On Friday, November 1, 2024, the Friendswood Mustangs hosted the Kingwoord Park Panthers for the last game to be played in Henry Winston Stadium during the 2024 season. This was senior night for the cheerleaders and football team and was also the Patriotic Halftime game.
If you've never been to a Patriotic Halftime game, you should experience it at least once. Patriotic halftime occurs each year during the game that is closest to 9/11 or closest to Veterans Day. Each year, the pregame dinner is hosted by the Mighty Mustang Band and they perform a few pieces of stand music during the dinner. Before the game, the band performs their full contest show (halftime isn't long enough for 2 drill teams and 2 contest shows, so each drill team performs a field routine (shorter than a contest routine) and each band performs part of their contest show). The junior high bands joins the high school band for the first half (percussion and brass in the stands, woodwinds in chairs on the track). Since the JH band is with the HS band they play just about every piece of stand music they have during the first half.
During halftime, the opposing team's drill team and band perform before FHS takes the field. The Wranglerettes perform to patriotic music and either dance with their red, white, and blue long skirts, using red, white, and blue scarves, or using another patriotic prop. While the Wranglerettes are performing, the choir is getting into position. Some years only the high school choirs sing; other years they are joined by the junior high choirs. The band then plays patriotic music while the choir sings, honoring our country as well as first responders and each branch of the armed forces. Halftime concludes with the National Anthem played by the Mighty Mustang Band while the choirs sing and the Friendswood Junior High Band unfurls a large American flag.
The football game didn't start out the way Mustangs fans had hoped. The first quarter is a perfect example of why I don't like it when games are on non-school days (whether a Saturday or a teacher in-service day). The players (and coaches) are out of their routine and it shows. By the second quarter, it appears that the Mustangs got all of the sugar and Halloween party treats out of their systems and got down to playing must-win football.
I think everyone knew before this game that it was a must-win if the Mustangs are hoping to play after November 9. The top 4 teams in each district make the playoffs. Before this game, Friendswood already had 3 losses and needed to make sure that that number didn't reach 4.
On the kick off, Friendswood ran the ball in for a touchdown. It appeared that maybe the day off and all of the sugar from Halloween wouldn't be an issue. Instead, the touchdown was called back on a flag and this was a bigger omen for how the night would go than the big run. There were so many flags and most of them were against Friendswood. It felt like the Mustangs were playing against the Panthers AND the "Zebras". There was one play that was stopped that I don't even think the referees knew why he blew his whistle.
The second quarter is when Friendswood's defense finally got all the Halloween fun out of their systems and really started working together. Before that, they looked like they didn't know what they were doing or who was supposed to be doing what. It was bad. Once they got things figured out, it seemed like the only 1st downs for K-Park was the long passes. And I'm not going to lie, K-Park's receivers came up with some amazing catches.
Unfortunately for Friendswood, they suffered multiple injuries during the game and some of the starters did not return. I wish a speedy recovery to each of the players. To those who will not make it back onto the field this season, you still have a vital role on the team. Your job is to help your team be successful throughout the rest of the season. If that means that you're a cheerleader, then you be the best cheerleader in every practice, every lift, and every game. If that means that you are an extra set of eyes for the coaches, then learn to watch every detail of every play. If that means that you're helping the players to stay grade eligible, then you become the best tutor in that locker room. Your job actually has become harder. Instead of just doing your job to execute on the field, you have to be more versatile both on and off the sidelines.
Below is the box score from the game. As you can see, Friendswood really woke up during the second quarter.
| BOX SCORE | |||||
| 1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | 4th Quarter | FINAL | |
| Kingwood Park Panthers | 14 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Friendswood Mustangs | 7 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 49 |
Before I get to what happens next, there are multiple players who deserve attaboys for their efforts on Friday against the Panthers. The players receiving attaboys are Winters, Lee, Bob, Ruffeno, Sindelar, Allen, Abebe, Ausbie, Condon, Muecke, Butler, Mc Elwain, Molina, Daly, Bateman, Petreyko, Crites, Cain, Slaughter, Rudolph, Wilson, and Collins.
As I said last week, I wasn't going to look at playoff scenarios until after the game against K-Park and then only if we won. Well, not only did we win, with the way the schedule lines up for the last week of the regular season, Friendswood has clinched a spot in the 2024 playoffs. Below are the current standings for District 11-5A-D1, thanks to https://x.com/walterca1107
Also thanks to Chris Walter, below are the last games of the regular season,
-Pasadena vs. La Porte -Angleton at Crosby -Kingwood Park at Porter -Friendswood vs. Fort Bend Kempner
La Porte has clinched the district title. With Angleton and Crosby playing each other this coming week, whoever wins that game will be 2nd seeded team from our district and the loser will be the 3rd seeded team. Even if Friendswood loses to FB Kempner, we have beaten any team with which we could tie.
This does NOT mean that we can get complacent and overlook Kempner. However, it does mean that the coaches can try out a few things to discover the best way to replace players who are out with injuries.
Since we do know that we are going to the playoffs, we can end this week talking about what to expect. The way the UIL sets up the playoff brackets, the first round is the bi-district championship. Each district is paired up with a district based on number (district 1 & 2, district 3 & 4, etc). The 1st seeded team will play the 4th seeded team from the paired district and the 2nd and 3rd seeded teams play each other. For us, this means that we will play the top seeded team from District 12. This past Friday night, A&M Consolidated HS won District 12, which means they will be our first game of the playoffs. The UIL also gives each District Champion the option of playing at home or at a neutral site for their first playoff game. For Friendswood, this means that we will be traveling to College Station to play at Tigerland Stadium either Thursday, November. 14, Friday, November 15, or Saturday, November 16.
If you like brackets and want to follow along, you can find the UIL's blank bracket at https://www.uiltexas.org/football/playoff-brackets/5AD1 This bracket should be filled in by the UIL as the playoffs progress. Dave Campbell's Texas Football usually does a good write up on Bracketology and updates it throughout the playoffs. Other sites to read more about how this works are texashsfootball.com and maxpreps.com Sadly, there used to be so many more sites and reporters who were so good at this, but as the industry has changed, those people have found themselves doing other things.
Unfortunately for Friendswood fans, I really can't tell you much about the A&M Consolidated Tigers except that they are undefeated this season. So far they have played Lake Benton (final score 33-21), Forney (final score 35-34), Pflugerville Weiss (final score 25-19), College Station (final score 34-20), Austin Anderson (56-28), Kyle Lehman (final score 77-0), Hendrickson (final score 55-14), Cedar Creek (86-6), and Buda Hays (49-0). They have been consistently ranked as one of the top 5A teams in Texas by Dave Campbell's Texas Football and by Texas HS Football. That being said, what I don't know is the quality of those teams that they have been playing. Are they in a district full of Angletons or a district full of Pasadenas? The honest answer is that I don't know. But we will all find out in 2 weeks.
But before that, our last game of the regular season will be on Saturday, November 9, at Mercer Stadium against the Fort Bend Kempner Cougars. The original schedule shows that that kick off is at 6pm. It was published by a local reporter yesterday that kick off is at 6pm. Be sure to watch friendswoodfootball.org or https://x.com/FwoodFootball for official informaiton.
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