Phantom Stang
10-12-2005, 02:54 PM
SW-Snyder rivalry has never been bigger
By Ron Howell/Reporter Sports Editor
In a rivalry that goes back 80 years and covers 57 games, this Friday's Sweetwater vs. Snyder showdown will almost assured-ly be the first in which both teams will boast a top-10 state ranking. And it will also mark the third meeting between the teams in the past 12 months.
But while the rivalry may be bigger than ever, the Mustangs and Tigers have been involved in countless big games before now and most of the ones since 1989 have been classics.
In ‘89, many of you no doubt recall, Sweetwater pulled out a stunning 18-13 victory by inter-cepting a Snyder pass and re-turning it for a touchdown on the final play of the game.
The victory that year ex-tended Sweet-water's domi-nation of the Tigers at the time, but Sny-der ended its frustration in 1990 with a 17-3 win over Sweetwater in the area playoffs at Mus-tang Bowl and the rivalry has gotten bigger each year since.
The teams have met 12 times since the Tigers' playoff victory in ‘90, with each side claiming six wins. And talk about a great rivalry - of the 12 games, five have been decided by seven points or less and four other games have had no more than a 14-point spread at the end. The biggest margin of victory for either team has been 20 points.
Here is a brief recap of the 12 Sweetwater-Snyder games that have been played since 1992:
1992: Snyder 13, Sweetwater 6 - The Tigers built a 13-0 lead through three quarters of each team's season opener until the Mustangs put together an 80-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Sweetwater then drove to Snyder's 6 in the final minute of play, but a fourth-down end zone pass fell incomplete and the Tigers held on for the win.
1993: Snyder 33, Sweetwa-ter 28 - The teams combined for 61 points, 50 first downs and over 800 yards of offense in a season-opening contest which lasted three hours as the Tigers got their third straight win over the Mustangs. The fourth quarter alone produced 36 points.
Tyrone Amos' 7-yard run put Sweetwater ahead 28-27 with 3:23 remaining, but Snyder an-swered by scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 14-yard run with 61 seconds left.
Sweetwater moved from its 30 to Snyder's 39 in the last mi-nute, then completed a pass to the Tigers' 10 with :13 left, but officials ruled that there was an ineligible receiver downfield to end Sweetwater's hopes.
1994: Sweetwater 38, Sny-der 33 - Snyder had 354 yards passing and scored on four one-play drives in the teams' final game of the regular season. But Sweetwater's Shaun Carr over-came that almost singlehandedly as he ran for 245 yards and six touchdowns, including the game-winner in the fourth per-iod that overcame a 33-32 Sny-der advantage.
The win gave the Mustangs an outright district title, their first since the 1988 season, and ended a three-game losing streak against the Tigers.
1995: Sweetwater 21, Snyder 7 - This win was significant in many ways for the Mustangs as they not only clinched another district championship, but also (at the time) became only the 13th school in Texas football history to win 500 games. Fur-thermore, the ‘95 team became with this win only the third in school history to finish the reg-ular season with a perfect 10-0 record. Sweetwater would turn that feat again in 1996 and 1997 en route to winning 40 consec-utive games during the regular season between 1994-98.
1996: Sweetwater 27, Sny-der 16 - The Mustangs picked up their third straight win over Snyder in an early-season non-district game.
Sweetwater ended two Tiger drives deep in Mustang territory by recovering fumbles, while another serious drive resulted only in a field goal.
1997: Sweetwater 27, Sny-der 7 - This game gave the Mustangs their 30th straight regular-season victory and was also the 197th career win for coach Tom Ritchey, who was in his final season before retiring. Despite the margin of victory, it wasn't an easy win as Sweet-water led only 13-7 at halftime.
1998: Snyder 23, Sweetwa-ter 7 - Snyder's win began a season-ending slump that kept the Mustangs out of the play-offs for the first time since the 1989 season. Prior to the game with Snyder, Sweetwater was riding high had a 6-1 record and a 23-game district winning streak, and while both teams were 2-0 in district, the Mus-tangs were ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 4A while Snyder was unranked.
1999: Snyder 34, Sweetwa-ter 14 - Led by future Texas Tech QB Sonnie Cumbie, the Tigers won another early dis-trict showdown and went on to capture the 5-4A champion-ship while Sweetwater - in its last year as a 4A school - missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.
2002: Snyder 26, Sweetwa-ter 20, 2 OTs - In the teams' first meeting as Class 3A district rivals, Sweetwater jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the Ti-gers rallied to force overtime.
Neither team scored in the first extra period, but Snyder completed its rally with a four-yard TD run in the second OT. The teams shared district hon-ors this year with 4-1 records.
2003: Sweetwater 25, Sny-der 13 - Sweetwater avenged its 2002 loss and snapped its three-game losing skid against the Tigers in this district open-er and went on to claim an out-right district championship for the first time in six years, with Snyder finishing second.
2004: Sweetwater 35, Sny-der 25 - Coming off a district-opening loss to Wylie, Sweet-water rebounded with a con-vincing win over Snyder as the Mustangs built a 35-7 lead af-ter three quarters before hold-ing off a fourth-period come-back. Sweetwater, Snyder and Wylie wound up sharing first place with 3-1 records.
2005: Snyder 21, Sweetwa-ter 20 - Do we really need to recap this one? For those who were out of the country, it was a Division II state quarterfinal at Big Spring and the teams traded scores throughout, with Snyder always scoring first. It came down to the final 36.2 se-conds when Sweetwater scored its last touchdown to pull with-in 21-20, but Lady Luck was with the Tigers on the PAT.
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter
By Ron Howell/Reporter Sports Editor
In a rivalry that goes back 80 years and covers 57 games, this Friday's Sweetwater vs. Snyder showdown will almost assured-ly be the first in which both teams will boast a top-10 state ranking. And it will also mark the third meeting between the teams in the past 12 months.
But while the rivalry may be bigger than ever, the Mustangs and Tigers have been involved in countless big games before now and most of the ones since 1989 have been classics.
In ‘89, many of you no doubt recall, Sweetwater pulled out a stunning 18-13 victory by inter-cepting a Snyder pass and re-turning it for a touchdown on the final play of the game.
The victory that year ex-tended Sweet-water's domi-nation of the Tigers at the time, but Sny-der ended its frustration in 1990 with a 17-3 win over Sweetwater in the area playoffs at Mus-tang Bowl and the rivalry has gotten bigger each year since.
The teams have met 12 times since the Tigers' playoff victory in ‘90, with each side claiming six wins. And talk about a great rivalry - of the 12 games, five have been decided by seven points or less and four other games have had no more than a 14-point spread at the end. The biggest margin of victory for either team has been 20 points.
Here is a brief recap of the 12 Sweetwater-Snyder games that have been played since 1992:
1992: Snyder 13, Sweetwater 6 - The Tigers built a 13-0 lead through three quarters of each team's season opener until the Mustangs put together an 80-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Sweetwater then drove to Snyder's 6 in the final minute of play, but a fourth-down end zone pass fell incomplete and the Tigers held on for the win.
1993: Snyder 33, Sweetwa-ter 28 - The teams combined for 61 points, 50 first downs and over 800 yards of offense in a season-opening contest which lasted three hours as the Tigers got their third straight win over the Mustangs. The fourth quarter alone produced 36 points.
Tyrone Amos' 7-yard run put Sweetwater ahead 28-27 with 3:23 remaining, but Snyder an-swered by scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 14-yard run with 61 seconds left.
Sweetwater moved from its 30 to Snyder's 39 in the last mi-nute, then completed a pass to the Tigers' 10 with :13 left, but officials ruled that there was an ineligible receiver downfield to end Sweetwater's hopes.
1994: Sweetwater 38, Sny-der 33 - Snyder had 354 yards passing and scored on four one-play drives in the teams' final game of the regular season. But Sweetwater's Shaun Carr over-came that almost singlehandedly as he ran for 245 yards and six touchdowns, including the game-winner in the fourth per-iod that overcame a 33-32 Sny-der advantage.
The win gave the Mustangs an outright district title, their first since the 1988 season, and ended a three-game losing streak against the Tigers.
1995: Sweetwater 21, Snyder 7 - This win was significant in many ways for the Mustangs as they not only clinched another district championship, but also (at the time) became only the 13th school in Texas football history to win 500 games. Fur-thermore, the ‘95 team became with this win only the third in school history to finish the reg-ular season with a perfect 10-0 record. Sweetwater would turn that feat again in 1996 and 1997 en route to winning 40 consec-utive games during the regular season between 1994-98.
1996: Sweetwater 27, Sny-der 16 - The Mustangs picked up their third straight win over Snyder in an early-season non-district game.
Sweetwater ended two Tiger drives deep in Mustang territory by recovering fumbles, while another serious drive resulted only in a field goal.
1997: Sweetwater 27, Sny-der 7 - This game gave the Mustangs their 30th straight regular-season victory and was also the 197th career win for coach Tom Ritchey, who was in his final season before retiring. Despite the margin of victory, it wasn't an easy win as Sweet-water led only 13-7 at halftime.
1998: Snyder 23, Sweetwa-ter 7 - Snyder's win began a season-ending slump that kept the Mustangs out of the play-offs for the first time since the 1989 season. Prior to the game with Snyder, Sweetwater was riding high had a 6-1 record and a 23-game district winning streak, and while both teams were 2-0 in district, the Mus-tangs were ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 4A while Snyder was unranked.
1999: Snyder 34, Sweetwa-ter 14 - Led by future Texas Tech QB Sonnie Cumbie, the Tigers won another early dis-trict showdown and went on to capture the 5-4A champion-ship while Sweetwater - in its last year as a 4A school - missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.
2002: Snyder 26, Sweetwa-ter 20, 2 OTs - In the teams' first meeting as Class 3A district rivals, Sweetwater jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the Ti-gers rallied to force overtime.
Neither team scored in the first extra period, but Snyder completed its rally with a four-yard TD run in the second OT. The teams shared district hon-ors this year with 4-1 records.
2003: Sweetwater 25, Sny-der 13 - Sweetwater avenged its 2002 loss and snapped its three-game losing skid against the Tigers in this district open-er and went on to claim an out-right district championship for the first time in six years, with Snyder finishing second.
2004: Sweetwater 35, Sny-der 25 - Coming off a district-opening loss to Wylie, Sweet-water rebounded with a con-vincing win over Snyder as the Mustangs built a 35-7 lead af-ter three quarters before hold-ing off a fourth-period come-back. Sweetwater, Snyder and Wylie wound up sharing first place with 3-1 records.
2005: Snyder 21, Sweetwa-ter 20 - Do we really need to recap this one? For those who were out of the country, it was a Division II state quarterfinal at Big Spring and the teams traded scores throughout, with Snyder always scoring first. It came down to the final 36.2 se-conds when Sweetwater scored its last touchdown to pull with-in 21-20, but Lady Luck was with the Tigers on the PAT.
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter