On December 4, 2010, at Rice Stadium in Houston, TX, the Montgomery Bears played the Friendswood Mustangs for the AAAA Region 3 Division 1 title and a trip to the state semi-final play off game against Lake Travis (who had defeated Cedar Park by 1 point earlier in the day). Kick off was at 7pm.
Immediately upon finding our seats, I noticed something different about this game. There was no inflated helmet for the players to run through. Friendswood's famous (or infamous) horn was also absent. Of course, Montgomery didn't have any inflatable for their team to run through either. Friendswood, who is normally very loud and proud during football games was shown up by Montgomery in that department - a first. But that's okay, our team spoke through their actions.
To start the game, Montgomery won the toss and decided to defer to the second half. Matt Kennemer caught the kick off and returned it to the 26 yard line to begin the game. Within the first three plays, it became obvious that the refs were not going to call a fair game. Now, I'm not going to say that this particular ref was biased. But I will say that he made several mistakes. First, he missed a face mask that was right in front of him. Then, he missed an offsides by the Bear's defense.
During Friendswood's first drive, Maetzold made his first off target throw. He overthrew Kennemer on a pass that would have been a touch down.
A few plays later, we learned that the lazy ref was actually carrying a flag. But I only saw him throw it when the offsides was so blatent that the defender was behind the offensive line before the ball was snapped (happened twice).
A few plays later, the first points were put on the board. Friendswood ticked two minutes and fifty seconds off the clock to make the score Bears 0 - Mustangs 7. Now it's time for Friendswood's defense to get their first look at Montgomery's star running back Leroy Dobbins.
Montgomery's first turn with the ball didn't go very well. They punted the ball away. Friendswood began on the 44 yard line. They marched down the field, but ended up trying for a field goal. For where I was sitting, Dement's kick looked good. From where the coaches were standing, the kick looked good. But the refs said no good, and the players didn't argue. I'm sure the players would have argued if they thought it was good, so I'll trust them on this. This was the first of a few plays that had me wishing for instant reply. Unfortunatley, I couldn't hit rewind the way I would on my DVR.
So, after Dement's failed field goal, the Bears took over on their own 20 yard line. This time the Bear's offense was a little more effective. They marched down the field and found the end zone with 1:18 left in the first quarter making the score 7-7.
With the kick off, Kennemr caught the ball and faked a hand off to Battle before running with the ball. This fake hand off, unlike the ones they did a few weeks ago, did not eat any time off the clock. But, he's only able to get to the 21 yard line before he is brought down. A couple of plays later, JJ breaks free and runs about 50 yards, dances with a few receivers and is brought down at the Bear's 29 yard line. On the next play, Maetzold overthrew Justin Battle (another overthrow). A few plays later, Maetzold looked to be in trouble, but managed to find Scott in the end zone. Dement's kick is good. So with 0:00 remaining in the first quarter, the score was Bears 7 - Mustangs 14. Of course, there were more officiating mistakes in this drive. Coach Van Meter was madder than I've seen him in a while, and he had good reason to be. I wish I had made more detailed notes on these plays. I remember very clearly seeing Coach Van Meter yelling at the official. And I remember believing that he was right and that the lazy official needed to read the rule book again. But I don't remember what happened during that play.
It took The Bears just under 3 minutes with their version of the spread offense to get into the end zone again. Score 14-14.
Two minutes later, Maetzold threw the only interception of the night. The Bears were able to run it back for a touchdown. 7:55 left in the half. Score 21-14 Bears.
Time for the Mustangs offense to try again. It seems that, at least on this night, Maetzold made this best plays while under pressure. During this drive, he made another great pass under pressure. Scott made a great diving catch near the 50 yard line. A few minutes later, Battle caught the pass on the screen play and was able to make it to the end zone. So, the score was tied again. Time left in the first half - 6:39.
Now, the Bears knew that the Mustangs were gunning for Leroy Dobbins, so they faked a hand off to Dobbins and went the other way with the ball. It was a very good fake. So good, that they tried it again on the next play. This time, it didn't work. After a few plays I would like to have seen again, the Bears got into the endzone again. Now the score was 28-21 Bears and there was 1:32 left in the half. Again, Kennemer faked a hand off to Battle. This time it only got him to the 18 yard line. But that's okay, 2 plays later, Battle made it to the end zone. The score was tied again, at 28, with less than a minute left in the half. Whoever said this would be a high scoring game was right.
This time, Dement kicked the ball to start the next set of plays. We noticed that Hardy and Dement were both kicking the ball to the same location each time. To the kicker's right near the 30 yard line. If anyone knows why the kickers were favoring this spot, please let me know.
The score didn't change in that 43 seconds before half time.
