Mustangs fall to Cowboys in district opener

The Nixon-Smiley Mustangs hosted the Cotulla Cowboys for the district opener for District 15-3A Division II Friday, Sept. 27.

It was a tale of two halves for the Mustangs; Nixon-Smiley shutdown Cotulla’s offense in the first half of the game, but in the second half, the Cowboys came back and took the lead in the third quarter, 12-11, en route to an 18-11 defeat of the Mustangs.

“We knew how tough the Cowboys were. We understood it was going to be a dogfight all the way through to the very end of the game. We still got a chance there at the end. We have just got to put some stuff together,” Mustangs head football coach Paul Kirby said. “Hats off to them. They're a well coached team. They're tough as nails. They're a great team, and we wish them the best of luck. But we’ve got to strap our helmets on for next week for Poth and we talked about playing the perfect game. That's what our offense is designed to do. You have to be perfect. You can't have mistakes. And we had a few of those tonight.”

The Mustangs offense rushed for 143 yards total on the ground by running backs Julian Amaya, Garet Gonzales, Aiden Flores and Joe White and quarterback Eric Rodriguez; Flores carried the ball 15 times for 38 yards and one touchdown and Amaya kicked a 30-plus yard field goal.

Defense recorded three quarterback hurries by John Garza, Jaylun Rodriguez, and Ryan Paez; and defensive back Tristen Mikesh recorded an interception for 20 yards.

The Mustangs will go on the road Friday, Oct. 4 for a district game against the No. 2-ranked Poth Pirates. Kirby and his team have already begun looking at game planning for this game.

“They're Poth, they're really good, they're gonna be solid. We are going to do everything we can to play the perfect game like we did tonight, and we're gonna continue to game plan around Poth’s strengths and weaknesses, and we're gonna fix some things that we need to fix tomorrow,” Kirby said after the game. “But the biggest thing right now is just remaining tough for four full quarters, and that's something we're buying into and I love it. So these kids are tough, we're gonna continue to do what we need to do to try to be victorious.”

The Mustangs dropped to 0-1 in district and 1-3 overall with their 18-11 loss to Cotulla.

The Poth game kicks off at 7 p.m. in Jake Lane Field.

--STATS--

OFFENSE:

Passing:

E. Rodriguez: 4/7 completions for 55 yards

Rushing:

A. Flores: 15 carries for 38 yards and one touchdown

G. Gonzales: 13 carries for 45 yards

J. Amaya: nine carries for 47 yards

E. Rodriguez: seven carries for 11 yards

J. White: two carries for six yards

Receiving:

A. Flores: two receptions for 20 yards

Gavin Garcia: one reception for 35 yards

DEFENSE:

Tackles:

Timothy McGlothine and J. Garza: seven total tackels

Davian Ramos: six total tackles

A. Flores: five total tackles

Khali Jantes and J. Rodriguez: three total tackles

J. Amaya, Nicholas Martinez, and R. Paez: two total tackles

Noe Hernandez and Adrian Zamora: one total tackle

Interceptions:

T. Mikesh: one interception

Quarterback hurries:

J. Garza, J. Rodriguez and R. Paez: one quarterback hurries

SPECIAL TEAMS:

J. Amaya: 1/1 in field goals