Twitter was lighting up last night with chatter about the defending 6A D1 UIL State Champion, the undefeated North Shore Mustangs, trailing in the second half vs the Humble Atascocita Eagles. But, a dominant 4th quater by the Mustangs kept them undefeated and putting them in lone #1 position in District 21-6A.
This game was a defensive battle. These are two of the top 3-4 defenseses in 6A. Third-down conversions were near impossible to pick-up all game for both teams. And, both teams proved that they’ll be highly likely to make a deep playoff run.
There have been some question about the North Shore offense with Kaleb Bailey out for the rest of the year. They struggled a bit in their first game without him, but they’ve put up back-to-back 50+ point games in the last two weeks. The Mustangs averaged 43.5 points per game this year. Standout WR David Amador, now the starting QB, isn’t the passer that Bailey is, but he is a dynamic playmaker, an elusive runner, and does have the ability to push the ball deep down field. However, Atascocita took that all away Thursday night, for most the game.
North Shore got on the scoreboard first with a field goal from Carlos Dominguez. Atascocita responded to take the lead on a touchdown run by Kyran Lee. The Eagles took that 7-3 lead into halftime. Then, the Eagles increased the lead 13-3 with a Zion Brown 19-yard touchdown pass to Claude Slaughter. Then, North Shore connected on some big plays.
On a 4th and 2 from the 36-yard line with 2 minutes to go in the third quater, Amador ran the ball in for a 36-yard TD. Had the Mustangs not picked up that 4th down, the game would likely been over. The Eagles blocked the extra point, but their lead was down to 4 at 13-9. Then, with 6 minutes to go in the 4th, Amador once again showed his big play ability by hitting Terrance Guillory for a 63-yard go-ahead touchdown. The Eagles did look like they might have a game-winning drive, but Devin Sanchez intercepted the ball and a few running plays from North Shore ran the clock out for the 16-13 win.
North Shore has a 35 game district winstreak. They will secure their 5th straight district title with a win over Kingwood at home next week. Atascocita will face Humble Creek next week, the only other team to challenge North Shore this year.
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