Phantom Stang
12-03-2005, 06:56 PM
Sweetwater dumps Monahans for 1st trip to semifinals since ‘91
By RON HOWELL/Reporter Sports Editor
MIDLAND - The members of this year's Sweetwater football team probably weren't old enough to remember anything about the last time a Mustang squad reached the state semifinals. But after Friday's convin-cing 35-16 win over Monahans, they will be making a semifinal trip of their own this week.
And for all the players who saw their semifinal hopes end with a one-point loss in the quarterfinals a year ago, finally getting over the hump is especially sweet.
That also goes for Sweet-water head coach Kent Jack-son, who reached two significant milestones in his career - his 100th victory and first-ever trip to the semifinals.
Before Friday, Jackson (100-41-1) had guided three other teams - two from Sweetwater (2002, 2004) and one from Olney (2000) - to the quarterfinals, only to see another team deny him a trip to Texas high school football's version of the Final Four.
But now he has the Mustangs just two weeks away from play-ing for a state championship.
While Sweetwater was taking care of Monahans in the Region I finals, Tatum ended the Cin-derella playoff run of Canton in the Region II final with a 45-21 win on Friday.
At press time on Saturday, Sweetwater (13-1) and Tatum (13-0) had not decided where to hold their semifinal.
Jackson said he wasn't even thinking about the possibility of getting his 100th win. “If it is (No. 100), it's a heck of a deal,” he said.
“I'm just proud for these kids because it's a special night.”
It didn't start out that way, as Monahans (13-1) took an early 3-0 lead and became only the second team to score on the Mustangs in the first quarter.
But slowly but surely, Sweet-water began taking control of the game.
The offense produced touch-downs in all four quarters for the first time this postseason, and once Sweetwater had the lead its defense protected it by getting four turnovers - a fumble recovery by Casey Toland and three (that's right, three) interceptions by safety Brittan Pittman - and making a num-ber of other plays that thwarted Monahans' explosive offense, including an interception by Justin Adames that prevented a two-point conversion after the Loboes had pulled within 21-16 in the third quarter.
Monahans had scored at least 28 points in its previous 13 games and came in averaging over 41 a contest.
But even after falling behind 3-0 on Monahans' first posses-sion, there were signs it might be the Mustangs' night. The Lo-boes reached Sweetwater's 11, but had to settle for a field goal after a procedure penalty, pass incompletion and two runs that netted only two yards.
The offense did nothing on its first possession and Mona-hans got it back at Sweetwater's 43, but the fired-up defense stopped the Loboes for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the 34.
That's when Sweetwater fin-ally got rolling on offense, with a 26-yard run by fullback Aus-ton Davis plus a five-yard facemask penalty against Mona-hans getting the Mustangs into scoring range.
Sweetwater faced a fourth-and-2 from the 21 after its only pass completion - and attempt - of the game. But Skye Green took quarterback Sonny Bird-well's handoff and skirted the left sidelines to score on a 21-yard run with 19 seconds to play in the first quarter.
Parker Morrow's first of five extra points made it 7-3.
Pittman opened the second quarter with his first intercep-tion, returning it all the way to Monahans' 15, but Sweetwater had to give it back when Joseph Banyard was stopped short on fourth-and-1 from the 6. The disappointment quickly turned to excitement, however, when Toland recovered a fumble at the 10 just two plays later.
This time, Sweetwater capit-alized by scoring in two plays, with Green getting his second touchdown on a 5-yard run to make it 14-3 with 8:18 left in the first half.
But the Mustangs missed yet another great opportunity to add to their lead later in the quarter. For the second time, Sweetwater began a series at Monahans' 15 following Kendal Carrillo's 42-yard punt return.
However, back-to-back sacks forced Sweetwater to give it up as Carrillo pooched a 23-yard punt that rolled dead at the 6.
Having bad field position did not deter the Loboes this time. They went 94 yards in only six plays, with the touchdown co-ming on a screen pass from quarterback Chase Cornelius to Chris Roberson that resulted in a 49-yard score with just 39 se-conds left in the half.
Still, the Mustangs led 14-10 at intermission - and quickly went to work regaining a dou-ble digit advantage over Mona-hans in the third quarter.
After guiding Sweetwater to midfield by getting the ball in the hands of Green, Davis and Banyard, Birdwell took it him-self and raced 50 yards to make it 21-10 with 9:24 left.
