Stangster
09-18-2004, 08:17 PM
SW wins thriller over Andrews
Go ahead and call the current Sweetwater team young. You'd get little argument.
But be sure to also include words such as "talented," "resil-ient," "determined" and "capable" in the same sentence.
Anyone who witnessed Fri-day's 28-21 win over Andrews can attest that all of those other adjectives fit this year's squad.
Sweetwater put fans through a roller-coaster of emotions in the contest. But when crunch time arrived, Coach Kent Jack-son's Mustangs responded with a championship-caliber touch-down drive to pull out the win.
Joseph Banyard's 5-yard run with only 34 seconds left broke a 21-all tie, capping a 12-play, 65-yard drive that used up al-most five minutes of clock. Banyard's touchdown allowed Sweetwater (3-1) to win for the third consecutive time after a season-opening, three-point loss at Lubbock Cooper.
Andrews fell to 1-2, despite getting a 317-yard, three-touchdown passing performance by quarterback Jeremy Bueno.
Sweetwater had endured a frustrating second half prior to its game-winning drive, failing to reach the end zone after ta-king a 21-14 lead into the intermission. Before taking over at their 35 with 5:25 to play in the game, the Mustangs' only serious second-half drive had re-sulted in a missed 36-yard field goal attempt.
But Sweetwater's ground at-tack, which produced 291 yards in all, worked to near-perfection on the winning drive.
The Mustangs' talented -- there's that word again -- running combo of Banyard, Kendal Carrillo, fullback Alan Cope-land and quarterback Jeremy Thompson took turns chewing up real estate against Andrews as Sweetwater steadily moved down the field. Only two of the runs, an 18-yarder and 14-yard-er by Thompson, who led the team with 106 yards rushing -- went for more than nine yards.
Following a 5-yarder by Car-rillo which gave Sweetwater a first-and-goal at the 5, Banyard took a handoff and sprinted in for the go-ahead score, his second TD of the night. Parker Morrow added his fourth extra point to make it 28-21.
But even with just slightly ov-er a minute left, the lead didn't feel all that safe due to the Andrews aerial assault.
Starting at their 30, the visi-ting Mustangs managed a net gain of only 15 yards -- in part because of a holding penalty -- and a final Hail Mary pass from Bueno was intercepted by Car-rillo to end the game.
"We did some things all night to hurt ourselves on drives," Jackson said.
"But when it mattered, to go 65 yards like we did, I couldn't be prouder. What a statement."
Though hardly air-tight -- no pun intended -- Sweetwater's defense made several big stops to keep Andrews from taking a lead in the contest. And the of-fense always found a way to get the lead back for Sweetwater after Andrews tied the game at 7-7, 14-14 and 21-21.
"We gave up some big plays, but when it mattered, we got it done," Jackson said. "I really believe our kids grew up a lot tonight, and that speaks volumes for them."
Sweetwater drew first blood in the contest with a big defen-sive play on a punt return. Jus-tin Clowers reached in to strip Andrews' Cassidy Hamilton of the ball, then ran 34 yards the other way for a 7-0 lead with 4:45 left in the first quarter.
Actually, there were a couple of huge defensive plays, both by Brittan Pittman, prior to Clow-ers' heroics. Pittman intercepted a Bueno pass after Andrews had driven to Sweetwater's 21 on its opening possession. And-rews got it back deep in Mus-tang territory after a fumble, but Pittman broke up a fourth-down pass to end that threat.
Andrews tied it at 7 in the fi-nal minute of the first quarter when Bueno completed a short pass to Hunter Morren, but the Mustangs regained the lead on a 2-yard run by Banyard at the 9:35 mark of the second period.
Andrews took advantage of another fumble to knot it up again, 14-14, on a 9-yard pass from Bueno to Hamilton. But it gave Sweetwater enough time to stage a 12-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in Thompson's 17-yard touchdown run with only 12 seconds left in the half.
Andrews tied the game for the last time, 21-21, after intercepting a Sweetwater pass on the third play of the third quar-ter and returning it to the Mus-tang 20. On second down from the 15, Bueno connected with Hamilton for the touchdown.
Andrews had two more good chances to score, but Banyard sacked Bueno to end one of the threats and Carrillo batted away a pass on fourth down to end the other.
Sweetwater makes its longest trip of the season this Friday, as the Mustangs go to Pecos.
