A crazy season for the Mustangs turned into a crazy offseason. They pushed all the way to the state championship, where they fell to a ridiculously talented West Orange-Stark squad, but put up a valiant fight. Head coach Shane Mobley left in January for Sealy, and Sweetwater brought in former Temple assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Ben McGehee to be the new head coach. Throughout all those tumultuous changes, Sweetwater will have to figure out how to build on that fantastic season with a new head coach and only ten total returning starters.
One of those starters is the incumbent quarterback, Chris Thompson. In a season filled with highlights, he provided a good chunk, passing for 3,170 yards and 34 touchdowns and rushing for 1,129 yards and 24 touchdowns. “As we moved through the playoffs, it got real fun,” said Thompson. “Everyone started jumping on the bandwagon. Basically the whole town got involved, it was awesome.”
The Mustangs might have had a frustrating end, but they were no joke in the earlier rounds of the playoffs. Before the title game, the Mustangs only scored under 40 points once, in a 38-14 win over Seminole. However, the Sweetwater offense didn’t score against WO-S, cornerback Luke James returned a fumble 95 yards to put the Mustangs on the board for the only time.
Now, the Mustangs will face a new season with a new head coach and without some familiar faces. Luke James is a walk-on at Texas Tech, linebacker Hunter Mobley will be absent after graduating, and many others that fueled that run have graduated as well.
There’s still hope for the Mustangs, and it comes in the form of Thompson, who will still have stellar wide receiver Kobe Clark and hard-hitting Kiante McCoy as tools for the upcoming season.
“We lost a bunch of seniors, the younger guys are going to have to buy in,” said Thompson of the upcoming season. “We’re going to have to get into workouts, buy in, bond, and become a family.”
Sweetwater and Thompson will open the season on the road against Wichita Falls on September 1st.
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