Huntington Red Devils play Thursday night. The game will at 7:00 PM in the Beaumont ISD Stadium.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
-photo by Jerrod Brown, KOGT-
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