Published: October 31, 2009 01:13 am      

Mustangs clinch playoffs with 29-10 win over Hawks

WEST ORANGE — Making the big plays when they it counted, the West Orange-Stark Mustangs qualified for the playoffs for the sixth straight year with a 29-10 victory over the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks at Hooks Stadium Friday night.

The Mustangs (7-2, 3-1) piled up 399 yards of total offense, 252 of it coming via the ground, to turn back the Hawks (4-5, 2-2).

The Mustang defense made up for a rough night by their special teams by picking off three interceptions and turning back several H-J drives deep in WO-S territory.

Mustang junior quarterback Reggie Garrett passed for 84 yards and rushed for 66 more. Tailback Darius Mitchell had a solid game, toting the pigskin 14 times for 84 yards while hauling in a touchdown pass.

“It wasn’t the prettiest of games but we’ll take it,” said Mustang coach Dan Hooks. “Offensively, we came up with a couple big plays and I was pleased with the kids’ efforts all night. We’re still making some silly mistakes here and there we’d like to correct before theplayoffs start.”

The Mustangs limited the Hawks to 235 total yards.

H-J quarterback Blake Venable completed 11-of-28 passes for 156 yards and also rushed for 77 yards on 19 carries. WO-S held H-J’s talented tailback Jacoby Turner to just four yards on seven carries.

“Defensively, I thought we were outstanding,” said Hooks. “We had a couple tough turnovers that gave them the ball deep in our territory but the defense stood tall. They did the same thing when we made some mistakes in the kicking game. They also got us pretty good on that opening kickoff.”

The Mustangs stretched a 16-10 halftime cushion to with 8:12 left in the third period when defensive back Brandon Forward picked off Venable at the Hawk 23 and returned it for a touchdown to push the advantage to 23-10.

WO-S cashed in on another H-J turnover late in the third.

Defensive back James Haynes picked off a Venable pass at the WO-S 25 and returned it to the Hawk 32. The Mustangs had a personal foul on the play that moved the leather back to the 47. That didn’t matter as Mustang scatback Darius Robinson found a big gap across the middle, barreled over one Hawk defender and darted 47 yards for the touchdown. The point-after failed as WO-S led 29-10 with 3:58 left in the third.

The Hawks used big plays to stay close to the Mustangs in the first half despite being outgained 237-105.

Hawk kick return man Garrett Gustafson took the opening kickoff 85 yards along the right side to set H-J up at the WO-S 8.

Three plays later Venable scored on a three-yard sneak up the middle. Kicker Jacoby Turner’s extra-point was good as H-J led 7-0 with 10:27 left in the first period.

The Mustangs retailiated nicely on the next series after Justin Thomas brought the ensuing kickoff back 35 yards to the Hawk 49.

Nice running by Garrett and Mitchell led to a nine-play, 49-yard touchdown march. The tandem capped it when Garrett spotted Mitchell along the right side of the end zone for a six-yard scoring toss. Justin Sparrow’s extra-point was good to make it a 7-7 game with 7:08 left in the first.

WO-S went up 10-7 after driving from their own 36 to the Hawk 10. Garrett had a big 36-yard keeper to keep the drive humming before the Hawk defense stiffened. Sparrow came in and drilled a 27-yard field goal to put the Mustangs up by three with 2:43 still in the first.

The Hawks got a break with 10:09 left in the half when  linebacker John Scott picked off a Garrett pass at the Mustang 15 and returned it to the 3.

WO-S’ ‘Chain Gang” defense held steady though, pushing H-J all the way back to the 10. The Hawks settled for knotting the score as Turner booted a 27-yard field goal with 7:51 in the half.

After Thomas picked off a Venable pass at the Mustang 23 with 4:13 left, the Mustangs hit paydirt in four plays. A little WO-S “razzle-dazzle” caught the Hawks off-guard.

Garrett threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage to receiver Justin Francis and Francis heaved a strike to fellow receiver Mark Roberts, who was wide-open along the left sidelines. Roberts sprinted into the end zone on the 63-yard bomb. The point-after attempt was blocked as the Mustangs led 16-10 with 3:01 in the half. Roberts finished the night with three catches for 89 yards. Francis caught six for 52 yards.

“That was a play we really needed at that point,” said Hooks. “That’s called ‘The Hawk’ play andit worked toperfection. We really caught them offguard with that one.”

Venable promptly completed two passes that went for 70 yards to receivers Gustafson and Sadion Vallery as the Hawks moved all the way down to the Mustang 5. However, the WO-S defense buckled down again and Turner missed a 22-yard field goal with 0:02 left.

Garrett completed 7-of-13 passes for 76 yards in the first 24 minutes and rushed for 42. Mitchell had 49 yards on eight totes.

Venable was 4-for-8 for 84 yards and rushed for 23 more.

The Mustangs will close out the regular season with a road trip to Orange County rival Orangefield next week.



WO-S 29

H-J 10



WO-S 10 6 13 0 — 29

H-J 7 3 0 0 — 10

Scoring summary

H-J - Blake Venable 3 run. Jacoby Turner kick.

WO-S - Darius Mitchell 6 pass from Reggie Garrett. Justin Sparrow kick.

WO-S - Sparrow 27 field goal.

H-J - Turner 27 field goal.

WO-S - Mark Roberts 63 pass from Justin Francis. Kick blocked.

WO-S - Brandon Forward 23 interception return. Sparrow kick.

WO-S - Darius Robinson 47 run. Kick failed.





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WO-S H-J

First downs 18 11

Rushes-yards 39-252 31-79

Passing 147 156

Comp-Att-Int 10-20-0 11-29-3

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 3-1

Penalties-Yards 7-60 5-37



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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—WO-S, Mitchell 14-84, Garrett 10-66, Robinson 2-48, Stephen Cook 9-44, James Haynes 3-15, Team 1-(-5); H-J, Venable 19-77, Garrett Gustafson 2-11, Tuner 7-4, Jeremiah Richard 2-0, Team 1-(-13).

PASSING— WO-S, Garrett 9-19-1 84, Francis 1-1-0 63; H-J, Venable 11-28-3 156, Turner 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING—WO-S, Francis 6-52, Roberts 3-89, Mitchell 1-6; H-J, Gustafson 4-67, Sadion Vallery 2-43, James Morrison 2-24, Turner 2-18, Caleb Modzelewski 1-4.