Phantom Stang
10-01-2005, 05:10 PM
SW survives scare at Levelland
By RON HOWELL/Reporter Sports Editor
LEVELLAND -- After winning its first five games by an average of 35.6 points, No. 3-ranked Sweetwater finally got the kind of stiff test here Friday that the Mustangs expect to face again this week and next as the long-awaited District 4-3A contests begin.
In fact, Coach Kent Jackson's team almost got more than it could handle from a surprisingly-tough Level-land squad before coming up with some late-game heroics to pull out a thrilling 34-31 victory and im-prove to 6-0 for the first time since the 2001 season, Jackson's first at Sweetwater.
Levelland certainly didn't look like a team that has a 1-5 record. In fact, some of the statistics from Friday's game might make one wonder how the Mustangs were able to pull out the victory.
The Lobos had 21 first downs, 10 more than Sweet-water, and 367 yards. They also were complete ball-control freaks on Friday, running over twice as many plays (74-31) as the Mustangs.
Sweetwater had just 11 offensive plays in the first half to Levelland's 31, and only 17 in the first three per-iods to the Lobos' 51. The Mustangs also coughed up two fumbles, both of which led to Levelland scores.
In spite of that, the game was close throughout. The teams were tied 14-14 at halftime and Sweetwater held a 20-17 edge after three quarters of play in a contest where neither squad was ahead by more than eight points and the lead changed hands five times in the second half. And it took some amazing fourth-period heroics -- especially on offense -- for the Mustangs to get the win.
Levelland took its last lead, 31-27, with 3:19 to play on quarterback Brian Ashley's 10-yard pass to Bryce Golightly. The touchdown play and Clay Hutchinson's extra point kick capped a 13-play, 76-yard drive that used up over seven minutes of clock.
Sweetwater took over at its 39, and immediately got to Levelland's 39 on a 22-yard completion from quarterback Sonny Birdwell to Brittan Pittman. But Bird-well's next completion was even more critical as, faced with fourth-and-19 from the 48, he connected again on a throw to Skye Green, who made a diving catch just in bounds to give Sweetwater new life at the 29.
But with precious seconds ticking away, the Mus-tangs ran into problems again and had third-and-16 from the 35 when Joseph Banyard ran 12 yards to set up a fourth-and-four at the 23. Birdwell then handed off again to Banyard, who found a hole on the left side and blazed his way to the end zone to give the Mustangs a 33-31 lead with ex-actly 1:00 remaining.
Parker Morrow added the ex-tra point, but it wasn't over yet.
Golightly returned the kickoff to Levelland's 43, and Kirk Alexander -- who shared quar-terbacking duties with Ashley -- kept the chains moving with pass completions of 17 and 11 yards, the last one coming on a fourth-and-10 play and getting the Lobos to Sweetwater's 34.
But then the Mustang de-fense, which had allowed a total of just 34 points in the team's first five games this season, fin-ally came up with the big plays when it had t0.
After spiking an incomplete pass to kill the clock with only 22 seconds left, Alexander mis-fired on his next two passes as well before being sacked by de-fensive end Russell Clayton on fourth down. That gave Sweet-water just enough time to run out the clock and finally clinch a victory that was much harder than most had imagined.
In fact, defeating the Lobos proved to be a task of Biblical proportions, Jackson said.
"It was like the book of Reve-lation -- awfully confusing and awfully scary," he said after the roller-coaster game.
"The best thing is that we won at the end. We're thrilled to death to get the victory."
The start of the game offered no real hint of what was to fol-low. The Lobos were forced to punt on their opening posses-sion and Sweetwater, as it has done so often, scored immed-ately after taking over.
Fullback Justin Adames, on his only carry of the game, took full advantage as he scored on a 67-yard run with 4:01 left in the first quarter. Morrow's kick ex-tended the lead to 7-0.
The Mustangs held again on Levelland's next series, but the Lobos got the ball back after re-covering a fumble on the punt at Sweetwater's 38-yard line.
Converting on a fourth-and-8 pass from the 36 to keep the drive going, Levelland eventually scored when Ashley completed a 14-yard pass to Justin Turner with 7:19 to play in the second quarter. The extra point was blocked, preserving a 7-6 lead for Sweetwater.
The Mustangs faced a third-and-24 from their 31 after get-ting the ball back, but Banyard -- who finished with 148 yards on just nine carries -- dug them out of the hole by scoring on a 69-yard run and the extra point gave Sweetwater a 14-6 advan-tage with 4:42 left in the period.