Montgomery chose to perform their half time show for their own crowd. Generally, manners dictate that half time shows are performed for the home crowd. But, I won't hold that against them. Friendswood's band always puts on a great half time show and this game was no exception. The sousaphone players were great while playing "Super Fly For a White Guy." The band played more tunes and worked the get the crowd involved (but weren't as successful as last week). And I won't mention that the pit and the drumline were about measures apart for a while (oops, just did). During half time, I got a tweet from Evan Mohl from the Galveston County Daily News that said that Pete Maetzold had surpased Jacob Karam's record for yards in a single season. Congrats, Pete.
Hardy kicked off the second half by kicking the ball to the same place. This drive by the Bears included some great tackling (Manning had a great one) and a few more plays I'd like to see again. However, due to a some mistakes by the Bears and some awesome defense by the Mustangs, this possession by the Bears did not earn them any points. Friendswood took over possession on downs at our 20 yard line. 2 plays later we were 40 yards closer to our end zone. But then, we earned a personal foul. I wasn't able to see what we were accused of doing, so I can't say if we deserved that 15 yard loss or not. Next play, Friendswood tried something they haven't done in a while. And it worked (again). Maetzold passed the ball to JJ, who ran parrallel to the line of scrimmage (not unusual), then threw the ball to the back corner of the endzone where Canada was waiting to catch the ball. 5:30 left in the 3rd quarter and the score was Bears 28 - Mustangs 35.
The Bears tried to march down the field again. But, our defense was ready, again. Four plays later, Montgomery punted the ball back to the Mustangs. Two minutes and eleven seconds after the last score, the Mustangs were in the end zone again. Dement's PAT kicks kept getting lower and lower, but it was good, and that's all that mattered. New score: Bears 28 - Mustangs 42.
At this point in the game, I take my youngest daughter to the rest room and we decide to grab some ice cream from the Marble Slab cart while we're up there. By the time we get back to our seats, the Mustangs have the ball near the goal line. The play is called a quarter back sneak, but I don't think it's much of a sneak when everyone knows what's going to happen. They should rename the play "line up behind Pete and push." The push worked. With 10:46 left in the game, the score was Bears 28 - Mustangs 49.
Time for Hardy to kick off again. Would he kick to his right and to the 30 yard line? If you said yes, you'd be wrong. This time he kicked it to his right and to the 35 yard line. Once again, the Bears offense is unable to capitalize. They have to punt. Kennemer caught the ball at our 35 yard line and is able to run 39 yards to the Montgomery 26 yard line. Where we were called for a personal foul. I was talking to someone and didn't see what happened. I tried several times to find out who did what, but was never able to find out. It ended up being 4th and 30 for the Mustangs deep in Bear territory. The Mustangs took a delay of game penalty to give themselves an extra 5 yards between them and the end zone. Even though he tried for a short kick, Maetzold's punt still bounced into the end zone. The Bears were able to try again, starting from their own 20 yard line.
Our offense almost got a very short rest; Gardner almost intercepted a pass. On the next play, Dobbins got open, but only made to the 1st down marker before he was chased out of bounds. That was the last 1st down the Bears would get. They had to punt. Kennemr caught the ball and was immediately brought down.
At this point, there was 1:04 left on the clock. 2 "knees" later, the game was over.
Montgomery was unable to score single point in the second half. I don't take stats (that's other people's jobs), but I think I can count on one hand the number of 1st downs Montgomery earned in thesecond half. One of the coaches said that they made one tiny defensive adjustment during half time. Whatever that tiny adjustment was, it worked very well. Our defense is continuing to improve. They are playing better than ever. Our offense isnt' looking their best (a few over thrown passes and a few missed assignments), but they are looking pretty good.
Next up, Friendswood will take on Lake Travis. This year, Lake Travis suffered 2 defeats after being unbeaten for (I think) 44 straight games. Cedar Park and Aledo beat Lake Travis. Both of those teams made it to the play offs. Lake Travis beat Cedar Park by 1 point this week, and I think Aledo is still playing. I have already suggested that our coaches study the films of those games in order to see what those teams did to stop Lake Travis.
This will be a rematch of the state semi-finals in 2008. That game featured Jacob Karam and the Friendswood Mustangs against Garrett Gilbert and the Lake Travis Caveliers. That game was also played at Kyle Field on the Saturday of Friendswood's Christmas parade and kick off for that game was 2pm. We are hoping for a different outcome to this game.
One other thing. Someone at church told his 2 year old daughter the Mustangs were playing the Montgomery Bears. She was confused, thinking they were playing the Gummy Bears. :)
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I am watching the game and "taking notes" by twittering and facebooking during the games. I am at each game with at least one of my kids, if not both. Sometimes, my husband is able to attend with usand sometimes I have other family with me as well. My football education is from attending high school football games for 30+ years and sitting between my dad and my grandpa for the first 12 of those years. I was 3 when my parents bought my first season ticket. I missed 2 home games from the time I was 3 years old through junior high, and started traveling (not missing a single game) during high school. I started taking my kids to games before they could walk and have been taking them ever since.
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