CONROE, Texas- The wins don’t have to be pretty all the time. In the playoffs, all you have to worry is about surviving and advancing. The West-Orange Stark Mustangs defeated the Mexia Black Cats 17-7 that turned into a slugfest The Mustangs to keep their 37-game win streak alive.
Both defenses came to play, at the half, Mexia only had one first down, and were down 10-0, but they hadn’t backed down. West Orange= Stark only managed to score when they were in their own territory, as Chaka Watson punched it in from the 16-yard line, at Chad Dallas kicked a field goal on a drive the Mustangs got the ball on the Black Cat 31-yard line. Meanwhile, Mexia only had nine passing yards.
Photo: Vance Valentine/TexasHSFootball.com
The Mustangs changed quarterbacks midway through the first quarter as Chaka Watson sat in favor of Tyrone Wilson. Wilson led the first long drive of the half, but fumbled at the one-yard line to give the ball back to Mexia. For Mexia, quarterback Travion Carter passed the ball six times, only completing four for nine yards, and running back Jadrian Smith only managed 15 yards on seven carries through 24 minutes.
Mexia opened the second half with the ball and rattled off four times the amount of first downs in that first drive than they had the entire first half. Running back Dre’Vaun Cooper got his first carries of the night and the Black Cats got their first points of the game, settling for a field goal for a 10-7 score with 6:41 remaining in the third. WOS got a scoring drive of their own, scoring with 1:55 left in the third on a 17-yard rush by Kayven Cooper.
Photo: Vance Valentine/TexasHSFootball.com
Mexia were stuffed once again, and the quarter ended with West Orange Stark up 17-3 and with the ball.
West Orange turned it over on a fumble by Justin Sibley, his second of the night. Mexia’s offensive woes continued and the Mustangs got the ball back and ran the clock out on their lowest scoring games of the season.
It was a messy game for the typically stout West Orange-Stark Mustangs. Their defense flexed their muscle, holding Mexia to just 117 yards on the night. The offense struggled to score on a good defense, and for the first time, all season, were held to under 20 points.
“I’m not pleased with the performance, team-wise,” said head coach Cornel Thompson after the game, “we didn’t come out and play our game, we waddled around offensively and our defense couldn’t wrap up, we’re still on holiday and we have a lot to clean up.”
