All week long, the anticipation of bragging rights against the Pearland Dawson Eagles was high at Magnolia West and the first pep rally of the school year heightened the feeling the Mustangs would pull away with another high scoring victory.
Unfortunately, the game with Dawson was pushed back because of the their traveling distance and Mother Nature forced yet another unexpected delay due to thundering clouds releasing a downpour of rain and sporadic lightning.
Fans crowed the entrance gates and lined up past the tennis courts to pay for their opportunity to see West get revenge for losing in the playoffs last year to the Eagles.
Although the weather held both teams off from playing on the field until well past eight p.m., the battle would be one for the books and only one team would walk away with a victory for the record books.
“We were pumped up and ready to play Dawson,” Senior Andrew McCafferty said.
Playing like a jaguar, Junior Tyler Ferre scored a one yard run within the first seven minutes of the game, with #30 Senior Stevie Damrel successfully adding a point to the board with his kick afterward.
Battling back and forth, the audience would be rewarded with one of the best attempts so far of attempting to gain yardage within the first quarter which left MagWest behind by a score of 13-7.
The scoreboard did not cause the Mustangs to lose their confidence for plowing forward to rack up more points in the attempt to win, after calling a play for a short run, Ferre ran for a two yard touchdown to add to the score making the tally in the second quarter, 15-20 with Magnolia West on on top.
Working together as a total package, Aaron #25, ran 60 yards, and his lookalike, Adrian, #22, ran another 28 yards, racking up 13 points. This scoring effort helped to add to Ferre seven points he achieved earlier in the second quarter. Intensity was felt in the stadium as well as on the field. It felt like fan frenzy amongst the cheers, lead by the cheerleaders and the drum core.
Third quarter action saw the Mustangs pull ahead and add 13 more points to the score with the one yard run from Ferre, and a 65 yard touchdown from Aaron Thomas. The triumphant team worked harder than the coaches could push them. It was truly a coin toss as to who would come away as the victor in this battle.
“It was a great effort,” Senior Edgar Flores said.
Offense and defense working as hard as the coaches could push them, and then the three point attempt in the fourth quarter helped put the Mustangs on the board to increase our percentage. Aaron Thomas’s final 13 yard run and the point after from Damrel were answered by the Eagles with a 61-50 loss for the Mustangs.