By RON HOWELL
The Reporter Sports Editor
Go ahead and call the current Sweetwater team young. You'd get little argument.
But be sure to also include words such as "talented," "resil-ient," "determined" and "capable" in the same sentence.
Anyone who witnessed Fri-day's 28-21 win over Andrews can attest that all of those other adjectives fit this year's squad.
Sweetwater put fans through a roller-coaster of emotions in the contest. But when crunch time arrived, Coach Kent Jack-son's Mustangs responded with a championship-caliber touch-down drive to pull out the win.
Joseph Banyard's 5-yard run with only 34 seconds left broke a 21-all tie, capping a 12-play, 65-yard drive that used up al-most five minutes of clock. Banyard's touchdown allowed Sweetwater (3-1) to win for the third consecutive time after a season-opening, three-point loss at Lubbock Cooper.
Andrews fell to 1-2, despite getting a 317-yard, three-touchdown passing performance by quarterback Jeremy Bueno.
Sweetwater had endured a frustrating second half prior to its game-winning drive, failing to reach the end zone after ta-king a 21-14 lead into the intermission. Before taking over at their 35 with 5:25 to play in the game, the Mustangs' only serious second-half drive had re-sulted in a missed 36-yard field goal attempt.
But Sweetwater's ground at-tack, which produced 291 yards in all, worked to near-perfection on the winning drive.
The Mustangs' talented -- there's that word again -- running combo of Banyard, Kendal Carrillo, fullback Alan Cope-land and quarterback Jeremy Thompson took turns chewing up real estate against Andrews as Sweetwater steadily moved down the field. Only two of the runs, an 18-yarder and 14-yard-er by Thompson, who led the team with 106 yards rushing -- went for more than nine yards.
Following a 5-yarder by Car-rillo which gave Sweetwater a first-and-goal at the 5, Banyard took a handoff and sprinted in for the go-ahead score, his second TD of the night. Parker Morrow added his fourth extra point to make it 28-21.
But even with just slightly ov-er a minute left, the lead didn't feel all that safe due to the Andrews aerial assault.
Starting at their 30, the visi-ting Mustangs managed a net gain of only 15 yards -- in part because of a holding penalty -- and a final Hail Mary pass from Bueno was intercepted by Car-rillo to end the game.
"We did some things all night to hurt ourselves on drives," Jackson said.
"But when it mattered, to go 65 yards like we did, I couldn't be prouder. What a statement."
Though hardly air-tight -- no pun intended -- Sweetwater's defense made several big stops to keep Andrews from taking a lead in the contest. And the of-fense always found a way to get the lead back for Sweetwater after Andrews tied the game at 7-7, 14-14 and 21-21.
"We gave up some big plays, but when it mattered, we got it done," Jackson said. "I really believe our kids grew up a lot tonight, and that speaks volumes for them."
Sweetwater drew first blood in the contest with a big defen-sive play on a punt return. Jus-tin Clowers reached in to strip Andrews' Cassidy Hamilton of the ball, then ran 34 yards the other way for a 7-0 lead with 4:45 left in the first quarter.
Actually, there were a couple of huge defensive plays, both by Brittan Pittman, prior to Clow-ers' heroics. Pittman intercepted a Bueno pass after Andrews had driven to Sweetwater's 21 on its opening possession. And-rews got it back deep in Mus-tang territory after a fumble, but Pittman broke up a fourth-down pass to end that threat.
Andrews tied it at 7 in the fi-nal minute of the first quarter when Bueno completed a short pass to Hunter Morren, but the Mustangs regained the lead on a 2-yard run by Banyard at the 9:35 mark of the second period.
Andrews took advantage of another fumble to knot it up again, 14-14, on a 9-yard pass from Bueno to Hamilton. But it gave Sweetwater enough time to stage a 12-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in Thompson's 17-yard touchdown run with only 12 seconds left in the half.
Andrews tied the game for the last time, 21-21, after intercepting a Sweetwater pass on the third play of the third quar-ter and returning it to the Mus-tang 20. On second down from the 15, Bueno connected with Hamilton for the touchdown.
Andrews had two more good chances to score, but Banyard sacked Bueno to end one of the threats and Carrillo batted away a pass on fourth down to end the other.
Sweetwater makes its longest trip of the season this Friday, as the Mustangs go to Pecos.
By RON HOWELL
The Reporter Sports Editor