Texas High School Football is BACK!!
On Thursday, August 29, 2024, the Fort Bend Marshall Buffaloes hosted the Friendswood Mustangs at Mercer Stadium in Sugar Land. This was a non-district game and the season opener for both teams. It was great to see all the students back on the field and all the fans and student organizations in the stands on a humid Thursday evening.
First, as I said, this was the first game of the season and that was evident on all sides of the ball regardless of which uniform you were looking at, including the zebras. There were multiple false starts, missed catches, missed assignments, and uncertainty by the officials. Even with all the first game jitters, there were some moments of greatness on the field and I'm glad that the Mustangs won't have to face the Buffs again this season.
Conditioning seemed to be an issue. I saw a quote from Coach Johnson (yes, I broke my rule and read one article before writing my blog), commenting that he thought his team was better conditioned for 4 full quarters of football. While I did see some of this, I felt like the Mustangs were better prepared, physically, than the Buffs. I have to wonder if the new rules for conditioning in hot, humid weather played a factor in the number of cramps we saw as well as the struggle to maintain focus and intensity for the entire game. Another possible factor could be the way the calendar worked out this year. By the time football teams started their practices, teachers were already back at work. This means that the traditional two-a-day schedules were impossible. Perhaps the UIL and school districts (not specifically these two schools, but all schools) need to reevaluate their calendars to allow for more summer practices. There were multiple minor injuries and cramps during the game on both sides. One Buffs player did leave the stadium in an ambulance. He was able to stand, assisted, before being loaded onto the cart to be driven to the ambulance. We all wish him a speedy recovery with no lasting effects.
To start the game, Friendswood won the toss and elected to receive. This game had been billed as one where Friendswood would be overpowered on both sides of the ball and. I was expecting to see that as soon as the ball was kicked. Turns out, Friendswood was underrated by those making predictions. Friendswood was able to drive toward the end zone better than expected. Their first big problem, which was a problem all night, was when the Mustangs got within 5 yards of the goal line. Friendswood seemed to struggle all night getting those last few yards needed to put points on the board.
Friendswood ended up settling for a field goal and the defense took the field after the kick. The Mustang defense was also underrated. They showed everyone that they know how to stop the run. They also showed everyone that they will allow yardage on every pass, playing several yards off of the receiver until the ball is in the air or caught. I can only recall one pass by Marshall that was not caught because of a Mustang defender. This is something that has plagued the Mustangs for years and continues to be an issue. Hopefully that will improve before we play against Galveston Ball (yes, I saw what they did on Thursday night. Yikes) in 2 weeks. Special teams is another group that showed that it was the first game. I'm not sure if they were in the wrong places or if they just don't have the speed that Marshall has. Marshall had no trouble returning kicks and while the kicker appears to be kicking exactly where he was told to kick, whoever told him to do that didn't have accurate scouting reports.
Overall, the Mustangs showed a potential to be a great team this year. Time will tell if they live up to their potential. The next game will be at Henry Winston Stadium on Friday, September 6, 2024 against Fort Bend Willowridge. Kickoff will be at 7pm. There will be no pre-game dinner this week. Gates will open at 6pm.
Attaboys for this week go to: Winters, Bateman, Muecke, & Cain. Next week, I will do a better job of taking notes during the game will give more details and more attaboys.
GO MUSTANGS
| 1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | 4th Quarter | FINAL | |
| Friendswood Mustangs | 9 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 23 |
| FB Marshall Buffs | 0 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 27 |
Disclaimer: My football education is from attending high school football games for 45+ years and sitting between my dad and my grandpa for the first 12 of those years. I continue to learn more about the game and strategies every week. My vocabulary may be lacking, but I know what I see and describe it as best I can.
