Tonight, the Friendswood Mustangs hosted the Santa Fe Indians and performed the annual Patriotic Halftime Show. And tonight I did something I haven't done in the 21st Century, I went to a football game alone. The kiddos were sick, so my wonderful husband offered to stay home with them so I could go to the game. Thanks!!
The Indians came into this game with a district record of 0-3. Friendswood's district record was 1-3. If either team wanted to play in playoffs, this was a must win.
So, for the score board:
1st quarter only Santa Fe 0 - Friendswood 7
2nd quarter only Santa Fe 0 - Friendswood 15
3rd quarter only Santa Fe 0 - Friendswood 7
4th quarter only Santa Fe 0 - Friendswood 6
Final score Santa Fe 0 - Friendswood 35
I'm sure the Mustangs have been looking forward to this week. Not only because the last three weeks the Mustangs have had to play state ranked teams; but also because Santa Fe was the only team to beat Friendswood before the team traveled to College Station to play Lake Travis in the State semi-finals.
Tonight's list of players who weren't dressed out didn't have any surprises. I didn't see Taube or Camarillo on the sidelines. I knew that Camarillo is out for the season, but I didn't know if he'd be at the game. I still don't know what happened to Taube. He came out during the Dawson game. He was on the sidelines during the LaMarque game, but I haven't seen him since. I hope that he's okay and can be on the sidelines, if not playing, again soon.
Tonight was a good night for the Mustangs. With all the injuries that occurred early in the season, several kids got a crash course in varsity football. There was some shuffling of positions and players, and some kids who thought they were backups were suddenly starters. They are all continuing to improve and I think this week they did an awesome job of demonstrating all the lessons they have learned. But of course, there's always something to work on. And you know I'm not a stats person, but I'm fairly sure that JJ went over the 1000 yard mark tonight. Congratulations JJ.
Friendswood's defense continues to struggle, but they are getting better. Santa Fe is a running team, and when they did take to the air, we saw why they like the ground game. As I watched the game, I mentioned more than once that Santa Fe's offense is like the turtle, slow and steady. They consistently gained 3 yards per play. There were some plays where Friendswood had no problem shutting down the Santa Fe offense. But other plays it was much more difficult to bring down their ball carriers. I wish I knew what the difference was between those two events, but I don't. There were several Mustang players who had great defensive plays - Chidester, Longbotham, Brunson, S. Holle, Wood, Stuart, Correa, Montalvo, Martinez, Stevens, & Lewis (listed in the order I mentioned them on twitter). Wood had 2 interceptions tonight. No, he didn't throw any interceptions, he caught two interceptions. Last year he was the team leader in interceptions. I don't know what this year's stats are, but I'm sure the Mustangs haven't had more than 2 in one game, so he currently holds that record. The pass protection was great. When Santa Fe did pass, which wasn't very often, it was intercepted, or was incomplete. They did complete a few, and gain a few yards, but there was almost always a Mustang there to make sure the Indian didn't get very far.
On special teams, there were a few oops tonight, but they didn't change the outcome of the game. First, something happened during one of the PATs. I didn't see the snap, but saw G. Holle pick the ball up and run with it. I don't think it was intended to be a fake, but I could be wrong. G. Holle ran to the outside. He looked like he might have been looking for someone to pass it to. He saw he wasn't getting in on that side, so he ran around to the other side and was able to get into the end zone for 2 points. Later in the game, Montalvo missed a PAT. He missed one last week, too. Hmmmmmm Friendswood only received 1 kick off tonight. Holle, Battle and Holle were deep to receive the kick off. The ball ended up not going deep enough to get to them. It was caught by JJ. He ran all over the field looking for a way to get through. He managed to get out to the 32 yard line.
On offense tonight, Friendswood looked good. JJ was a work horse, as usual. He ran, and ran, and ran. But, I'm sure he was thankful that he was playing one way tonight. Wood's long throws didn't work out as well this week as they did last week. There were a few over throws, not sure if the receiver (usually Battle) was tripped up and not able to run his usual speed, or if Wood overthrew the ball. I found it curious that Scott wasn't in as much as usual tonight, but he did play. One thing that didn't work for our offense tonight - hand offs to Battle. They didn't work very well last week. I'd have to study film from the games to see why those hand offs haven't been working out too well, but it seems that the defense is always ready for that play. I didn't make note of as many names on offense tonight as I did on defense, so I'm going from memory here. But players who had a good night on offense include Wood, JJ, G. Holle, Battle and everyone who blocked for them. Wood had great protection tonight, and I'm sure he was grateful.
Now of course I can't write a blog without giving my observations of things the Mustangs can work on before the next game to help them improve - that is, unless they ever play a perfect game. And if they do, it better not be one of the few games I have to miss. So, what can the Mustangs work on? I've said it over and over again - tackling. Yes, the tackling looked much better tonight. But there were still instances where the defender missed the tackle or the ball carrier slipped though the tackle. It didn't happen as often as it has in the past, but it's still something the team can work on. Something else would be for the quarterbacks, both Wood and Morris, to spend time with the receivers. I noticed during warm up that the receivers were dropping/missing more passes than usual. I know it may sound boring, but the more they practice together, the better they will work as a unit. The better they will be able to anticipate the other's moves and be in the right spot or throw to the right spot. Wood really seemed to do a better job of reading the field this week, and looking to see where everyone was before making a decision. Keep working on that and he'll keep getting better. Give JJ a break more often and let his back ups show you what they can do. We've already seen both Rosales and Longbotham perform well in the running back position. Give them some more playing time and I'm sure they will continue to impress you. I never saw JJ line up as a wide receiver tonight (perhaps he did and I missed it). But I would like to see some more of it. It seemed to be effective when it was tried against Manvel.
Everyone knows that this year's Santa Fe Indians are LaMarque, or Dawson or Manvel. So you would expect to see the Mustangs play better against Santa Fe that the last 3 teams the Mustangs have faced. That being said, the team did look better. I wonder, if we had Dawson or LaMarque or Manvel still left to play, if those games would be different, now that the kids who were sinking instead of swimming have learned to swim well. Of course, those games are in the past, and we can't go back and change them. I just wonder.
The Mustang team that took the field tonight is a very different team that the one that took the field against Angleton, West Orange Stark or even Stratford. Courtesy of all the injuries, the team has had, they've been forced to evolve. So, can the 2011 Mustangs 2.0 (probably more like 2.3 or 2.4 by now) beat the Texas City Stingarees in Texas City? If the Mustangs want to get into the play offs, they have to.
Be sure to be in Texas City at Stingaree Stadium on Friday, November 4, 2011. Kick off will be at 7pm. You know I'll be there.
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