The defense held after Mona-hans reached Sweetwater's 35 on its next series, but the Lo-boes recovered a fumble at the Mustang 22 and cashed in just a few minutes later. Monahans was facing fourth-and-3 from the 15 when Cornelius connec-ted on a pass to Isaiha Alford for the touchdown, cutting the lead back to 21-16. But a two-point conversion that would have gotten the Loboes within a field goal failed, thanks to Adames' interception.
A penalty negated an appar-ent touchdown on a kickoff re-turn by Duone Cunnings and the ensuing drive stalled at the Monahans 30, but Sweetwater hung tough on defense and fin-ally put the game away late in the fourth quarter.
First-down runs by Banyard and Green helped to eat up the clock. Then Banyard, who had been limited to 10 yards on his first 11 carries, finally broke loose for 54 yards on a wrap draw to make it 28-16 with 4:21 left in the game.
“Joseph is a horse,” Jackson said. “That was a clutch play; it turned out pretty good for us.”
“Their secondary was looking at me,” said Birdwell, who started the play. “They didn't know Joseph had it.”
That set up the clinching score, which began with Pitt-man's second interception that got it right back for Sweet-water following the kickoff. He returned it to the Monahans 42-yard line. Birdwell's second long run, this one covering 34 yards, gave the Mustangs first-and-goal at the 2 and Banyard got his second touchdown from there for a 35-16 lead with just 1:34 remaining.
Then, just to make sure that the Loboes would not score any more, Pittman got yet another interception - this time in the end zone - with :58 to play. It allowed Sweetwater to run out the clock and celebrate its big-gest win in 14 years.
“I was determined for us to get further (than the quarter-finals) this year,” said Pittman, one of several senior starters who are trying to prolong their high school careers for another couple of weeks.
“This year has been amazing. We have been so blessed. This team is awesome. It just feels so great to keep going.”
Birdwell was Sweetwater's leading rusher with 94 yards on 10 carries, while Davis had 87 on 12 totes. The Mustangs had 328 of their 335 yards rushing.
The defense held Monah-ans' Sam Graves, who came in with 1,765 yards and 33 touch-downs, to 88 yards on 17 carries and just 21 yards in the second half. The Loboes' top rusher was Roberson with 92 yards.
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter
By RON HOWELL/Reporter Sports Editor
MIDLAND - The members of this year's Sweetwater football team probably weren't old enough to remember anything about the last time a Mustang squad reached the state semifinals. But after Friday's convin-cing 35-16 win over Monahans, they will be making a semifinal trip of their own this week.
And for all the players who saw their semifinal hopes end with a one-point loss in the quarterfinals a year ago, finally getting over the hump is especially sweet.
That also goes for Sweet-water head coach Kent Jack-son, who reached two significant milestones in his career - his 100th victory and first-ever trip to the semifinals.
Before Friday, Jackson (100-41-1) had guided three other teams - two from Sweetwater (2002, 2004) and one from Olney (2000) - to the quarterfinals, only to see another team deny him a trip to Texas high school football's version of the Final Four.
But now he has the Mustangs just two weeks away from play-ing for a state championship.
While Sweetwater was taking care of Monahans in the Region I finals, Tatum ended the Cin-derella playoff run of Canton in the Region II final with a 45-21 win on Friday.
At press time on Saturday, Sweetwater (13-1) and Tatum (13-0) had not decided where to hold their semifinal.
Jackson said he wasn't even thinking about the possibility of getting his 100th win. “If it is (No. 100), it's a heck of a deal,” he said.
“I'm just proud for these kids because it's a special night.”
It didn't start out that way, as Monahans (13-1) took an early 3-0 lead and became only the second team to score on the Mustangs in the first quarter.
But slowly but surely, Sweet-water began taking control of the game.
The offense produced touch-downs in all four quarters for the first time this postseason, and once Sweetwater had the lead its defense protected it by getting four turnovers - a fumble recovery by Casey Toland and three (that's right, three) interceptions by safety Brittan Pittman - and making a num-ber of other plays that thwarted Monahans' explosive offense, including an interception by Justin Adames that prevented a two-point conversion after the Loboes had pulled within 21-16 in the third quarter.
Monahans had scored at least 28 points in its previous 13 games and came in averaging over 41 a contest.