But Levelland answered that by using up almost the rest of the quarter to score its second touchdown. From the 8, Alex-ander threw to Shelton Taft for six points with :22 remaining. He then completed a two-point conversion to Golightly, tying the game 14-14 at intermission.
Sweetwater had only three first downs in the first half. But the Mustangs didn't fall behind -- for only the second time this season -- until the third quarter following a second lost fumble, one which Levelland recovered at Sweetwater's 47.
Alexander's running and pas-sing kept things moving for the Lobos until the drive stalled, but Hutchinson put Levelland on top with a 42-yard field goal that came with 5:29 to play in the third quarter.
The Mustangs overcame the Lobos' lead quickly, of course. Banyard returned the kickoff to Sweetwater's 44, and he capped a four-play drive by scoring on an 18-yard run with 3:29 left. The extra point failed this time, but Sweetwater still led 20-17.
Levelland responded by mo-ving 81 yards in eight plays to get the lead back, but the Lobos got their touchdown -- on the first play of the wild and wacky fourth quarter -- in a most un-usual manner.
From Sweetwater's 18, Alex-ander fired to the end zone but his pass was well over the head of his intended receiver. Green, who was closest to the ball, lunged and nearly made the in-terception only to have the ball bounce out of his hands -- and (apparently without touching the ground) right back to Taft, who was in the perfect position to catch the deflection for his second touchdown.
Hutchinson kicked the extra point, and just like that the Lo-bos were back on top 24-20.
Green redeemed himself on Sweetwater's next series, scor-ing on a 9-yard run to give the Mustangs a 27-24 lead at the 10:37 mark of the fourth period. Again, it took just four plays to score with a 37-yard Birdwell completion to Pittman getting Sweetwater into range.
Levelland then resumed its ball control ways to take its last lead, setting up the incredible finish for the Mustangs.
Sweetwater may need similar heroics this week when it hosts another state-ranked team, No. 10 Wylie, in its district opener on Friday.
The Bulldogs -- who are the defending Class 3A, Division I state champions -- are 5-1 after beating Decatur, 43-33, in their final non-district game.
And it doesn't get any easier after that as Sweetwater goes to Snyder the following week. The Tigers, like the Mustangs, are 6-0 this season and are ranked No. 4 in the state. Snyder shut out Andrews, 33-0, in its game on Friday.
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter
By RON HOWELL/Reporter Sports Editor
LEVELLAND -- After winning its first five games by an average of 35.6 points, No. 3-ranked Sweetwater finally got the kind of stiff test here Friday that the Mustangs expect to face again this week and next as the long-awaited District 4-3A contests begin.
In fact, Coach Kent Jackson's team almost got more than it could handle from a surprisingly-tough Level-land squad before coming up with some late-game heroics to pull out a thrilling 34-31 victory and im-prove to 6-0 for the first time since the 2001 season, Jackson's first at Sweetwater.
Levelland certainly didn't look like a team that has a 1-5 record. In fact, some of the statistics from Friday's game might make one wonder how the Mustangs were able to pull out the victory.
The Lobos had 21 first downs, 10 more than Sweet-water, and 367 yards. They also were complete ball-control freaks on Friday, running over twice as many plays (74-31) as the Mustangs.
Sweetwater had just 11 offensive plays in the first half to Levelland's 31, and only 17 in the first three per-iods to the Lobos' 51. The Mustangs also coughed up two fumbles, both of which led to Levelland scores.
In spite of that, the game was close throughout. The teams were tied 14-14 at halftime and Sweetwater held a 20-17 edge after three quarters of play in a contest where neither squad was ahead by more than eight points and the lead changed hands five times in the second half. And it took some amazing fourth-period heroics -- especially on offense -- for the Mustangs to get the win.
Levelland took its last lead, 31-27, with 3:19 to play on quarterback Brian Ashley's 10-yard pass to Bryce Golightly. The touchdown play and Clay Hutchinson's extra point kick capped a 13-play, 76-yard drive that used up over seven minutes of clock.
Sweetwater took over at its 39, and immediately got to Levelland's 39 on a 22-yard completion from quarterback Sonny Birdwell to Brittan Pittman. But Bird-well's next completion was even more critical as, faced with fourth-and-19 from the 48, he connected again on a throw to Skye Green, who made a diving catch just in bounds to give Sweetwater new life at the 29.
But with precious seconds ticking away, the Mus-tangs ran into problems again and had third-and-16 from the 35 when Joseph Banyard ran 12 yards to set up a fourth-and-four at the 23. Birdwell then handed off again to Banyard, who found a hole on the left side and blazed his way to the end zone to give the Mustangs a 33-31 lead with ex-actly 1:00 remaining.
