Phantom Stang
10-15-2005, 06:59 PM
Mustangs cage Tigers
By RON HOWELL/Reporter Sports Editor
SNYDER - The setting was in Snyder, and defense domina-ted this time around.
But for the second straight year, a win over the Tigers has Sweetwater's season back on the right track after a district-opening loss to Wylie.
No. 3-ranked Snyder came into Friday's 4-3A shootout at Tiger Stadium with slightly more impressive defensive credentials than the No. 10-ranked Mustangs, whose proud unit had surrendered 57 points in their last two games after giving up only 34 in their first five.
But the Big Red ‘D' returned to form against the Tigers, who were scoreless until late in the contest and had just 217 yards as Sweetwater won, 17-6, to re-main in the hunt for a fourth straight District 4-3A title.
”We came out with our heads up and we all did our jobs,“ said linebacker Justin Adames, one of many individual defensive standouts for the Mustangs.
”We needed to make a statement and let everybody know about our defense.“
Friday's game leaves Sweet-water and Snyder - which still has to face Wylie - at 1-1 in district and 7-1 overall.
No. 9-ranked Wylie (2-0, 7-1) took the outright 4-3A lead with a 45-8 win over Merkel on Friday. The Badgers and Clyde - which was idle this week but comes to the Bowl next Friday - are both 0-1.
Statistically, the game was pretty even. But Snyder, which lost to Sweetwater 35-25 in last year's regular season game at Mustang Bowl before getting a one-point win (21-20) in a state quarterfinal rematch, hurt its chances by losing two fumbles and also throwing an interception to end the first half.
The Mustangs cashed in both Tiger fumbles to build a 17-0 lead early in the fourth quarter before losing their shutout with just 4:11 to play.
”I thought our defense did a good job of keeping them under control,“ said head coach Kent Jackson. ”They've hurt a lot of people in a lot of different ways. We challenged our defense not to give up the big play and they didn't tonight.“
Sweetwater's defense basically bent as Snyder had 16 first downs, but it didn't break until the game was all but decided.
Sweetwater - which had 14 first downs and 240 total yards - also had three turnovers in the contest, but unlike Snyder, the miscues didn't lead to points on the other end.
Ahead 10-0 at halftime, the Mustangs ended Snyder's first possession of the third quarter by recovering a fumble after the Tigers had driven to Sweetwa-ter's 38-yard line. That led to a 15-play, 62-yard drive that re-sulted in Joseph Banyard's sec-ond touchdown run with 11:47 to play in the game.
The Mustangs used up nearly seven minutes on the drive and twice were able to convert on a fourth-down play, including on the touchdown.
A 14-yard run by quarterback Sonny Birdwell gave Sweetwa-ter first-and-goal at the 3, but three runs netted just one more yard as the third period ended.
Banyard then scored - twice - on fourth-and-goal from the 2. He had to do it twice because the first one didn't count due to offsetting penalties, and barely was able to cross the plane of the goal on his second try. Par-ker Morrow, who had kicked a 20-yard field goal in the second quarter after another fumble recovery by the Mustangs, added the PAT for a 17-0 lead.
Snyder immediately fumbled the snap to begin its next pos-session, but this time the Tigers recovered and they eventually scored on a 16-play drive that took 6 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter. The touchdown came on a 3-yard run by quarterback Matt Reigh over the left side.
Sweetwater's next possession ended with an interception, but it didn't matter much because the Mustangs were able to con-vert a pair of first downs until giving it back at Snyder's 32 at the 1:26 mark.
Reigh ran for eight yards on the first play, but he then threw an incompletion and was sacked on consecutive plays to give the ball back to the Mus-tangs as time expired.
Sweetwater was able to run the ball well most of the night, gaining 224 of its yards on a Ti-gers defense which had allowed an average of 89 in its first sev-en games this season.
Banyard was the top rusher with 78 yards on 18 carries, and Birdwell and fullback Auston Davis had 53 yards apiece on only four carries. Also making a big running contribution was Maurice Rosas, who gained 27 yards on 11 totes and carried six straight times on the last scor-ing drive.
”We knew with (Snyder's) speed that it would be tough around the perimeter and we'd have to do some things inside,“ Jackson said. ”We challenged our kids up front to take it to them between the tackles. In a game like this, keeping the oth-er team's offense off the field is very important.“
The defense held Snyder without points four times in the first half after the Tigers had driven inside Sweetwater's 35-yard line.
The most critical stop came in the first quarter when Sny-der ended a serious Sweetwa-ter drive by recovering a fum-ble and returning it to the Mus-tang 35. The defense gave up just four more yards as Sweet-water quickly regained possession and went on a seven-play, 69-yard scoring drive to take a 7-0 lead.
Birdwell's 42-yard run on a third-and-9 call got Sweet-water to Snyder's 26. Banyard scored four plays later from the 1 with 4:18 left in the period.
The Tigers drove to the Mus-tang 33 after an interception by Garrett Pinson, but a fumble by running back D'White Wells on the first play of the second peri-iod was picked up and returned by Sweetwater's Justin Rodri-gues all the way to Snyder's 7-yard line.
The Mustangs were able to net just four more yards thanks in part to a blocking in the back penalty, so Morrow was sum-moned to kick a 20-yard field goal which he sent through the uprights to make it 10-0 with 9:11 left in the first half.
Snyder took over and steadi-ly drove down the field, eventu-ally reaching Sweetwater's 27 until the defense stiffened and got the ball back for the offense at the 25.
Sweetwater converted on just one first down, however, before having to punt and Snyder got another shot with 59 seconds to play in the half.
The Tigers moved from their 35 to Sweetwater's 34 with the help of a 23-yard pass comple-tion from Reigh to Salvador Pe-rez, but a last-second pass was intercepted by Shawn Kincaid in the end zone.
Reigh attempted 18 passes in the first half, but only five after intermission.
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter
By RON HOWELL/Reporter Sports Editor
SNYDER - The setting was in Snyder, and defense domina-ted this time around.
But for the second straight year, a win over the Tigers has Sweetwater's season back on the right track after a district-opening loss to Wylie.
No. 3-ranked Snyder came into Friday's 4-3A shootout at Tiger Stadium with slightly more impressive defensive credentials than the No. 10-ranked Mustangs, whose proud unit had surrendered 57 points in their last two games after giving up only 34 in their first five.
But the Big Red ‘D' returned to form against the Tigers, who were scoreless until late in the contest and had just 217 yards as Sweetwater won, 17-6, to re-main in the hunt for a fourth straight District 4-3A title.
”We came out with our heads up and we all did our jobs,“ said linebacker Justin Adames, one of many individual defensive standouts for the Mustangs.
”We needed to make a statement and let everybody know about our defense.“
Friday's game leaves Sweet-water and Snyder - which still has to face Wylie - at 1-1 in district and 7-1 overall.
No. 9-ranked Wylie (2-0, 7-1) took the outright 4-3A lead with a 45-8 win over Merkel on Friday. The Badgers and Clyde - which was idle this week but comes to the Bowl next Friday - are both 0-1.
Statistically, the game was pretty even. But Snyder, which lost to Sweetwater 35-25 in last year's regular season game at Mustang Bowl before getting a one-point win (21-20) in a state quarterfinal rematch, hurt its chances by losing two fumbles and also throwing an interception to end the first half.
The Mustangs cashed in both Tiger fumbles to build a 17-0 lead early in the fourth quarter before losing their shutout with just 4:11 to play.
”I thought our defense did a good job of keeping them under control,“ said head coach Kent Jackson. ”They've hurt a lot of people in a lot of different ways. We challenged our defense not to give up the big play and they didn't tonight.“
Sweetwater's defense basically bent as Snyder had 16 first downs, but it didn't break until the game was all but decided.
Sweetwater - which had 14 first downs and 240 total yards - also had three turnovers in the contest, but unlike Snyder, the miscues didn't lead to points on the other end.
Ahead 10-0 at halftime, the Mustangs ended Snyder's first possession of the third quarter by recovering a fumble after the Tigers had driven to Sweetwa-ter's 38-yard line. That led to a 15-play, 62-yard drive that re-sulted in Joseph Banyard's sec-ond touchdown run with 11:47 to play in the game.
The Mustangs used up nearly seven minutes on the drive and twice were able to convert on a fourth-down play, including on the touchdown.
A 14-yard run by quarterback Sonny Birdwell gave Sweetwa-ter first-and-goal at the 3, but three runs netted just one more yard as the third period ended.
Banyard then scored - twice - on fourth-and-goal from the 2. He had to do it twice because the first one didn't count due to offsetting penalties, and barely was able to cross the plane of the goal on his second try. Par-ker Morrow, who had kicked a 20-yard field goal in the second quarter after another fumble recovery by the Mustangs, added the PAT for a 17-0 lead.
Snyder immediately fumbled the snap to begin its next pos-session, but this time the Tigers recovered and they eventually scored on a 16-play drive that took 6 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter. The touchdown came on a 3-yard run by quarterback Matt Reigh over the left side.
Sweetwater's next possession ended with an interception, but it didn't matter much because the Mustangs were able to con-vert a pair of first downs until giving it back at Snyder's 32 at the 1:26 mark.
Reigh ran for eight yards on the first play, but he then threw an incompletion and was sacked on consecutive plays to give the ball back to the Mus-tangs as time expired.
Sweetwater was able to run the ball well most of the night, gaining 224 of its yards on a Ti-gers defense which had allowed an average of 89 in its first sev-en games this season.
Banyard was the top rusher with 78 yards on 18 carries, and Birdwell and fullback Auston Davis had 53 yards apiece on only four carries. Also making a big running contribution was Maurice Rosas, who gained 27 yards on 11 totes and carried six straight times on the last scor-ing drive.
”We knew with (Snyder's) speed that it would be tough around the perimeter and we'd have to do some things inside,“ Jackson said. ”We challenged our kids up front to take it to them between the tackles. In a game like this, keeping the oth-er team's offense off the field is very important.“
The defense held Snyder without points four times in the first half after the Tigers had driven inside Sweetwater's 35-yard line.
The most critical stop came in the first quarter when Sny-der ended a serious Sweetwa-ter drive by recovering a fum-ble and returning it to the Mus-tang 35. The defense gave up just four more yards as Sweet-water quickly regained possession and went on a seven-play, 69-yard scoring drive to take a 7-0 lead.
Birdwell's 42-yard run on a third-and-9 call got Sweet-water to Snyder's 26. Banyard scored four plays later from the 1 with 4:18 left in the period.
The Tigers drove to the Mus-tang 33 after an interception by Garrett Pinson, but a fumble by running back D'White Wells on the first play of the second peri-iod was picked up and returned by Sweetwater's Justin Rodri-gues all the way to Snyder's 7-yard line.
The Mustangs were able to net just four more yards thanks in part to a blocking in the back penalty, so Morrow was sum-moned to kick a 20-yard field goal which he sent through the uprights to make it 10-0 with 9:11 left in the first half.
Snyder took over and steadi-ly drove down the field, eventu-ally reaching Sweetwater's 27 until the defense stiffened and got the ball back for the offense at the 25.
Sweetwater converted on just one first down, however, before having to punt and Snyder got another shot with 59 seconds to play in the half.
The Tigers moved from their 35 to Sweetwater's 34 with the help of a 23-yard pass comple-tion from Reigh to Salvador Pe-rez, but a last-second pass was intercepted by Shawn Kincaid in the end zone.
Reigh attempted 18 passes in the first half, but only five after intermission.
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter