Archive : November 2005

November 30, 2005

Football Picks

Dear Mustangs,
I have been following TexLong's picks for several months. He/she is pretty good.
Last week, he/she was 11-1. Pretty good huh?
Here are this week's picks. Enjoy!

Lew

P.S. There will be large amounts of crow available for consumption after the game. Most will be reserved for Dominick Frank in Vernon.


texlong9 Post #1


THSF Resident Longhorn


Group: Members
Posts: 10,294
Joined: 9-September 04
From: Austin, TX
Member No.: 3,426
High School: Gainesville High School
Refered by: It just kinda popped up one day......

First week: 37-11 .77083
Second week: 18-6 .75
Third week: 11-1 .91667

Overall: 66-18 .78571

3A-I

Gainesville over Liberty Eylau
West Orange Stark over Wimberley

3A-II

Sweetwater over Monahans
Tatum over Canton
Cameron Yoe over Hutto
Cuero over Liberty Hill

Monahans, Meet J.B. (Batman)

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Hello Monahans,

I'm J.B.
Known to Mustang fans as Batman.
Perhaps you have heard of my friend and me referred to as "Thunder and Lightning".
Or maybe you have heard us called the "Pony Express".

Congratulations on your season. You have won respect you have so desperately looked for.

The time is near Monahans. Only one team wins this Friday. You know deep in your hearts, you know when you lay down at night which team leaves Midland Friday victorious.

There has been a lot of talk since last week hasn't there?

Know this Monahans.

We aren't Snyder.

Remember, one thing Monahans. There is a secret code here that you may not catch.

WE LOVE THE NIGHT, AND BATS FLY AT NIGHT!

Stats, Stats, and more Stats......

Thanks to Janie!

Defensive Leaders vs. Iowa Park

Justin Adames – 20 tackles (1 for loss), 1 interception

Justin Rodrigues – 10 tackles (1 for loss)

Brandon Bugarin – 10 tackles (1 for loss)

Brandan Fangman – 9 tackles (2 for loss)

Russell Clayton – 9 tackles (1 for loss)

Brittan Pittman – 9 tackles (1 solo)

Joseph Banyard – 9 tackles

Casey Toland – 9 tackles

Rufus McCann – 7 tackles (1 for loss)

Duone Cunnings – 6 tackles

Kendal Carrillo – 5 tackles

J. J. McCoy – 4 tackles

Jeffery Straley – 4 tackles

Shawn Kincaid – 2 tackles

Skye Green – 1 tackle

Maurice Rosas – 1 tackle

Auston Davis – 1 tackle

MUSTANG SEASON STATS (12-1)

TEAM OFFENSE

1ST downs: 216

Rush attempts-yards: 519 – 3956 (7.6 avg)

Passing yards: 824

Total yardage: 4780 (367.7 avg)

Points scored: 442

Pass completions-attempts: 49 – 93

XP kicks: 49 – 57

Field goals: 7 – 7

TD passes: 6

Passes intercepted: 6

Fumbles-lost: 24 – 10

Penalties-yards: 85 – 663

TEAM DEFENSE:

1st downs allowed: 167

Rush attempts-yards: 517 – 254 (4.0 avg)

Passing yards: 922

Total yardage: 2976 (228.9 avg)

Points allowed: 178

Pass completions-attempts: 75 – 176

XP kicks: 15 – 21

Field goals: 1 – 1

TD passes: 10

Passes intercepted: 11

Fumbles-recovered: 29 – 9

Penalties-yards: 62 – 505

Safeties: 1

SCORING:

Joseph Banyard: 23 TD – 1 2XP – 140 pts

Skye Green: 21 TD – 126 pts

Parker Morrow: 49 XP – 7 FG – 70 pts

Kendal Carrillo: 5 TD – 30 pts

Sonny Birdwell: 3 TD – 18 pts

Brittan Pittman: 2 TD – 1 2XP – 14 pts

Russell Clayton: 1 TD – 6 pts

Auston Davis: 1 TD – 6 pts

KiKi Johnson: 1 TD – 6 pts

Justin Adames: 1 TD – 6 pts

Duone Cunnings: 1 TD – 6 pts

Joe Limones: 1 TD – 6 pts

Rufus McCann: 1 TD – 6 pts

Safety: 2 pts

Total: 442

RUSHING:

Skye Green: 102 – 1101 – 10.8 avg – 19 TD

Joseph Banyard: 143 – 1099 – 7.7 avg – 20 TD

Auston Davis: 48 – 406 – 8.5 avg – 1 TD

Sonny Birdwell: 56 – 336 – 6.0 avg – 3 TD

Kendal Carrillo: 33 – 316 – 9.6 avg – 5 TD

Maurice Rosas: 37 – 174 – 4.7 avg

Duone Cunnings: 14 – 160 – 11.4 avg – 1 TD

Justin Adames: 18 – 124 – 6.9 avg – 1 TD

Joe Limones: 26 – 98 – 3.8 avg – 1 TD

Jeffery Straley: 11 – 50 – 4.5 avg

Justin Rodrigues: 8 – 38 – 4.8 avg

J. J. McCoy: 7 – 27 – 3.9 avg

Rufus McCann: 10 – 25 – 2.5 avg

Tyler Bedingfield: 1-6

Shawn Kincaid – 5 – (4)

PASSING:

Sonny Birdwell: 36 – 68 – 614 – 4 TD – 4 Int

Kendal Carrillo: 12 – 20 – 202 – 2 TD – 1 Int

Duone Cunnings: 1 – 3 – 8 – 0 TD – 1 Int

Brittan Pittman: 0 – 2 – 0

RECEIVING:

Brittan Pittman: 16 – 336 – 21.0 avg – 1 TD

Skye Green: 10 – 173 – 17.3 avg

Joseph Banyard: 8 – 136 – 17.0 avg – 3 TD

KiKi Johnson: 7 – 91 – 13.0 avg – 1 TD

Russell Clayton: 4 – 57 – 14.3 avg – 1 TD

Shawn Kincaid: 2 – 11 – 5.5 avg

J. J. McCoy: 1 – 11

Ben Edwards: 1 – 9

INTERCEPTIONS:

Brittan Pittman: 4 (1 retd for TD)

Skye Green: 2 (1 retd for TD)

Justin Adames: 1

Rufus McCann: 1

Bryan Boyd: 1

Shawn Kincaid: 1

Kendal Carrillo: 1

FUMBLE RECOVERIES:

Joseph Banyard: 2

Brandan Fangman: 2

Russell Clayton: 1

Harold Tennon: 1

Justin Rodrigues: 1

J. J. McCoy: 1

Kendal Carrillo: 1

Duone Cunnings: 1

QUARTERBACK SACKS:

Brandan Fangman: 6

Harold Tennon: 4

Russell Clayton: 4

Casey Toland: 2

James Beckwith: 2

Brandon Bugarin: 1

Bryan Boyd: 1

Jeffery Straley: 1

Justin Adames: 1

Joseph Banyard: 1

Ty Jones: 1

Auston Davis: 1

TACKLES:

Justin Adames: 142

Joseph Banyard: 111

Rufus McCann: 102

Brandan Fangman: 96

Russell Clayton: 92

Casey Toland: 89

Brandon Bugarin: 51

J. J. McCoy: 51

Jeffery Straley: 50

Brittan Pittman: 49

Maurice Rosas: 49

Justin Rodrigues: 48

Kendal Carrillo: 43

Shawn Kincaid: 39

Austin Davis: 38

Joe Limones: 25

Harold Tennon: 22

James Beckwith: 21

Skye Green: 21

Duone Cunnings: 21

Kendall Mayes: 19

David Covington: 8

Keifer Adamez: 7

Ty Jones: 6

Tyler Bedingfield: 6

Steven Palma: 4

Michael Hollis: 3

Antonio Gamez: 3

Bryan Boyd: 2

KiKi Johnson: 2

Sonny Birdwell: 1

Chase Strother: 1


November 29, 2005

Woooo Hooooo...the 300-300 Club!!!!!

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Dear Mustangs:

Allow me to brag a little bit.
This website just went over the 300 entries, 300 comments club!!!!!!!!!

This Sweetwater Mustang Blog is the most successful blog of the GoFridayNight.com website!!!!!

Now, maybe I can get Danny Reagan to see if we can get more Mustang pictures besides the Wylie game..LOL

Thanks to all who read the blog! We appreciate it!!

Lew

Good Luck Knights!!!!!

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Have any of you ever been to Lindsay Texas? I have.

Lindsay is in the 1-A Eleven man state region finals this week. They will be playing Windhorst in Decatur this Friday at 7:30. If they get by Windhorst, they will be playing for a state championship the following week!!!!

Why am I so interested in Lindsay? Before I answer that, let me give you some history.

Remember my earlier story about Lubbock Estacado? Two players I forgot to mention were Larry and Garry Smith. Identical twins, and the best guys you would ever know. Me and the Smith twins used to play baseball on the same team in Pony League in Sweetwater. Sometimes the twins would spend the night over at their grandparents house on Neff St. right across the street from my house.

If we weren't playing baseball, we were doing something to entertain ourselves during the summer months that school was out. Lot's of times we would camp out in my back yard and tell ghost stories. We usually got tired of ghost stories pretty quickly, and we would just start telling jokes. Now one thing about the Smith twins...they were good sized kids. I remember we all got up one Saturday morning from camping out, and I opened a brand new box of Cap'n Crunch cereal. Larry poured him some ceral, then Garry. When it came time for me to pour some cereal, there wasn't any left!!!!!! LOL

Long story short, Larry is now the Principal at Lindsay High School. Larry and Garry were awesome football players at SHS. I saw Larry about a year ago at Lindsay High School....I had a chance to visit and have lunch. Turns out, Larry remembered that box of Cap'n Crunch, so he bought lunch that day. (smile)

Good luck Mr. Smith...and Go KNIGHTS!!!!!!!!

What they said.......

On its turn, Monahans faced third-and-5 at the 20 when Cornelius found Merrick wide open down the middle after a play fake. It was the same play the Loboes used for the winning touchdown in their bi-district game against Snyder.
“We haven’t run that play all year,” Merrick said. “They were sucking up on the run just like Snyder was and we beat them again.”

The Ice Man Cometh........

Kendal1.jpg

Let me introduce to you the Ice Man.

He wears jersey #15. He would be one Kendal Carrillo. He splits time at quarterback for the Mustangs and also plays defensive back.

Kendal was just one of the players who helped engineer the comeback last week against Iowa Park. Kendal scored the winning touchdown in overtime to send the Mustangs to this week's game against Monahans.

The Ice man........nothing bothers him. He's the kind of guy that would make a great fighter pilot one day. Everything is under control.

Player Spotlight, James (Bull) Beckwith

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Question:

How does a Bull mingle amoung Mustangs?

Answer:

When you are James Beckwith

# 52 for the Mustangs has been a steady force on the defensive line for the Mustangs as well as the offensive line.

Bull says the best thing about being a Mustang is the sense of having another family. The comaraderie he has with his fellow Mustangs. Right now his best memory that he has is being a part of the big come back win against Iowa Park.

It's been said that bulls react to the color red. I wonder what green does to bulls?


November 28, 2005

Just for Grins.....

I saw this poll on the 3A Downlow..


Who wins this game?

Sweetwater by 10+ 12 31.58%

Monahans by 10+ 6 15.79%

Sweetwater by single digits 9 23.68%

Monahans by single digits 7 18.42%

Sweetwater in OT 2 5.26%

Monahans in OT 2 5.26%

Total: 38 votes 100%

Interesting that the people that voted, twice the number expects Sweetwater to win big than do Monahans. All the other factors are about the same, Sweetwater VS. Monahans.

Source: 3A Downlow as of 5:30 PM, 11/28/05


A Tradition of Success

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Dear Class of 2006 Sweetwater High School,

I'm sure you are aware of the strong traditions of everything that is Sweetwater.

I also know that it is very common to daydream about the future after high school graduation.

I wanted to post here that this moment that you are in, right now, at this very instant is historic for you and your class.

I just want to mention this because I don't want it to pass you by. It has been about 35 years since I roamed the halls of SHS. I have seen a lot of life since then. I won't bore you with all of my details, but I have been around the world and just about every state in the US.

Yet after 35 years, and all that has happened since high school, I always come back and visit Sweetwater. In this very small part of the World Wide Web, I can go back to Sweetwater every day and talk about football, or anything else related to life in Sweetwater.

As turbulent as life can be sometimes, I think it's calming to go back to Mustang Bowl and yell for the Mustangs. There seems to be consistancy at the Bowl. We always know the Mustangs will be successful. We always can count on certain things when it comes to Sweetwater and the Mustangs.

I laughed to myself the other day when someone mentioned one of the players on the team. I wasn't thinking about the player, I was thinking about Robert and Donnie Clark. Back in school Robert and Donnie were just average kids. I worked with them at the Village Supermarket. Donnie and I sacked groceries for crying out loud. That was so much fun. It's fun to go back and visit also. Just the other day, the day before Thanksgiving my mind drifted back to what days were like at the Village Supermarket the day before Thanksgiving. The busiest day of the year! Customers were always in a great mood because it was Thanksgiving. The little old ladies didn't have to remind me not to squash their bread...people were just nicer the day before Thanksgiving.

Our football team was undefeated going into district in 1968. Lot's of people said this may be the best team that Sweetwater had ever had. There was Benji Kemp, Ricky Baker, Brian Lewis, David Redwine, Terry Boley, Mack Reed, Barry Davis, Frank Gomez, Kent Boatright, Aubrey McCain..a whole cast of superstars.

Far down the schedule was a new team in the district. Lubbock Estacado. They were also a team that appeared to be strong. All season we kept hearing about how good Estacado was. We were undefeated and so were they. Finally, the game with Estacado would be played in Mustang Bowl. The Bowl was absolutely packed. I won't give you the play-by-play here because it isn't relevant. Lubbock Estacado 7, Sweetwater 0.

Estacado went on to win state that year. Some call that Mustang team "the best team to have never won district." Later, several Estacado players told us Mustangs that the game with Sweetwater was the hardest fought game in any of thier careers.

Sweetwater earned much respect that night. The reason the Mustangs earned that respect is because they gave it their all. The reason the Mustangs earned respect that night is because they gave every single ounce of effort they could muster.

Now, 35 years after that season, I can honestly tell you that that is what success is. When the other team says you were the toughest foe that they ever played, that you were the best sportsmen that they ever met, that is success.

I have no idea how this game will turn out Friday. All I know for sure is....and I know this is over-used today, but I know my Mustangs will give it their best. I know in my heart that my Mustangs will play to the best of their ability and give it their all.

Mustangs always have,
Mustangs always will.....

I can count on it.

Lew

Ouch!

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A different perspective....

Wow, I just got home and saw two comments from Monahans fans...take a look.

"Monahans has no problem STOPPING THE RUN!! They stop the run on Bridgeport all night, as they have done with other great teams. It's the passing that Monahans has a problem with.

Monahans/Sweetwater: As I have said in the past, "Mirror images maybe not, Powerhouses I think so!!" I believe the last one with the pigskin will win this one!! Bridgeport was the toughest team by far that Monahans has faced yet. Good thing too.. This helps Monahans with any situation that Sweetwater may/will throw at them. I believe that the last three games Monahans has faced will help them beat Sweetwater!! IMO!! Prediction: Monahans by 3"

and this,

"Hey guys,
Just wanted to say that this is an interesting blog. I graduated from Monahans in '03, and I can tell you that we're in for a great game this Friday. Great stadium, great fans, and two great teams. One thing though, don't underestimate the Loboes, because them boys have heart. That's what got them to where they are today, and that's what's going to get them through the rest of the way.

Good luck to all."

And from my friend in Snyder:

"Hey Lew
The next game is a big one. AS all of them are! And of course I wish Snyder was there, (probably in Big Spring.) But it will be Monahans instead. And at first I didn't think they were for real and now I'am reconsidering, I think both teams will have to play good ball to WIN!I want to wish yall both good luck, but deepdown I will be rooting for our district. (don't tell anyone)lol
And being 1 of 8 teams left in the State of Texas, one can only say wow, I know last year was wonderful to an old Tiger, I never thought I would see it, but there is a new attitude (winning), in Snyder and our rivalry with Sweetwater will never Die, (Breed in our kids)lol but this year has been different, it's not just
Football,it's 4-3A Football!!!! Add some Monahans people have been talking noise on other webs, (Ft. Stockton) lol (I think you know what I am talking about)and by no way am I talking about all of Monahans just a few (we were overrated) and I guess that they were underrated. Anyway; I wish yall the best of luck and win for the your self first and then for the district.
And like I said before, I never thought I would root for the Mustangs but after meeting you on the blog's I have developed a new respect for yall (untill we play each other)LOL
Go Sweetwater, play like a champion!!!!!!!"

And finally,

"Two great programs. Two great schools. Looking forward to this one. I am a MHS graduate, so my blood runs green. My family and I have been away from West Texas for about 12 years. We now reside in southeast Texas where High School football is big. My children attended class 4A Port Neches Groves High school and were active in sports, etc. PNGHS has a fan following like no other in Texas. My son played in the State game against Stephenville in 1999 where 34,000 PNGHS fans were in attendance. However, my comment is this: There is nothing equivalent to WEST TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL. The traditions, rivalries, etc. RESPECT for the opposing team is taught and practiced by the majority of the towns out west. I try to explain to friends and co-workers here the atmosphere, excitement, and FUN that is WEST TEXAS FOOTBALL. From class 5A to 6 man, it is simply a way of life in WEST TEXAS. A game like what is on the menu this week in Midland is unexplainable. It will be super charged. For those who talk trash about the game, they are probably the ones who have not had a kid play or they just can't see the big picture. When these student bodies put in the long hours of practice, be it football, band, cheerleading, etc. it is to be appreciated. As a parent I have seen the glory days as well as the times when my son and daughter would put everything that they had into a day of practice and come home give out and wondering if it was worth it. Our kids who are active in their respective schools are not couch potatoes and I sometimes wonder how they fit it all in. Monahans and Sweetwater deserve to be at this point in the season and hopefully each community will RESPECT the accompolishments of the opposing school. I know that the coaches and teams will; win or loose. Don't take WEST TEXAS athletic programs for granted. They are the BEST in TEXAS because of the teachers, coaches, and communities that know what LIFE is about."

November 27, 2005

Final OT, Bridgeport 42, Monahans 43

Timeless........

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Random thoughts about the entire Thanksgiving weekend.

I am just in awe about all the good football we have been able to be a part of. High school football is such an interest for me to follow. It helps that Sweetwater has such a winning tradition. I couldn't write anything of significance with all that went on this weekend. I just have isolated random thoughts on how great it was. For example:

Russell Clayton's TD catch in OT....was HUGE!!!

Joseph Banyard fielding an IP punt that was a line drive..and he snagged it one-handed.

How did Parker Morrow feel trotting out to kick the extra point with the score 21-20? What a performance.

How bout Justin Adames and all the defense he brought in the game?

How bout the offensive and defensive line fighting tooth and nail against those big monsters? Excellent!

How bout the post game interview with Coach Kent Jackson..? Coach Jackson was crying and saying this was his greatest moment in high school football? Remarkable...Just incredible.

How bout Sweetwater now being the lone survivor in District 4-3A since Wylie lost this evening?

I wonder if Monahans knows how close they came to sitting at home next week? The Bridgeport runner came up just a few inches short that would have won the game for them, instead the game went into OT.

How bout the Aggies playing Texas tooth and nail most of the day?

Even the Cowboys went into OT this week.

How do our friends feel over in Snyder tonight?

I was thinking that when the season started, we were playing teams like Pecos and Andrews, and now we are playing teams like Iowa Park and Monahans and the Jet Sweep still is a great play.

Next week are the Region Finals....Sweetwater is only 1 of 8 teams still alive in in 3A...what an accomplishment!

I listen to the games on the internet..it's heart warming to hear the Mustang crowd and that big ol railroad engine horn...that is cool!

I hear names of players and I went to school with their parents. Hello Robert Clark!!

I think about how it's much easier it is to follow Sweetwater now thanks to the internet.

I think about ALL the Mustang players..linemen, defense, kicker, all of the team and how much they are a team. Always talking good about one another...everyone is for the team.

I wish I could see a Mustang game this year. With Monahans winning...it moves that game further west for me. If we get by Monahans..then I'll have a shot for sure.

It wasn't very common when both Abilene High and Abilene Wylie lost on the same weekend.

I'll think of more stuff later. This has just been rumbling around my head.

Lew


November 26, 2005

MUSTANGS WIN IN OVERTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mustangs 27

Hawks 21


This from Mustang-Fan
"You had to be there to experience the emotions of that game---from high to low and in between! We were down 21-7 with about 5 minutes left on the clock. Those boys just put their heads down and made it happen. Then the interception in OT put ole 'MO on our side for the win. Absolutely awesome!

Hats off to IP---they had a really good team. I'd hate to be in their shoes and see your season go up in smoke right before your eyes. We almost were in that position, but we proved that we can never give up!

Way to go Red!"

And this from Clifford
"listened to the game, heck of a 4th quarter, and then the overtime, go stangs............."

And finally, this from J.B.
"I have been nervous awaiting these results. All evening the score has been Sweetwater 7 IP 0. Don't know why there were no updates. Anyway we know now that the 'Stangs can win against a BIG team. Way to go Mustangs. Big Red Machine roll on!!!!"

November 25, 2005

Go Mustangs!!!!! Beat Iowa Park!!!!!

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It's Friday.

Time for the game face. Go get 'em RED!!!!!

November 23, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Dear America,

I want to personally wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.
We should all be thankful for all the opportunities that are bestowed upon us. Thank you.

I am thankful for my health and thankful for family and friends.

Let's all join together in a time of appreciation for what we have. I will be out of pocket tomorrow, so if I don't see ya'll again until Friday have a good one! Don't eat too much!

I will be watching the Cowboys destroy Denver.

Friday is going to be a super day also. My Aggies are gonna do it!!!

Sweetwater will be ready to go also. I will have to listen to the game again. Work has to come first, but I'm thankful for it.

One last request, remember, we have troops overseas. Pray for them also.

Lew

Go Sweetwater!!!!!!

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If you just can't get enough Mustang talk...here are some discussion boards.

http://texashsfootball.com/board/index.php?showforum=4

and

http://bbs.3adownlow.com/vb/

Come on Mustang fans, let's hear from you!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lew

November 22, 2005

Next up, Iowa Park

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Attention Mustangs....

Please pay no attention to this season's Iowa Park record. It doesn't matter. There have been so many changes on the Hawk's team, you would drive yourself silly trying to compare the team of today, to the team in September.

Check out the size of some of their linemen:

# 70 Chris Smoak 6'2" 171 Sophmore
# 71 Ryan Tykler 6'3" 191 Senior
# 74 Tom Collins 5'11" 265 Senior
# 75 Ryan McLaughlin 5'10" 237 Senior
# 76 Ross Shults 5'11" 205 Senior
# 77 Andrew Maekawa 6'2" 234 Senior
# 79 Tyler Duggins 6'7" 270 Senior

How's that for some linemen? Speaking of Duggins, here is his player profile from Scout.com:

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=378&p=8&c=1&nid=1817036

Duggins has already committed to Texas Tech for next year. I've been talking to some Hawk fans on various football boards and they say Iowa Park is the real deal. Last week, the Hawks only attempted one pass. They like to just pound the ball behind their big lineman from the single wing formation. Pound, pound, and pound some more. I noticed in last week's box score...they had 8 different rushers.
In the last three games, Iowa Park has allowed just 130 yards for the opponent's offenses.
The running backs are fresh, and they also play linebackers. This should be a great game. I don't know if it's true or not, but this Iowa Park fan says they run a 3-4 defense.
He was curious about Sweetwater, and says that the coaches didn't exchange any game film...I don't know if that is accurate or not, just what he said.

All I can say is the Mustangs should have a handfull this week.

Go Mustangs!

November 21, 2005

Here they come.....

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The Monahans Loboes will be playing in Mustang Bowl this Saturday night against the Bridgeport Bulls. There should be plenty of offensive fireworks. I wouldn't be surprised if both teams score over 30 points.

Congrats to the Mustangs, AREA CHAMPS!!!

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Photo by Janie Davis

Congrats for the Mustang's victory over Littlefield.

Area Champions!!

Updated Bracket - 11/20/05

Download file

Thanks again to Janie Davis for the brackets. They look way cool, especially seeing the Mustangs there!

Lew

Bridgeport Bulls

Thanks to the Bridgeport Bull for sending me this link on their season. Click here.

LewP

Here is another link to learn more about Bridgeport:

http://coach.thsca.com/TeamPage.asp?action=search&nav=Pressbox&menu=01&team=11440

Iowa Park's record

Per J.B.'s question, I am posting the Iowa Park's season record here from GoFridayNight.com. Please click here.

Thanks for the question J.B.

I also found some more information on Iowa park.

http://coach.thsca.com/TeamPage.asp?action=search&nav=Pressbox&menu=01&team=16006

November 20, 2005

Go Mustangs!!

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Stats, Iowa Park vs. Little Elm

I finally found some stats for the Iowa Park game

The thing that jumped out at me is that Iowa Park didn't attempt a single pass. But it looks like about 10 different people ran the ball.

Iowa Park 30, Little Elm 7 (11/18/2005)
Teams
1 2 3 4 OT Total
Little Elm 0 0 0 7 - 7
Iowa Park 9 7 14 0 - 30

Scoring summary Leaders: Rushing Passing Receiving
I - Safety, Sam Raines tackled RB in endzone.
I - Drew Fulfer 4 run (Wes Newman kick).
I - Raines 2 run (Newman kick).
I - Fulfer 10 run (Newman kick).
I - Raines 71 INT return (Newman kick).
L - Ryan Spinney 10 pass from Cole Beasley (Tony Herrera kick).

Little Elm Cole Beasley, 19-47; Thomas Stauts, 7-30; Trey Rhodes, 5-12; Jason Hansen, 1-1. Cole Beasley, 14-27-2-180. Ryan Spinney, 4-57; Thomas Stauts, 3-42; Trey Rhodes, 1-27; Demetrius Tryels, 3-24; Wesley Story, 2-17; Emanuel Todo, 1-13.

Iowa Park Drew Fulfer, 15-65; Brycen Whitaker, 3-35; Caleb West, 7-33; Jacob Irvin, 5-32; Sam Raines, 5-19; Derrick Robertson, 1-21; Jared Lytle, 4-30; Corey Sikes, 1-14; Houston Slaughter, 1-7; Ryan Sanders, 3-4; J.C. Pleva, 1-1; Cody Hicks, 1-(-)2. None. None.

Team First downs Rushing Passing Punts Fumbles Penalties
Little Elm 19 32 rushes
(90 yards) 14-27-2
(180 yards) 3
(43.0 avg.) 2
(1 lost) 2
(10 yards)
Iowa Park 18 47 rushes
(259 yards) 0-0-0
(0 yards) 4
(43.0 avg.) 4
(1 lost) 3
(45 yards)

Next up, Iowa Park - population 6,473 est.

Hey Mustang Fans,

I thought I might do something a little different this week. I want to research everything about the Mustangs next opponent Iowa Park. First of all, Iowa Park is about 10 miles west of Wichita Falls. Here is their City website.

I think Coach Jackson has a very good point. Let's have fun with this. Let's find out everything we can find about Iowa Park Texas. I have already tried to find a newspaper in the town but to no avail. The closest newspaper appears to be in Wichita Falls, and of course there isn't anything about Iowa Park ir the football team. Guess we will keep searching. This should be alot of fun.

Lew

November 19, 2005

Monahans defeats tough Perryton

Monahans ends Perryton's season.

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FINAL:::: Sweetwater 38, Littlefield 20

Dear Mustang fans....

This game was TOUGH!!

I know the score doesn't indicate it, but it was a tough game!

I listened to the game via the internet, and we were down 14-7 at the half. They interviewed Coach Jackson at halftime as he was leaving the field and the reporter asked him what he thought of the game so far?

Coach Jackson't response was, "I don't know if the kids read too many of the newspapers, or read too much off the internet, but these Littlefield players can play!!!"

Sweetwater came back out and took control in the 3rd quarter. The Mustangs score 14 unanswered points, and in the 4th quarter, essentially played keep away from the Littlefield offense, and I believe scored the remaining 17 points in the 4th quarter.

Let me just say this Mustang fans. I didn't want to predict this score this morning. I thought the Mustangs were ok emotionally wise, but I diodn't want to say I thought they were going to win by 2 touchdowns as everyone in the newspapers in Amarillo, and Odessa/Midland were predicting. Littlefield was a very good team. They did things that I think was somewhat of a surprise to Sweetwater. In the 1st half, they completed a 50 yard pass to make the score 14-7 Littlefield. This game could have been a disaster for our Mustangs.

There is a lesson to be learned here...and I had to learn it earlier this week. That lesson is, be careful what you say and write about when you are talking about 16-18 year old kids. I think sometimes we put too much pressure on our boys. I'm not blaming anyone here, but I think Coach Jackson said it best when he said after the game he told the boys at half time to have FUN!!!!

Isn't this what it's all about?

Go Mustangs...Great Job!!!!

Lew

November 18, 2005

CLASS 3A PLAYOFF Division II Littlefield vs. No. 8 Sweetwater

And this, from the Lubbock paper:

Lp

CLASS 3A PLAYOFF Division II Littlefield vs. No. 8 Sweetwater


7:30 p.m., Grande Communications Stadium, Midland

Radio: KXOX-AM 1240 (Sweetwater); KZZN-AM 1490 (Littlefield)

Records: Littlefield 8-3; Sweetwater 10-1

How they got here: Littlefield earned the top Division II seed from District 2-3A, beat Borger 42-14 in bi-district; Sweetwater earned the top Division II seed from District 4-3A, beat Midland Greenwood 44-21 in bi-district

Keep an eye on: Littlefield, RB Jonas Camacho (517 rushing yards, 3 TDs despite missing time with injury); Sweetwater, RB Joseph Banyard (785 rushing yards, 17 TDs during regular season).

Key stats: Sweetwater averaged 343 yards per game during the regular season, while Littlefield's defense allowed just 268 per night.

Keys to the game: Both teams possess game breakers in the running game, but Littlefield's defense will have to contend with a more speedy Mustang squad. Sweetwater needs to force the Wildcats into a passing game where they're not quite as strong.

Our pick: Sweetwater

Monahans prepares for another job

I found this on the Odessa web site. Thought it was interesting.

Lew

Monahans prepares for another job

By SAM WALLER
Odessa American

PLAINVIEW In a perfect world, the Monahans Loboes could have spent this week basking in the glow of a big accomplishment, enjoying the feeling that came with their 28-21 bi-district win last week over ninth-ranked Snyder.
The reality is that Monahans has another game to play, facing Perryton at 7:30 tonight at Bulldog Stadium in a Class 3A Division II area game.
“Our work isn’t over,” Monahans head coach Mickey Owens said. “We’ve got five ballgames to go, hopefully, and we’re taking them one at a time. We’re not patting ourselves on the back for what we did last week. If we do, we’ll get our tails beat this week.”
There wasn’t much of hangover in the first place. Instead of exultation, this week has seen Monahans (11-0) back at the grind in another effort to postpone the end of the season.
“We have a pretty experienced group,” Owens said of his players. “It really wasn’t a problem. They’re pretty well focused.
“Now, they were very excited Friday night. They were excited Saturday. But they have a whole lot of confidence in themselves, and Monday seemed like just another day at the office. They’re getting ready to go again.”
Of course, such a win didn’t go unnoticed, especially by Perryton.
“That district that Snyder came out of, at one time they had three teams in the top five,” Perry ton head coach Gary Newcomb said. “That’s a feather in (the Loboes’) cap. They’re an awfully well coached team and disciplined. I have a lot of respect for Mickey and the type of team he puts on the field.
“They’re tougher than Chinese arithmetic. I told our kids it’s going to be like watching a game in the ’50s and ’60s. You’re going to line up in a two-back set and run the ball.”
In District 1-3A runnerup Perryton (7-4), Monahans faces a team that is getting hot at the right time, Owens said. The Rangers have won six of their last eight, including last week’s 41-22 bi-district win over Muleshoe.
“They’re probably hotter, improvement-wise, over the last three games than Snyder was,” Owens said. “The last three games, they have really started playing well.”
Newcomb basically agreed but with one caveat.
“The past three or four ballgames, we’ve played pretty good,” he said. “Whether we’ve played the quality of teams that Monahans has played is another story. Of course, when you get to this time of year, you’d better be playing pretty good because the quality of competition gets better each week.”
An intriguing factor in the matchup is that the teams run similar schemes with the wing-T offense and split-6 defense. That makes putting together scouting reports and game plans a little easier, but Owens said Perryton takes a pretty simple approach.
“They don’t do anything to try to trick you. It’s more smash-mouth football,” he said. “Any time somebody just lines up and runs at you, you never know if you’re good enough to stop that until you get in the game and see how you match up.
“They’re just a real physical team. They’re not going to finesse you. They’re going to come at you with their best game. We’re going to know when we leave the stadium that we’ve been hit, win or lose.”

Predictions or somesuch.......

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Good morning Mustangs!!!

It's Friday!!! It's game day!!!

I thought I might try my hand at a little predicting today. It's kind of fun for me to try and say what might happen tonight in some key Region I Div II games.

If you take a look from last week, I had predicted the correct score for the Monahans/Snyder game to be 7-7 at the half. I hit that nail right on the head. Unforunately, my prediction for the final game score was wrong, but oh well, I was close.

Just for entertainment purposes, I wanted to try seeing how I do in this week's games. Please bear in mind, I don't know too much about these teams so really instead of calling them predictions, maybe I should just call them guesses, because that's about what they amount to.

I'm not going to even try and predict the Sweetwater/Littlefield game. There is no way I can come out of that deal as a good guy, so I won't even try.

So here we go for all the other games in Region I.

Perryton VS Monahans:

This is really just a guess. I just don't know enough about either team to make any kind of pick. What I do know is that most times in the past, the teams way up there in the panhandle generally have some pretty big players. From what I understand, Perryton had some injuries and just now have those players back. This game interests me quite a bit. As we all know Monahans is unbeaten so far this year. I think this should be quite a game.

Monahans 21, Perryton 20

Breckenridge VS. Bridgeport:

Hmmmm, talk about flying under the radar! I don't recall reading anything about Breckenridge this week and very little about Bridgeport. I can tell you in recent history, both clubs liked to pass and did so with authority. I'm not too sure this year. According to GoFridayNight.com Bridgeport and Breck have alreay played once this season. The very first game of the year on 8/26/05. Bridgeport won that game 34-25. It should also be noted that Breckenridge beat Iowa Park on 10/7 37-21. Here is the way the numbers shake out:

Breckenridge: 2002 yards rushing on 312 attempts for an avg. of 6.41 per attempt.
1445 yards passing on 124 attempts for an avg. of 12 yards per pass with 5
interceptions.
Bridgeport only reported 534 yards rushing on 75 carries for an avg. of 7.1 per attempt.
They only reported 369 yards passing on 45 attempts for an avg. of 8.2 yards per attempt.

Man oh man...it's hard to pick this one. I'm going to pick Breckenridge and here's why. Breckenridge has a little revenge factor here. You will also notice that there is a gap in the amount of passing yardage between the yardage. I think Breck has a little edge in the passing game.

Breckenridge 35, Bridgeport 20


Little Elm VS. Iowa Park:

OK, here's a stat for you. Iowa Park defeated Graham 14-9 back on 11-4. In fact, in the 2nd half Iowa Park didn't let Graham score. You remember Graham right? They beat Abilene Wylie on 9-23 by the score of 30-20. I couldn't find any information on Little Elm. Based on that, and it's past my bedtime, I'll say

Iowa Park 27, Little Elm 14.

Good Night.

Lew

November 17, 2005

Let's talk Mustangs..........

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From all indications, it appears the mindset of the Mustangs this week is going to be good.

I don't think anyone is taking Littlefield for granted. I don't think anyone is looking past this Friday. I do think that Sweetwater feels confident if they play within themselves, that they have a great chance of winning Friday. Frankly it sounds and feels like the Mustangs are just about as good as it gets heading into Friday. That statement in itself could be deterimental, but I think the Mustangs are sitting perfect, if that's possible.

Unless something really screwy happens, I think the Mustangs are good to go. Let's keep the momentum going. Let's keep it all in perspective.

I might mention in another bracket game Iowa Park and Little Elm will be playing right up the road from me Friday night at Saginaw Boswell. The winner of this game will be the Mustang's next opponent. I'm sure I'll have much more info on that game than the Littlefield game because it's so much closer. Last week, Little Elm defeated Whitney 44-32, and Iowa Park defeated Pilot Point 27-13. So this should be a pretty good match up.

Check back on Friday morning for my picks for Region I Div II games. They might surprise you!

Lew

November 16, 2005

Next up, Littlefield Wildcats

From the Amarillo.com website.........
Lp


Wildcats to take on Sweetwater in area round

By Roger Clarkson
roger.clarkson@amarillo.com

Littlefield1.jpg


'Cats beat 'Dogs: Lifflefield tailback Stephen Viljoen (33) celebrates his third-quarter touchdown run with teammate J.B. Allcorn (12) as Borger defensive back Troy DeFries (32) hangs his head Saturday at Dick Bivins Stadium. The Wildcats beat Borger, 42-14.

Michael Lemmons / michael.lemmons@amarillo.com

When Borger's bubble burst, it did so with a snap loud enough to wake up half of East Amarillo.
A third-quarter explosion carried Littlefield to a lopsided 42-14 win against Borger in the Class 3A Division II bidistrict playoffs in front of about 900 fans on Saturday at Dick Bivins Stadium.

The Wildcats (8-3) outgained Borger 168-9 and outscored the Bulldogs 21-0 in the third quarter to take a 35-7 lead and coasted much of the second half to the win.

Littlefield advances to the Class 3A Division II area playoffs to take on Sweetwater (10-1) at a time and site to be determined.

"You've got to feel for Borger because they came in with so many kids out with injury. When the dam broke, it broke," Littlefield coach Bryan Huseman said. "We kind of woke up and got on a roll in the second half. We played with a lot of emotion and got on top of them when we needed to."

Littlefield tailback Stephen Viljoen ran for 226 yards on 21 carries with three touchdowns.

The Wildcats gained 445 of their 449 yards on the ground. Ryan Duran gained 90 yards and had two touchdowns on his two carries in the game. Cory Figueroa intercepted two passes for the Wildcats.

Wildcats 42, Bulldogs 14

Records: Littlefield improves to 8-3. Borger finishes 6-4.

Impact: Littlefield advances to the Class 3A Division II area playoffs to play Sweetwater (10-1) at a site and time to be decided.

Key Stat: Littlefield's Stephen Viljoen ran for 226 yards and three touchdowns.

"The line was awesome," Viljoen said.

"They were excellent. There were some big holes out there. That's how we've been playing all year."

Borger (6-4) was missing nine starters, including the entire offensive backfield and first two quarterbacks, because of injury.

Two more starters went down in the first half.

However Borger took a 7-6 lead in the second quarter when third-string quarterback Jeremy Watson scored on a 1-yard run. Littlefield responded with a 66-yard touchdown run by Viljoen to take a 14-7 halftime lead.

"We kind of had a talk at halftime," Viljoen said. "We decided to come out and play with a lot more emotion and take it to them."

Littlefield stuffed Borger on two possessions and an interception by Cory Figueroa stopped another Borger drive in the third quarter.

Matt Hall scored on a 20-yard touchdown run, Viljoen had a 22-yard scoring run and Duran raced 55 yards for another Wildcat score in the third.

"That third quarter we kind of got behind the eight ball," Borger coach Craig Shores said. "We couldn't convert on third down a couple of times and we had a turnover to set them up. Once they got three scores up on us, we were going to have a hard time coming back."

Watson scored on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter for the Bulldogs' second touchdown.

Watson ran for 101 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns. Troy DeFries added 67 yards on 16 carries.


November 14, 2005

The rumor mill.....

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You know, I hate to add to a rumor. Rumors do absolutely no good usually, but this latest rumor was too good to pass up not to share it with you.

It seems that my good friend who shall remain nameless, went to Littlefield High School today.
As he was standing in the hall speaking to a teacher, the subject came up about their next game against the Mustangs.

My friend said it was like unlocking the flood gates. Apparantly, the whole town of Littlefield believes that 9 Sweetwater Mustangs will be academically ineligible for this week's game.

Isn't it amazing what people will do in desperate times? Bring people down to their level?

I'm quite sure the Mustangs are fine.

What I question is a town that is ready to grab (or create) at any rumor to save their own skin.

Lew

Mitey Mites win Super Bowl!!

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I just wanted to say congrats Mustangs on a great win on thursday and stay focused on your objective. Just to let you guys know the Sweetwater Youth Football Mitey Mites won the Big Country Youth Football Super Bowl yesterday at Shotwell Stadium in Abilene.

As president of the Sweetwater Youth Football League I would like to say thank you to everyone that supports our great kids.I would also like to thank everyone who came out to watch these kids play on Sunday. They played in front of the biggest crowd of the day which was over 1000 fans between the two teams.

I would like to thank SHS for letting the kids use the new run thru tunnel and Tunnel crew that hepled me.These kids had an experince that they will remember for the rest of their lives.The score of the game was Mustangs 6 Raiders (Wylie) 0.

rrea@ludlums.com


EDITOR'S NOTE:

Congrats Mitey Mites!!!!!!!

Lew

Updated brackets...

Again, thanks to Janie for the updated playoff brackets. We appreciate it!

Lew

Download file

November 13, 2005

Sunday Thoughts......

Dear Mustangs,

As I am sitting here trying to think back about this past weekend's games, I want to get a bit of "house cleaning" out of the way.

I want to talk for a moment about the Snyder - Monahans game.

Now before I get a bunch of hate e-mail, just listen to my point of view please. I think it may be relevant.

First of all, congratulations to the Monahans Loboes. You surprised me, I'll stand up and admit it. But please don't take my being surprised as a weakness. You wanted respect and I am showing you respect. Please don't let me showing you respect as some sort of invitation for you to say "we told you so." I don't need that. I simply want to say congratulations on your win over Snyder. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Dear Snyder,
We have always been rivals haven't we? But one of the best things about this season has been how the fans in Sweetwater and Snyder joined together to wish each other well against teams outside the District. Frankly, I can not remember a time that Sweetwater and Snyder were so united in a mission as this year was. Snyder, please remember this, I still consider ya'll a great team and a great town, and if anyone reminds me of this post next year when we play against each other, I'll swear I won't remember this post..LOL.
But I want to say how proud I am of each of our towns and each of our teams, and of each of our fans in supporting each other through this season. It has really been special and I don't want ya'll to think ya'll lost a game. I hope you consider some bonding occurred that I haven't ever seen between us.

Let me go on to say, and I mean no offense to Monahans, I still in my mind think the Snyder Tigers is the better football team. I want you to know Snyder, that we are going to use YOUR experience for our benefit. There were some people at the game between you and Monahans that said you didn't look like the same Snyder team that we played. I have no way of knowing if that's true or not. Please understand I'm not pointing fingers when I say this...and Mustangs, listen close to this next statement. There sometimes comes a time when a person, a team, a town is nervous about success! The team could be alot better than their opponent but something happens and a type of fear enters the mind about success. Teams could become pensive, sort of playing off of their back foot if you will. I'm not at all suggesting this happened to the Tigers. All I know and all I believe still is that Snyder is the better team. Can ya'll understand now how much football helps young people prepare for life? This may be a very good example..and it might be the case here.

To the Sweetwater Mustang football team.
Do yourselves a favor gentlemen. When you take the field against Littlefield this Friday, consider the experience that your brothers from Snyder are going through even today with regards to Monahans. You need to remember you may be a better team than your opponent. But unless you embrace success, long for that success, KNOW in your mind that victory will be yours, then at some point the underdog will be hungrier than you, will want the game more than you, will cherish the fight more than you. And they will win.

I think sports psychology is amazing. I remember Michael Irvin saying before every game that he played in, he was scared. Now, he wasn't talking about being scared of his opponent. Michael Irvin was talking about being scared of not winning. That motivated him to be the hardest worker in practice that the Cowboys may have ever had on their team.

Let me finsh this by saying Mustangs, you have an opportunity this Friday. Who wants it? Who wants to succeed so badly that failure strikes fear in your hearts?

Thank you Snyder, as you are no longer in the playoffs, our brothers continue to help us.

Go get Littlefield, Mustangs!!!!!!!!

Lew

Next up, Littlefield Wildcats

Friday at Midland Grande Communications Stadium. 7:30

Go Mustangs

Thanks Janie!

Lew

P.S. Repeat, Littlefield...not Monahans. One at a time folks.

November 12, 2005

The Roadrunner...

Skye1.jpg
Standard-Times Photo by Arthur spragg

Sweetwater running back Skye Green handled the ball during the Class 3A bidistrict playoff game Thursday against the Greenwood Rangers.

November 11, 2005

Final Thoughts...Greenwood

I just wanted to mention that I don't think I talk enough about our linemen, both offensive and defensive lines.

I think our guys have had alot of success in opening holes for our great running game and downfield blocks.

I know it's always apparant that folks notice the QB and running backs first when watching a ball game. Then we fans sort of get in a habit of just talking about them. But let me just say this:

Sweetwater's line has done awesome this season. It all starts with the linemen, please know we fans appreciate you.

And while we are on the subject...how bout a hand for all the coaches?

Great job men.

Lew

Thank you......

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Thank you to all Veterans.

Sometime today, a moment out of your time for private respect for Veterans.

Lew

Mustangs ROMP 44-21!!!!

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Sweetwater advanced to the regional quarterfinals last season, where the Mustangs lost to District 4-3A rival Snyder, just two wins short of playing for the state championship.

''I believe this year we can go to state,'' Skye Green said.

Go Abilene Wylie!!!!!! Beat Seminole

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OK Wylie...Good luck to you tonight against the other Class 3-3A Team, Seminole.

Sweetwater destroyed Midland Greenwood, Ya'll and Snyder have to step up and show the state District 4-3A is the new Big 12 South.

Wade into Seminole. Teach Class 3-3A we are for real over here.

I would wish ya'll good luck, but you won't need any luck tonight..Go Get em! Hit em hard!

Lew

Go Snyder! Beat Monahans!!!!!!!

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Dear Snyder,

This has been a great season so far. I know that Sweetwater and Snyder are normally rivals but that's within our own great district. Tonight though, we will be pulling for ya'll because we know we are one of the best districts in the state.

Lot's of talk from District 3-3A. Sweetwater, Snyder, and Wylie are proven veterans in the playoffs. I know we as a district get tired of some of the smack coming west of us. Why don't they just give our District some props?

"All those teams in District 4-3A are pretty tough and all of those teams have been in the top 10 all year," Monahans coach Mickey Owens said, "but we feel that our three teams (in 3-3A) are pretty decent too."

OK Snyder, ya'll are up. It's now ya'lls turn to quite the smack with your own brand of smackdown! Good luck tonight gentlemen. And go get em, and don't let up!!

Go Snyder! Beat Monahans!

Lew

Smackdown Time

"All those teams in District 4-3A are pretty tough and all of those teams have been in the top 10 all year," Monahans coach Mickey Owens said, "but we feel that our three teams (in 3-3A) are pretty decent too."

Go Snyder....Sweetwater wishes you much success tonight. Go get em!

Lew

Yeah, told ya so.......

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Howdy fellow Mustangs........

I knew we were going to have a good game. I just knew it!

My name is Matt, Matt Mustang..........

That was some game against Greenwood huh?
I first of all want to thank all the Sweetwater fans for driving all the way down to San Angelo on a Thursday night no less, to root for us Mustangs....Ya'll were really loud and we appreciate it. We didn't have any problem hearing ya'll.

Now before I get to the game, let me just say Midland Greenwood is a good team. Those Rangers are good sports too and fine gentlemen. They played clean and they played as hard as they could. And in all fairness, most of them are young uns. I know that doesn't help saying that tonight, but trust me, those guys are putting a good team together over there. We are gonna need to watch that bunch next year.

Well what can I say about my boys without sounding like I'm bragging? I mean....these guys are just simply awesome. Ol Sky Green, Ol Roadrunner....running for 161 yards with his bad self....man he was a sight to see...he sure was..last count I had..he only had about 6 carries for 161 yards and 3 touchdowns....get outta here! That's unconscious....Let me get my calculator out here...(hard to press those little keys with a big ol hoof....hahahaha.) Well the way I figure it, that's about 27 yards per carry average...that's just silly...can you imagine 27 yards a pop in a playoff game???

And how about the Batman himself? Joseph Banyard ran 8 times for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns...now I won't need my calculator to figure everytime Batman touched the ball, it was a first down average. I mean, this to me was the best game we played so far this year. Well, that Snyder game was pretty cherry too. I don't have the final numbers, but I suspect we had over 400 yards of offense. That's great. Yeah, I sure am proud of my boys....Ol Big Bird (Sonny Birdwell) he ran too, heck, everyone ran and ran like a herd of horse in a meadow in the cool spring air...it was a lot of fun.

This football game is fun to play. And if you are a horse and going to play football, it's always good to be a Mustang...so you can always run free. Nothing like carrying the ball for 400 yards and no one riding ya.

Matt Mustang
(A.K.A. Lew, in case you think this Mustang can really talk)

Final: Mustangs 44 - Greenwood 21

A couple of last quarter touchdowns by Greenwood, but folks...it was worse than the score indicates..more later.

Halftime Update: Mustangs 41, Greenwood 0

Sweetwater has 331 yards rushing at halftime:

Here is the breakdown:

Green - 6 carries, 161 yards

Banyard - 8 carries, 80 yards

Big Bird - I mean Birdwell - 5 carries, 31 yards

Carrillo - 5 carries, 44 yards

McCann - 2 carries, 15 yards

This is too awesome huh? It borders on ridiculous....way to go STANGS!!!!!!!!

November 10, 2005

Remember Veterans Day

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The 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron, which is currently deployed in Iraq, sent an American flag to the students of Southeast Elementary School to say thank you for the care packages they sent earlier this year. A flag raising ceremony was held at the school Tuesday and four students - Kassie Gunn, Kailee Hall, Maria Medillin and Rene Atkins - were the center of attention as they have a family member serving in Iraq at this time.

Thanks to all Veterans. Take a moment Friday to remember them.
11/11 at 11:00

Lew

Rangers hope "momentum" carries them

Here is today's entry from the Midland paper about tonight's game in San Angelo against the Mustangs.

In some manner, it sounds as if Greenwood has convinced themselves that last week's game against Monahans has prepared them for tonight's game. We'll see.

Lew

The games begin tonight

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I have been on some message boards trying to get a pulse for how folks feel the playoff games will go this week.
With all due respect to Ranger Mom, it's finally time to set aside all the talk.

It's time to play football!!!

Congrats Mustangs, on another playoff run, welcome back!!!

I think it will be something like this:

Sweetwater Mustangs 35
Midland Greenwood 17
(Sweetwater 21-3 at the half)

What about the Snyder/Monahans game?

Bottom line it will be a good game. What will be the difference tomorrow night?
Experience.
Snyder went far in the playoffs last year. Snyder plays in one of the best districts in the state. Snyder can play under pressure.

Snyder 21
Monahans 10
(Snyder 7, Monahans 7 at the half)

Abilene Wylie 48
Seminole 0
(Wylie 35-0 at the half)

November 9, 2005

What they are saying

"That's the best I've run since the sixth grade super bowl," -- Greenwood sophomore quarterback Colton Wilber after rushing for 161 yards and three touchdowns in a 32-14 win over Andrews.


"That Seminole game is going to bug me until the day I die, but anytime you lose the first district game the pressure is on." Greenwood coach Steve Taylor talking about losing to Seminole 40-39 in the District 3-3A opener.

And this from the Midland paper:

Snyder 20, Greenwood 13

Against the state-ranked Tigers, Greenwood fell short of the upset. The Rangers held Snyder to 256 yards but could not overcome some costly mistakes as Greenwood had to come back from being down 20-6 in the fourth quarter.

Go Mustangs!!! Beat Greenwood!!!!

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Predictions and Ratings 3A Div I

I wanted to include this same thought on Division I from JERRY'S TEXAS FOOTBALL RATINGS

Abilene Wylie has a rating of 163.97 and Seminole has a rating of 135.20. Therefore, Wylie should easily handle Seminole this Friday by some 29 points. What I think is interesting though, is the following week, Wylie will play a tough Canyon team with a rating of 160.77 (Wylie wins that game by 3 points).

And then, there will be a terrific battle between Wylie and Gainesville (with a rating of 171.36!)

This could be the team that hands Wylie a loss. So if indeed Wylie plays Gainesville, (which Gainesville will probably play Decatur next week if all goes to plan) this is going to be a dynamite game. I was at a Chili's restaurant in Gainesville not too long ago, and the restaurant had all kinds of Gainesville stuff on the walls and fully expects to go to state again this year. Wylie should not rest on any laurels earned from last year's state championship. It's going to be a different ride this year.

Here are some other notable teams in Div. I:

Sinton (163.21)
Wimberly (170.62)
West Orange-Stark (171.90)
Gainesville (171.36)
Abilene Wylie (163.97)

Lew

Predictions and Ratings Class 3A Div II

As we move into the first week of the playoffs, several websites have their brackets set up and some even have their own predictions going.

One of my favorite sites with loads of details is JERRY'S TEXAS FOOTBALL RATINGS

Let's see how he likes this week's games. I'm not going to go into detail how he ranks the teams and awards points, but the results are very interesting.

Monahans (158.77) Vs. Snyder (160.17)
He is predicting Snyder to win by a small 1 point.
Folks, I may be way off base here. Maybe I haven't given Monahans enough respect. I personally think Snyder will do much better than 1 point, but for whatever reason, this is going to be a dynamite game, and according to Jerry, very very close.

Sweetwater (159.15) Vs. Midland Greenwood (147.68)
That means Sweetwater by 11 points.
Again, I think that's a little conservative in that the Mustangs have prooven that the first game wasn't that close and it wasn't that long ago, but what do I know?

What I think should be noted though is all three teams, Sweetwater, Snyder, and Monahans have virtually the same ratings points. So how do these ratings points compare to the rest of Class 3A? Well, let me show you:

Liberty Hill (162.75)
Cuero (164.36)
Bridge City (160.29)
Barbers Hill (160.10)
Cameron Yoe (159.81)
Tatum (161.34)
Marlin (163.60)
Dallas Madison (159.96)
Gilmer (165.17)

So theoretically, if Sweetwater played Cuero today, Cuero would win by roughly 6 points. But it appears the best team in 3A with all the number crunching appears to be Gilmer with a tabulation of 165.17. The point of all this mess is there are several teams with at or above ratings points as the 3 teams coming out of 4-3A and 3-3A. Of course I have no way of knowing what the ratings points will be next week, and I would venture to say some of the above mentioned teams won't be here next week. All of this mumbo jumbo is moot, because the real game is down on the field.

But it does raise an interesting question though. With several teams in the playoffs with close to the same talent levels and skills, what will give our Mustangs an edge? Well, how many Sweetwater Mustang fans can go to San Angelo on a Thursday night to a playoff game?
Let's have a great showing for these playoff games. The Mustangs need to be able to count on the fans, also known as the RED SEA!!!!!!!

Go Mustangs!!! WIN STATE!!!!!

Lew

November 8, 2005

The Mighty Mites

I am posting this from an earlier comment. I think it deserves top billing. Way to go Mighty Mites!

Lew

I have enjoyed reading your blog all year it has been very interesting. I did however want to tell you that all of our Sweetwater Youth Football teams made it to the playoffs this year and One of our Youth football teams, Mighty Mites, will be playing in the championship game (SuperBowl) on Sunday Nov. 13th at 2:00 pm in Shotwell Stadium in Abilene. They will be playing the Abilene Raiders which is the team out of the Wylie School district. Any support or comment that you could give that team would be greatly appreciated. We have written stories for the Sweetwater Reporter all year and they have done a great job keeping up with us but I just wanted to share this little bit of information with the Mustang Fans. I believe that a majority of the boys that play for the High School Mustangs have been a part of the Youth Football league and know how special it is to make it to the Super Bowl. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Dear Greenwood

knight1.jpg

Hey there Greenwood,

Good to see you again. Congrats on making the playoffs. I hope your experience for this 1 playoff game is going to help broaden your high school experience.

Hey Greenwood, we realize it was awhile back since we (ahem) played you. And as you know we won that game. But please don't think we are taking ya'll for granted, because we aren't.
As far as we are concerned, ya'll have gotten better since then. But so have we.

Back in the first game, we had a few people out due to injury. Guess what? We have everyone back now!

Now let's get to the game played on Thursday. By the way, who's idea was it of ya'lls to have a game on Thursday? We here in Sweetwater always have enough fans to have our games on a Friday or a Saturday in the playoffs. But oh well, it doesn't matter to us. We Mustangs love football so much, we could play at 3 in the morning on a Sunday. Anyway, about the game. How are ya'll gonna concentrate on so many things and so many weapons we have?

Let's take the jet sweep for example. We have 2 players that can run that. Greene and Batman, I mean Banyard. They were on last years state track team...You remember how fast they are? Let's say you concentrate on the corners to stop the sweep. We have a new weapon since we played ya'll last. Auston Davis, Mr. Inside. He can run right up the middle. He's tough, and ya better look out for him. I know we might not score 35 points before halftime like last time, but we sure are going to try.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Ya'll take care, and we'll see ya'll Thursday.

The Mustangs
(written by Lew)

Tougher schedule?

You tell me. Which team played the tougher schedule?


Monahans Football Team
2005-2006 Record: 1-0 Conference; 4-0 Overall
Class: Class 3A



Date Time Opponent Result
08/26/2005 8:00PM MERKEL Won 28-0 **********Common Opponent********
09/09/2005 7:30PM at ANDREWS Won 42-19 **********Common Opponent*********
09/30/2005 7:30PM at COLORADO Won 45-7
10/14/2005 7:30PM at LAMESA * Won 41-6
11/11/2005 5:30PM at SNYDER
* Conference Game


Snyder Football Team
2005-2006 Record: 3-1 Conference; 9-1 Overall
Conference: District 4 - 3A Class: Class 3A


Date Time Opponent Result
08/26/2005 7:30PM LEVELLAND Won 56-3
09/01/2005 7:30PM at LUBBOCK ESTACADO Won 43-6
09/09/2005 7:30PM LUBBOCK COOPER Won 20-13
09/16/2005 7:30PM at MIDLAND GREENWOOD Won 20-13
09/23/2005 7:30PM LAKE VIEW Won 47-0
09/30/2005 7:30PM at ANDREWS Won 33-0 *********Common Opponent********
10/07/2005 7:30PM at CLYDE * Won 42-6
10/14/2005 7:30PM SWEETWATER * Lost 6-17 (Rated #8 in the state)
10/21/2005 7:30PM at MERKEL * Won 28-0 *********Common Opponent********
10/28/2005 7:30PM ABILENE WYLIE * Won 16-13 (Rated #7 in the state, 2004 state champion)
11/11/2005 5:30PM MONAHANS

Stats reported by GoFridayNight.com.....NOTE Monahans did not report all games.

November 7, 2005

Pretenders and Contenders

Congrats to the Sweetwater Mustangs, Snyder Tigers, and Abilene Wylie Bulldogs for making the playoffs! You will represent the District well.

It's playoff time!

It's time to really showcase the teams and the action gets started fast this week. Sweetwater travels to San Angelo to take on the Midland Greenwood team on THURSDAY, Snyder plays Monahans Friday, and Wylie plays Seminole Friday.

Just a friendly reminder to all teams. Throw all the record books out the window. This is the playoffs and each team is there for a reason. Remember, the loser of these games goes home and there isn't time to recount what went wrong. Let's take a look at the games that the teams from 4-3A will have.

Let's start with the Sweetwater game since it's on a Thursday. Sweetwater defeated Midland Greenwood way back on September 9, 42-14. I think the Mustangs should approach this game as if they haven't ever played Midland Greenwood. Forget about that game and that score. Greenwood will come in with a certain revenge factor and would love to upend the Mustangs. Ball control will be the key here. The Mustangs will succeed if they hang on to the ball, minimize penalties, and just play their game. And by the way, if you can't keep from thinking about the earlier game on September 9, here are the stats from that game:

http://preps.reporternews.com/sport/football/BoxScore.cfm?SiteID=ABIL&DesignID=ABIL&GameID=380965&AwayTeamID=
27027&HomeID=26865&Gender=Boys&SportID=FTB

I don't normally like to broadcast predictions especially for high school, but here is my prediction. Sweetwater 35, Midland Greenwood 7.


Snyder Vs. Monahans: This should be a dynamite game in Midland. Lots of talk from Monahans because they are undefeated in a pretty weak district. Now I don't mean any disrespect to Monahans, but I really feel they are in for a huge surprise Friday. Ya know how those loboes must feel like out in the wild? Isn't a lobo a wild dog? Anyways...I think of a picture of a wild dog out on a road chewing on some road kill, and all of a sudden an 18 wheeler comes by and runs over the lobo? I know, it isn't a pretty thought. Neither will this game be for Monahans. Snyder will totally dismantle and shock Monahans and let's not forget about the Snyder defense. Snyder 30, Monahans 10.

Abilene Wylie Vs. Seminole: They may need to call this game at the half. Wylie 48, Seminole 0. This won't be pretty for Seminole.

Lew

November 6, 2005

Updated Brackets

Download file

I just wanted to give a special thanks to Janie Davis for her hard work on this bracket. It really helps and looks awesome janie. Thanks!

Lew

November 5, 2005

Playoff notes

Playoff Notes, Click here.

The Sweetwater Mustangs (9-1) clinched a share of the District 4-3A title with its win over Merkel Friday night. Sweetwater will take on Midland Greenwood in a first round game at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, at Bobcat Stadium in San Angelo.

Advance tickets for the game will go on sale Tuesday at the Sweetwater ISD Administration Office. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students. At the gate, tickets will be $6 per person.

The tickets will be sold from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30-4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, and Wednesday, Nov. 9. Tickets will also be sold from 8 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Nov. 10.

The Sweetwater playoff T-shirts are also available for purchase at this time. T-shirts are available in short sleeve for $12 or long sleeve for $15. Contact Kathie McElroy at 235-4371 to purchase your playoff shirt.

Brackets

Download file

Thanks Janie!!

Lew

Sweetwater 47, Merkel 6

Nunfun1.jpg

See some of the highlights here.

Lew

CONGRATS MUSTANGS!!!!!!!

Sweetwater defeats Merkel 47-6. More later!

Lew

P.S. Take care J.B. You get back soon now!

November 3, 2005

Playoff picture

Dear Fans,

Here is an article Texpreps. com and Joe Lee Smith's Week 10 rankings and notes.

This is a great website, and you may want to put this link in your favorites if you haven't already.

By the way, in Class 3A, I noticed 3 teams from District 4-3A in the rankings, but I don't see any team from District 3-3A.

Lew

Mustang Madness

And so we come down to the final regular season game against Merkel, in Merkel.

The close game against Clyde was simply a hangover from the emotional win at Snyder. Hangover may not be the correct word. But the point was, it was a satisfying win against the arch rival and then the sort of a let down feeling playing Clyde.

There should be no excuse like that this week.

I have put off writing about the Merkel game for a few reasons. Let's just say Merkel has had problems. It's hard to write about Merkel. Let's face it, they are huge underdogs. I don't like to brag about it, and I'm sure the Sweetwater Mustangs don't want to gloat about it. But Merkel is a bad team. Forgive me for being a realist. I'm not trying to be mean or disrespectful towards Merkel, but again, they have their share of problems over there.

With that said, don't you think they would love to pull off an upset of the Mighty Mustangs? It could salvage their entire season.

Dear Mustangs,
Put Merkel out of their misery early please. It's like a wounded badger. Do the humane thing and go ahead and put Merkel away in the first quarter. None of this Clyde business ok?

By the way, attention Monahans.......
I don't know which team you are going to get to play in the first round, it will either be Snyder or Sweetwater, but this I do know: You will get to "pick your poison." Both Snyder and Sweetwater are going to show you how teams from the highly touted District 4-3A play football.
Monahans is about to get a rude awakening. I know for a fact Sweetwater or Snyder is going to defeat Monahans. And it ain't bragging if you can back it up. That's the difference between 3-3A and 4-3A.

Lew

November 1, 2005

The best in 4-3A Division II

Swater Horse.jpg

vfball1.jpg

Sweetwater and Snyder are the best teams in Class 4-3A Division II.

Which one will get the honor of playing Monahans? Stay tuned!

Lew

Monahans

I know a lot of interest has surfaced about Monahans.

I read a lot of talk boards here on the internet, and not only has Monahans had a good season, they like to tell us about it also.

Here is a link to their season

I have an idea, and I think it should be fun. I think Sweetwater and Snyder should have a joint wager if you will. Sweetwater and Snyder should have a contest on who plays Monahans and defeats them.

Here are the rules:

Sweetwater and Snyder join forces to represent District 4-3A and the purpose would be to sweep District 3-3A in the upcoming first round of the playoffs. (of course Sweetwater must defeat Merkel this Friday to qualify for the contest.)

Both Snyder and Sweetwater must defeat the 2 teams representing District 3-3A in the upcoming first round of the playoffs.

The team that has the chance to play Monahans and defeats them will get a special prize.

I will write an extensive article about both Snyder and Sweetwater after their victories against District 3-3A. I'm talking cool stuff here!

Here's the kicker. Whichever team defeat Monahans, I will post a copy of the team mascot on each entry for the rest of the season. That's how bad I want District 4-3A to clean up especially against Monahans. Sound like a deal? Let me know.

Lew

High school websites

I just have to forward these informative websites sent by my by buddy JD.

Thanks!

Lew

Go to:
http://texasprepxtra.rivals.com/hsStateIndex.asp

and you can check any high school in the state of Texas for schedule and results as well as district standings. It's a pretty good website.

Also try:

http://www.texashsfootball.com/

http://pressbox.thsca.com/TeamPage.asp?action=search&nav=Pressbox&menu=01&team=12168

http://www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/football/ (This is the UIL site---you'll want to bookmark this one once playoffs start---the bracket will post here)

http://www.texasfootballratings.com/

http://www.texasbob.com/football/index.html (This site shows all the high school football stadiums in Texas, all info as well as directions!)

http://www.texasmascots.com/jav/byschoolletter.jsp?A=S (This one shows all Texas High School football mascots)

http://www.usnpl.com/txnews.html (This is a list of Texas newspapers. Most are free---except for Snyder---remember, Lew?)

New state poll

Class 3A


School Rec Pts Pvs

1. Cuero 17 8-0 196 1

2. West Orange-Stark 2 8-0 178 2

3. Cameron Yoe 9-0 143 3

4. Tatum 1 8-0 136 4

5. Wimberley 9-0 119 5

6. Sinton 8-0 96 6

7. Gainesville 9-0 88 7

8. Sweetwater 8-1 52 9

9. Snyder 9-1 40 10

10. Abilene Wylie 7-2 17 8

Others receiving votes: Monahans 13, Marlin 5, Bellville 4, Gilmer 4, Bridge City 3, Mount Belvieu Barbers Hill 2, Altair Rice 1, Hutto 1, Bonham 1, Dallas Madison 1.

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