By Caleb Adams

The Orange Leader

LIBERTY – The West Orange-Stark Mustangs made it look easy Friday night as they blistered the Liberty Panthers 39-0 on the road in District 10-4A Division II action at Panther Stadium. out the Liberty Panthers with a final of 39-0 in Liberty this Friday night.

Defense, for the Mustangs (6-1, 3-0), was the name of the game. Their offense performed well and got out to a big lead, but the defense was able to shut out the Panthers (3-5, 0-3) on offense and cause a lot of frustration for the opposing offense. The Panthers had a rush heavy approach but the Mustang defense front seven was stout and gave up less than 100 total yards as they limited the Panthers to just 98.

The Mustangs finished with 260 yards.

Mustang quarterback Jerren Terrell passed for 122 yards. Jayson Ziegler, Jr. had a nice ninght on the ground with 76 yards on six carries.

The Mustangs got the ground game going on their second possession of the quarter and took the game’s first lead.

Jayson Zeigler Jr. and Andre Thomas Jr. had long runs for 24 and 23 yards respectively to set up the Mustangs inside the red zone in just three plays. On the fourth play Zeigler would punch it in from two yards out to take the early lead. The Mustangs led 6-0 after the failed two-point conversion with 21 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Mustangs used the pass to set up the run the next time, sending Elijah Gales into the end zone to extend the lead. Jerren Terrell connected on a 13-yard pass to Chavon Crawford to put the Mustangs inside the red zone after starting at the Panther 20. Terrell would handoff to Gales, who punched it in from two yards out after a couple of tries. The two-point conversion would not succeed, putting the Mustang lead at 12-0 with just under four minutes left in the first half.

The Mustangs opened up the second half with a shifty kickoff return touchdown from Gales. The Panthers would try for the onside kick to start the half, but Gales was in the right place as the ball came right to him, and he didn’t look back. Gales would run for a long 55-yard touchdown return to make the lead 19-0 after the PAT went through just four seconds into the second half.

Terrell’s arm put the Mustangs in the end zone again, this time with a couple decent passes. Terrell would find Zeigler and Jubar Ross during the drive for just over 20 yards together. The run game would set up the Mustangs to get them close to the red zone, and able to convert the touchdown as Terrell found Ross for a 10-yard TD strike. After the PAT missed the score was 25-0 with 5:30 left in the third quarter.

Gales punched in another touchdown from two yards out to extend the lead for the Mustangs by even more heading into the final quarter. Zeigler would find a couple big runs to set up Gales to run it in from the two, but the penalties by the Mustangs added a few plays to their drive. After the PAT the Mustangs led by a whopping 31-0 over the Panthers, with just 46 seconds left in the third quarter.

Terrell would find Zeigler again on a touchdown pass to extend the lead to a place where the Panthers couldn’t have an answer.. After a fumbled punt by the Panthers, the Mustangs got the ball just outside of the opposing red zone. It would only take two plays, ending with a 14-yard pass from Terrell to Zeigler. After the PAT the Mustangs would lead 39-0 with 7:45 left in the game.

 

Mustangs will look to finish up the district season on a high note and head into the playoffs with a full head of steam. They will look to claim the outright 10-4A title next week when they host Hamshire-Fannett. Hamshire-Fannett (6-2, 2-1) fell to Silsbee (5-4, 3-1) 27-21 Friday.

Liberty will travel to Hardin-Jefferson next week with that winner earning the fourth-place playoff berth.