Katy Taylor Mustangs @ Morton Ranch Mavericks - September 18, 2025

    On Thursday, September 18, 2025, the Morton Ranch Mavericks' Homecoming game was played against the Mustangs from Katy Taylor High School at Rhodes Stadium.

    The Mavericks won the toss and received the kick off to start the game. This seems to be their preferred choice when they win the toss. Unfortunately, the game started with mistake after mistake after mistake for the Mavericks. The first drive they went three and out. The second drive was all bad handoffs and bad snaps.  Third drive was the same. After an offensive meeting on the sideline and multiple people warming up to play center, the problem was solved. Which is a very good thing since the Mustangs were racking up points while the Mavericks were trying to figure things out. The box score below makes this obvious.

    Morton Ranch showed determination and improvement on both sides of the ball.  That being said, I still don't like the defensive scheme. What I don't like about it is that they don't do a great job of protecting against the pass if it's not thrown across the middle. Taylor however,  put on a clinic for how to defend against the pass. I think some of the Maverick players noticed, because I saw some of them trying to emulate their opponents. I think the Maverick coaches would do well to go back and watch Taylor's pass coverage. There are some lessons to be learned there. If I were advising the coaches, I would tell them that in addition to studying Taylor's pass defense, I would also have the defense run drills against the offense. I would tell the defensive backs to stick to the receivers like glue and make sure every time the ball was thrown, a defender caught it. Obviously, I'm talking about when a pass is thrown down field and not a screen pass or a reverse. The hardest part is learning to read the offense. That is a process that takes time and experience. Once they learn that, they will know when to close ranks near the line, when to shift right or left and when to stick to the receivers. 

    To my soapbox issue - while these officials were by far not the worst I've ever seen, I do feel like they got some calls wrong and even missed or ignored a few. At one point in the game, I felt like they might have been trying to help out one team over the other. 

    The best part of every week - the attaboys. If you see any of these players this week, please give them a pat on the back. They earned it. This week's attaboys go to J. Wilson, M. Kinlaw, M. Washington, D. Sims, S. Fontenette, C. Izquierdo, C. Brown, #50, J. Jenkins, T. Eli, J. Alexander, K. Jenkins, T. Lazar, C. Williams, L. Hernandez, T. Williams, R. Nichols, C. Rosales & D. Hamilton. I apologize for not having a name for #50. I take notes of jersey numbers during the game and then look up names on MaxPreps. If there is a better source for the team roster, please let me know.

Box Score
	1st Q	2nd Q	3rd Q	4th Q	Final
Katy Taylor Mustangs	17	0	0	0	17
Morton Ranch Marvericks	0	6	8	10	24

    Due to the homecoming activities at halftime, the Maverick Marching Band performed their show after the game. As the band was preparing to begin, I noticed the football coaches calling the players down to the field. The players sat behind the end zone and watched the band perform. It was great to see the football players supporting the band. Football doesn't often have the opportunity to do that and it's great when they take the opportunity when it does present itself.

    If anyone is interested, below are the district standings for District 19-6A. There are 7 weeks to go in district play. The top 4 teams from each district advance to the playoffs.

District 19-6A Football Standings
	Team	Wins	Losses	Points For	Points Against
1	Katy Tigers	2	0	113	28
2	Jordan Warriors	2	0	66	49
3	Mayde Creek Rams	1	1	77	63
4	Cinco Ranch Cougars	1	1	70	59
5	Morton Ranch Mavericks	1	1	24	74
6	Paetow Panthers	1	0	55	44
7	Seven Lakes Spartans	0	1	3	42
8	Tompkins Falcons	0	2	71	85
9	Taylor Mustangs	0	2	44	79

    Next up, the Mavericks will move over to Legacy Stadium for their first game of the season on that turf. The Mavericks (2-2, 1-1) will play the Jordon Warriors (3-1, 2-0) on Thursday, September 25, 2025. Kick off is scheduled for 6:30pm.

Be there, be loud, and GO MAVERICKS!