Homecoming 2010

Friday, October 15, 2010, Friendswood played it's annual homecoming game.  This year. the game was played against the Manvel Mavericks.
The night before the game, there was the traditional homecoming parade.  This year, there was a small problem with the parade that I'm not sure anyone anticipated.  The sun set just as the parade was starting.  So, by the time the parade got to where I was standing with my daughter (about halfway down the parade route) it was so dark it was hard to see everyone on the "floats"
Now, I have to get on my soap box for a bit here.  First, why in the world is a theme other than some derivative of "Beat the Mavericks", or whoever we're playing that year, necessary.  This is the fourth homecoming parade I've seen in Friendswood and each has had a theme; such as, Under the Sea, Disney Movies, etc.  Second, putting a bunch of people on a lowboy trailer with a sign made from poster board is not a float.  What ever happened to chicken wire and paper mache?  Floats used to take weeks to build.  Now, it looks like someone spent 10 minutes on some of them.  Tsk tsk.
Now, to the important stuff, the game.
Due to the homecoming activities being held during half time, our band and Wranglerettes performed their entire shows before the game.  The band looked good.  This was the first time I had seen the entire show.  Of course, there's still some work to do.  The Wranglerettes looked wonderful, as always.
When the players took the field, everyone was surprised to see our boys in blue wearing black pants.  That's right, black pants.  It immediately sparked conversation, both at the stadium and on facebook.
  Manvel won the toss and elected to receive.  On their first possession, they went three and out.  And then we got a penalty for roughing the kicker, which means an automatic first down.  The Mavericks used this mistake to take themselves into the end zone.  Just three minutes and thirty-six seconds into the game, the score stood at Manvel 7 - Friendswood 0.  During that entire drive, well, except one play where Brezina broke up a pass attempt, our defense looked like they had just woke up from a nap and weren't completely awake. 
Now, our offense gets it's first turn on the field and we thought it was time for the show to began.  We thought wrong.  The Mustangs went three and out and the only penalty (offsides by Manvel is called as a false start against Friendswood).  This was when I began to suspect the black pants of being bad juju.
So, Manvel's offense gets the ball back.  And once again, our defense looks like they're not fully awake. 
I wondered if maybe they stayed up too late the night before?  Was the pep rally after their bedtimes?  Did homecoming activities interfere with their Friday afternoon naps?  Whatever the problem was, they didn't look good.  With just over a minute left in the quarter, Manvel scored again.  We ended the quarter with a score of Manvel 14 - Friendswood 0.  I'd have to go back to double check, but I think that was the first time we'd been down by 14 all season.
Friendswood had possession of the ball as the second quarter began.  And once again, the Friendswood fans waited with baited breath for our team to get on the board, but again it wasn't to be.  Maetzold had to punt, again. 
Once again, our defense had a chance to show everyone what they're made of.  And once again, they left everyone wondering who those boys were and what had they down with out Mustangs.  3 minutes into the second quarter, Manvel gets on the board again.  Now we're down by 21.  And I know this is the first time we'd been down by 21 in a long time.  Thinking back, I don't think we'd been that far down since we played Lake Travis in College Station for the State Semi-Finals in December 2008.  Earlier I had said that during half time the Mustangs should take the black pants off and put the white ones back on.  Now I was suggesting that those black pants should be burned during half time.
With this possession, finally, things begin to go right.  It took Friendswood sixteen minutes 47 seconds to get on the board and the score was Manvel 21 - Friendswood 7.
Once our offense started clicking, our defense did too.  During this drive, Friendswood was able to hold Manvel to only 1/2 yard.  It was time for Friendswood's offense to take over again.
Keith Canada got what I think was his first touch down pass of the year!  Bringing the score to Manvel 21 - Friendswood 14.  We're still down by 14, but things are looking up.
One thing I love about Friendswood's kickers - not only can they kick, but they can tackle, too.  And on this return, it was necessary for Dement to tackle the runner.  Dement was the only man between the runner and the end zone.  The runner was brought down at Friendswood's 46.
Here, our defense, well, let's just say they've been watching too many Texans' games.  Note to our defenders covering the receivers: It's a lot easier to prevent the receiver from catching the ball than to try and catch him after he has the ball and is running.  You can not play them 5 steps or even 5 yards off.  With that being said, you can imagine what happened next.  I believe it took Manvel all of three plays to find the end zone.  So, with 58 seconds left in the half, we are again down by 14. 
Garrett Ward caught the kick off, which was more of a line drive straight to him, on the 44 yard line.  We were driving, and thought another score was coming, but then Maetzold threw an interception.  Manvel was able to get to the 39. 
At half time the score was 28 - 14 Manvel.  It was nothing short of amazing that we were only 14 points behind.  Things should have been much worse.
When the players came out after half time, the first thing I noticed was that the players still had the black pants on.  The ball was kicked to us for the kick off.  This is the kick off where they kicked the ball straight to JJ.  He was able to run it back to the 22 yard line.  Then Maetzold scrambled to the 3.  On the next play, 31 seconds into the second half, Friendswood finds the end zone.  New score - Manvel 28 - Friendswood 21. 
Once Manvel got the ball back, I think they confirmed their theory concerning our defense.  If you run up the middle, it will take us a while to stop you.  Manvel was able to get close to the goal line, but never find they end zone.  They had to settle for a field goal.  Now there's 7:15 left in the third quarter and Friendswood is down by 10. 
Friendswood is quickly able to score again.  Two minutes twenty-five seconds later, Friendswood makes is into the end zone.  Now, instead of being down by 10, we're down by 3.  31-28.
We were all hoping our defense would get the ball back to the offense quickly, but it didn't look like it was going to happen.  That is until Matthew Lewis intercepted a Manvel pass.  After a few plays Maetzold passed to Justin Battle who found the end zone.  For the first time in this game, Friendswood held the lead, by 4 points.  I wonder how long it's been since Friendswood had to wait until there was only 1:30 left in the 3rd quarter to have the lead.
On the kick, Caleb Taube, with the assistance of a few others, made an awesome tackle.  The Mavericks and Mustangs traded possessions until, 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the quarter, the Mavericks scored again.  The extra point kick bounced off the uprights and the score was 37-35.  I need to look up the official rules on the ball hitting the upright.  I know that the kick was no good.  What I don't know is whether or not the ball was still in play.  The Mustangs caught the ball and began to run with it, but the officials blew it dead.  I'm glad to see that the Mustangs continued playing to the whistle, but I'm not sure if it was really a live or dead ball.  Hmmm
Friendswood used their next possession to march down the field.  Around the Mavericks' 25 or 30 yard line, there was some sort of bobble that resulted in a fumble recovered by the Mavericks.  Even though I saw the whole thing, I'm still not exactly sure what happened.  The center kicked the ball to Maetzold who tossed it to JJ.  I'm not sure if Maetzold ever had control of the ball.
So, the Mavericks have the ball and the lead.  The marched down the field, thanks to a face mask penalty by Friendswood.  They did earn a penalty of their own, but still had to punt.  When they set up for the punt, the fans began screaming for them to watch out for the fake.  The boys behind the line of scrimmage were set up too far back.  The fans were right.  The "kicker" took the ball and tried to run with it.  Under pressure, he decided to kick the ball, but it went out of bounds not far away.
Each team earned a few penalties during the next drive.  Friendswood earned a penalty for holding.  The Mavericks earned a penalty for illegal substitution.  Then Friendswood made it to the end zone.  It was decided to go for two instead of one, trying to put a far enough lead on the board that it would take more than one touchdown by Manvel to win the game.  Unfortunately, it didn't work.  So with 3:09 left in the game, the score was Manvel 37 - Friendswood 41. 
Manvel was driving and was getting much closer to the end zone than I liked.  But with 4 seconds left, a Manvel pass was intercepted by Friendswood.  I wish I had seen which player had the presence of mind to catch the ball and then protect the ball as he slid to the ground rather than try to run back to score.  With the next snap, Maetzold took a knee and that was the end of the game.  Final score Manvel 37 - Friendswood 41.
I know several people liked the black pants that the Mustangs were wearing, but I still think they may be jinxed.  Once our offense woke up, they looked really good, but it's dangerous to wait that long to get into the game.  And the defense, where do I begin. 
I thought the arm tackling problem had been fixed.  Friday night I was proved wrong.  My husband and I discussed the memorable punishments our coaches handed our when we were in school; and which of those might be effective in this situation.  My suggestions are monster walks, suicides and running. 
For the third time in a row, Friendswood was very close to being outscored by Manvel, and may have been outplayed. 
So, Friday, October 22, the Mustangs will travel to Santa Fe to take on the Indians.  The Mustangs are 8-0 on the season and 4-0 in district.  Santa Fe is 4-3 on the season and 0-3 in district play.
I will be in the stands in Santa Fe.  Will you?  If not you can follow me on twitter at @momrod2000 for updates.