But even after falling behind 3-0 on Monahans' first posses-sion, there were signs it might be the Mustangs' night. The Lo-boes reached Sweetwater's 11, but had to settle for a field goal after a procedure penalty, pass incompletion and two runs that netted only two yards.
The offense did nothing on its first possession and Mona-hans got it back at Sweetwater's 43, but the fired-up defense stopped the Loboes for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the 34.
That's when Sweetwater fin-ally got rolling on offense, with a 26-yard run by fullback Aus-ton Davis plus a five-yard facemask penalty against Mona-hans getting the Mustangs into scoring range.
Sweetwater faced a fourth-and-2 from the 21 after its only pass completion - and attempt - of the game. But Skye Green took quarterback Sonny Bird-well's handoff and skirted the left sidelines to score on a 21-yard run with 19 seconds to play in the first quarter.
Parker Morrow's first of five extra points made it 7-3.
Pittman opened the second quarter with his first intercep-tion, returning it all the way to Monahans' 15, but Sweetwater had to give it back when Joseph Banyard was stopped short on fourth-and-1 from the 6. The disappointment quickly turned to excitement, however, when Toland recovered a fumble at the 10 just two plays later.
This time, Sweetwater capit-alized by scoring in two plays, with Green getting his second touchdown on a 5-yard run to make it 14-3 with 8:18 left in the first half.
But the Mustangs missed yet another great opportunity to add to their lead later in the quarter. For the second time, Sweetwater began a series at Monahans' 15 following Kendal Carrillo's 42-yard punt return.
However, back-to-back sacks forced Sweetwater to give it up as Carrillo pooched a 23-yard punt that rolled dead at the 6.
Having bad field position did not deter the Loboes this time. They went 94 yards in only six plays, with the touchdown co-ming on a screen pass from quarterback Chase Cornelius to Chris Roberson that resulted in a 49-yard score with just 39 se-conds left in the half.
Still, the Mustangs led 14-10 at intermission - and quickly went to work regaining a dou-ble digit advantage over Mona-hans in the third quarter.
After guiding Sweetwater to midfield by getting the ball in the hands of Green, Davis and Banyard, Birdwell took it him-self and raced 50 yards to make it 21-10 with 9:24 left.
The defense held after Mona-hans reached Sweetwater's 35 on its next series, but the Lo-boes recovered a fumble at the Mustang 22 and cashed in just a few minutes later. Monahans was facing fourth-and-3 from the 15 when Cornelius connec-ted on a pass to Isaiha Alford for the touchdown, cutting the lead back to 21-16. But a two-point conversion that would have gotten the Loboes within a field goal failed, thanks to Adames' interception.
A penalty negated an appar-ent touchdown on a kickoff re-turn by Duone Cunnings and the ensuing drive stalled at the Monahans 30, but Sweetwater hung tough on defense and fin-ally put the game away late in the fourth quarter.
First-down runs by Banyard and Green helped to eat up the clock. Then Banyard, who had been limited to 10 yards on his first 11 carries, finally broke loose for 54 yards on a wrap draw to make it 28-16 with 4:21 left in the game.
“Joseph is a horse,” Jackson said. “That was a clutch play; it turned out pretty good for us.”
“Their secondary was looking at me,” said Birdwell, who started the play. “They didn't know Joseph had it.”
That set up the clinching score, which began with Pitt-man's second interception that got it right back for Sweet-water following the kickoff. He returned it to the Monahans 42-yard line. Birdwell's second long run, this one covering 34 yards, gave the Mustangs first-and-goal at the 2 and Banyard got his second touchdown from there for a 35-16 lead with just 1:34 remaining.
Then, just to make sure that the Loboes would not score any more, Pittman got yet another interception - this time in the end zone - with :58 to play. It allowed Sweetwater to run out the clock and celebrate its big-gest win in 14 years.
“I was determined for us to get further (than the quarter-finals) this year,” said Pittman, one of several senior starters who are trying to prolong their high school careers for another couple of weeks.
“This year has been amazing. We have been so blessed. This team is awesome. It just feels so great to keep going.”
Birdwell was Sweetwater's leading rusher with 94 yards on 10 carries, while Davis had 87 on 12 totes. The Mustangs had 328 of their 335 yards rushing.
The defense held Monah-ans' Sam Graves, who came in with 1,765 yards and 33 touch-downs, to 88 yards on 17 carries and just 21 yards in the second half. The Loboes' top rusher was Roberson with 92 yards.
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter