FOOTBALL: Indians ambush Mustangs, 42-13

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The Hallettsville Sacred Heart Indians used a 21-point outburst in the second quarter to propel them to a 42-13 victory over the Nixon-Smiley Mustangs, Friday night, at Mustang Stadium.

“There was about a four-minute stretch we just fell apart,” said Mustangs Head Coach Troy Moses. “We just gotta get mentally tougher and stronger and respond better to adversity.”

The Indians’ offensive explosion came after a tight, fast-paced first quarter that saw Sacred Heart (2-1) take a 14-6 lead. Taking advantage of a short field, due to a penalty following a punt, the Indians drove 25 yards in just three plays, capping the drive with a 13-yard run, less than three minutes into the contest. Sacred Heart would score on the very next play from scrimmage, as Jose Ramirez picked up a Mustang fumble and scampered into the end zone untouched. Nicholas Angerstein added the extra point on both scores.

Nixon-Smiley (1-2) responded with an 80-yard run from Brayden Martinez on the very next play, but the try for two was unsuccessful, leaving the score at 14-6.

From there, Sacred Heart was able to convert three Mustang turnovers into scores in the second quarter to turn the game into a rout, with a pair of short touchdown runs from quarterback Austin Kutac and running back Korbin Koehne. Kutac also had a touchdown pass to cap the scoring, as the Indians went to the locker room, up 35-6.

The Mustangs came out in the second half and responded defensively, forcing a fumble on Sacred Heart’s first possession of the third quarter, and the offense got another big run from Martinez to set them up in the red zone, but the drive stalled and Nixon-Smiley turned the ball over on downs at the Sacred Heart 11 yard-line.

From there, the Indians proceeded to go on a 17-play, 89-yard drive that consumed most of the third and fourth quarters, converting on fourth down three times, finally finishing the drive off with  a touchdown run on fourth down.

“I’m proud (of) the way we played in the second half. Our kids played hard, all the way up to the last second,” said Moses, “We just gotta learn to respond to adversity earlier in the game.” 

Nixon-Smiley recovered a fumble late in the game and the Mustangs got a 34-yard touchdown pass from Luke Moses to Jeremiah Munoz. Sacred Heart was then able to run out the final seconds of the game.

The Mustangs are on the road next week, as they face the Charlotte Trojans. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday night.

Mustangs falter in pair of middle school games

Special to The Inquirer

On Thursday, Sept. 9, the Nixon-Smiley seventh and eighth grade middle school football teams hosted the Pirates from Lytle in the first football games of the year.

The seventh grade came up on the short end of a 32-30 score. The team was led on offense by Garet Gonzales and Alexis Tirado Cruz. Both scored two touchdowns for the Mustangs. Garet also played really well on defense. The defense was led by Khali Jantes and David Hernandez.

The eighth grade also fell short to the Pirates by the score of 20-8. The Mustangs were led by Julan Amaya, Gavino Moreno and Diego Santana. All three played tough for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs will return this week to host the Bulldogs from Yoakum. Tseventh grade game will start at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, while the eighth grade will start at 6 p.m.

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