Friendswood Mustangs vs Galveston Ball Golden Tornadoes - September 13, 2024

    On Friday, September 13, 2024, the Friendswood Mustangs hosted the Galveston Ball Tornadoes at Henry Winston Stadium. This was the last pre-distract game of the season. 

    It is said that this year's Tors include 7 players who are already committed to play at D1 universities and every other senior on the team has committed to play at smaller universities next year. It is also said that there are summer football camps on the island led by current and former NFL players. What I saw on Friday night after not having seen the Tors in a few years leads me to believe that all of those statements are true.

    Galveston has a very well rounded football team and plays effectively on offense, defense, and special teams. Their receivers are fast and once they got behind the Mustangs, there was no catching them (not that the Mustangs didn't put forth a valiant effort).

    Like the 2 games before, Friendswood showed moments of greatness throughout this game. There were some brilliantly caught passes where the receiver was under at least double coverage. There were some running plays that looked like they would go no where and yet gained yardage. There were some defensive plays that showed that Friendswood might be able to shut down Galveston's running game. And then there was the rest of the game. 

    Friendswood had more than one opportunity to put more points on the board. Mistakes, whether it was bad play calling or poorly executed plays, meant that those opportunities never came to fruition. It appears that the Mustangs went into the game expecting to lose. I don't know if they could have won or not, but they could have kept the game closer than they did. Poor expectations often become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    If Friendswood hopes to make a playoff run, they will have to start playing better when they face their first district foe. The Mustangs will have to figure out how to play tighter defense, especially against the passing game. You cannot play that far off of the receivers. When you do, even if you tackle the player as soon as he catches the ball, the line of scrimmage and the chains continue marching downfield until the ball is in the end zone.On the offensive side of the ball, the Mustangs need to continue their improvement in protecting the quarterback and the ball carriers. They need to practice their blocking and they need to open up holes that go all the way through.

    Regardless of the outcome, many attaboys were earned in the game. Those attaboys go to Abebe, Winters, Bateman, Randall, Aussie, Molina, Allen, Germi, Muecke, Singular, Ruffeno, Brezina, Slaughter, Lee, & Condon.

	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	4th Quarter	FINAL
Galveston Ball Tors	10	10	6	7	33
Friendswood Mustangs	7	0	0	0	7

    This week the Mustangs have a bye week. This is good timing as it will allow the injured players more time to heal and get ready to return to the field. The next game for the Mustangs will be on Friday, September 27, 2024, when they will host the La Porte Bulldogs. Kick off will be at 7pm in Henry Winston Stadium. Before the game, there will be a pregame dinner in the FHS cafeteria hosted by the Freshman Class. 

    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.

Fort Bend Willowridge Eagles vs. Friendswood Mustangs - September 6, 2024

    On Friday, September 6, 2024, the Friendswood Mustangs hosted the FB Willowridge Eagles at Henry Winston Stadium. After a very rainy week, everyone was hoping for a beautiful evening. We got our wish, with the exception of about 20 minutes in the 2nd quarter. 

    The Eagles were coming in off of a short week after a big win against Lamar Consolidated, on Saturday while the Mustangs suffered a close loss against FB Marshall on Thursday of the previous week. All of the Mustang fans were watching to see if the short game offense had improved over last week. This was a weak spot for the Mustangs last week and probably made the difference between a win and a loss. One thing the fans immediately saw, this week the Mustangs would be playing without 2 of last week's starters. Cottrell was not in pads and sporting a brace on one arm. Butler also was not in pads. He was on the sidelines with the offensive coaches throughout the game. I hear that Cottrell will be out for several weeks, while it is hoped that Butler will be back on the field when the team takes on Galveston Ball.

    This week, the Mustangs had some honorary captains with them at mid-field for the coin toss. I didn't catch who they were, but they appeared to be elementary age boys. I was happy to see that as the players from both sides were shaking hands before the coin toss, the boys were included. I'm sure that made their night.    

    Throughout the game, I was impressed that the players seemed to be listening to the officials' whistles. I only noticed one instance where a player didn't want to let go of something that happened during the previous play, and one of his teammates handled it before anyone else needed to step in. I don't know how many people noticed it, but I did and was impressed.

    While the Mustangs did get the win, I am sad to say that the offense still needs some work. They seem to struggle when they are within 5 yards of the end zone and the closer they get to the end zone, the less the o-line is protecting the QB. On the bright side, there were some amazing catches made by our offense again this week. 

    Defense did a good job holding the Eagles all night long. The Eagles' offense did not score all night. They team scored twice, but neither were the work of their offensive unit. Hopefully, the Mustang defense really is that good. The next team on the schedule has been racking up points and steam rolling over their opponents. The Mustangs will have home field advantage and that could prove very important.  

    This weeks' attaboys go to (in no particular order): Winters, Allen, Wilson, Abebe, Daly, Randall, Muecke, Slaughter, Rudolph, Bateman, Ruffeno, Hornberg, Black, and the QB who did not have a name on his jersey, but wore #0 (I'm sorry I didn't catch his name).

	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	4th Quarter	FINAL
Willowridge Eagles	0	0	6	7	13
Friendswood Mustangs	6	28	2	0	36

    As I stated earlier, the Eagles did score, but not with their offense. Their first score of the night was a result of a pick 6. Believe it or not, the Mustang who got the closest to preventing the touchdown was the QB, Randall. Their second touch down of the night came when they blocked a badly snapped punt and fell on the ball in the end zone.

    The next game for the Mustangs will be Friday, September 13, 2024 at Henry Winston Stadium when the Mustangs will host Galveston Ball. There will be a pregame dinner at 5pm in the FHS cafeteria before the game hosted by the Wranglerettes. The menu is from Outback Steakhouse and tickets can be purchased at https://31736.smallvenueticketing.com/r/events/  Doors will open at 4:30pm. Kick off will be at 7pm. Game tickets can be purchased at https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/11738/henry-winston-stadium-friendswood-isd  Helpful information concerning parking, shuttle buses and other information can be found at https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1725475872/myfisdcom/nspnlabedxeteqji0t5j/Community-AthleticDepartmentInfoSheet.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0MUYu39leD51n5oHCjS0unqdgvszymqPu4vafHQGfQuZ-Nemx_sfcuUvI_aem_YryxoYUl-hctlbuib3wsnQ

Hope to see you there and GO MUSTANGS!

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.