Parker Morrow added the ex-tra point, but it wasn't over yet.
Golightly returned the kickoff to Levelland's 43, and Kirk Alexander -- who shared quar-terbacking duties with Ashley -- kept the chains moving with pass completions of 17 and 11 yards, the last one coming on a fourth-and-10 play and getting the Lobos to Sweetwater's 34.
But then the Mustang de-fense, which had allowed a total of just 34 points in the team's first five games this season, fin-ally came up with the big plays when it had t0.
After spiking an incomplete pass to kill the clock with only 22 seconds left, Alexander mis-fired on his next two passes as well before being sacked by de-fensive end Russell Clayton on fourth down. That gave Sweet-water just enough time to run out the clock and finally clinch a victory that was much harder than most had imagined.
In fact, defeating the Lobos proved to be a task of Biblical proportions, Jackson said.
"It was like the book of Reve-lation -- awfully confusing and awfully scary," he said after the roller-coaster game.
"The best thing is that we won at the end. We're thrilled to death to get the victory."
The start of the game offered no real hint of what was to fol-low. The Lobos were forced to punt on their opening posses-sion and Sweetwater, as it has done so often, scored immed-ately after taking over.
Fullback Justin Adames, on his only carry of the game, took full advantage as he scored on a 67-yard run with 4:01 left in the first quarter. Morrow's kick ex-tended the lead to 7-0.
The Mustangs held again on Levelland's next series, but the Lobos got the ball back after re-covering a fumble on the punt at Sweetwater's 38-yard line.
Converting on a fourth-and-8 pass from the 36 to keep the drive going, Levelland eventually scored when Ashley completed a 14-yard pass to Justin Turner with 7:19 to play in the second quarter. The extra point was blocked, preserving a 7-6 lead for Sweetwater.
The Mustangs faced a third-and-24 from their 31 after get-ting the ball back, but Banyard -- who finished with 148 yards on just nine carries -- dug them out of the hole by scoring on a 69-yard run and the extra point gave Sweetwater a 14-6 advan-tage with 4:42 left in the period.
But Levelland answered that by using up almost the rest of the quarter to score its second touchdown. From the 8, Alex-ander threw to Shelton Taft for six points with :22 remaining. He then completed a two-point conversion to Golightly, tying the game 14-14 at intermission.
Sweetwater had only three first downs in the first half. But the Mustangs didn't fall behind -- for only the second time this season -- until the third quarter following a second lost fumble, one which Levelland recovered at Sweetwater's 47.
Alexander's running and pas-sing kept things moving for the Lobos until the drive stalled, but Hutchinson put Levelland on top with a 42-yard field goal that came with 5:29 to play in the third quarter.
The Mustangs overcame the Lobos' lead quickly, of course. Banyard returned the kickoff to Sweetwater's 44, and he capped a four-play drive by scoring on an 18-yard run with 3:29 left. The extra point failed this time, but Sweetwater still led 20-17.
Levelland responded by mo-ving 81 yards in eight plays to get the lead back, but the Lobos got their touchdown -- on the first play of the wild and wacky fourth quarter -- in a most un-usual manner.
From Sweetwater's 18, Alex-ander fired to the end zone but his pass was well over the head of his intended receiver. Green, who was closest to the ball, lunged and nearly made the in-terception only to have the ball bounce out of his hands -- and (apparently without touching the ground) right back to Taft, who was in the perfect position to catch the deflection for his second touchdown.
Hutchinson kicked the extra point, and just like that the Lo-bos were back on top 24-20.
Green redeemed himself on Sweetwater's next series, scor-ing on a 9-yard run to give the Mustangs a 27-24 lead at the 10:37 mark of the fourth period. Again, it took just four plays to score with a 37-yard Birdwell completion to Pittman getting Sweetwater into range.
Levelland then resumed its ball control ways to take its last lead, setting up the incredible finish for the Mustangs.
Sweetwater may need similar heroics this week when it hosts another state-ranked team, No. 10 Wylie, in its district opener on Friday.
The Bulldogs -- who are the defending Class 3A, Division I state champions -- are 5-1 after beating Decatur, 43-33, in their final non-district game.
And it doesn't get any easier after that as Sweetwater goes to Snyder the following week. The Tigers, like the Mustangs, are 6-0 this season and are ranked No. 4 in the state. Snyder shut out Andrews, 33-0, in its game on Friday.
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter