The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD – Outright district champs again.

That’s what the Class 4A No. 1-ranked West Orange-Stark Mustangs are after they dominated the Orangefield Bobcats 60-0 to capture the District 12-4A Division II crown. Both Orange County teams will be in the bi-district round of the 4A Division II playoffs next week.

WOS, defending state champion, will take on District 11-4A fourth-place Tarkington while the Bobcats, who will be the fourth-place team in 12-4A, will tangle with 11-4A champion Bellville.

The Mustangs recorded their seventh shutout of the season. They have outscored opponents 521-30 for the season and outpointed their four 12-4A counterparts 222-7.

“All people on the street have been talking about all year is the playoffs and here we are getting ready for the ‘third season’ again,” said Mustang coach Cornel Thompson. “We had to get through these 10 first and the kids did it with flying colors. We had a tough non-district schedule and we went through it without a stumble, which we’re so proud of. We’ve just got to maintain that focus and get after it next week against Tarkington. One stumble now, and you’re done.”

The Mustangs finished with an even 400 yards of total offense.

The WOS Chain Gang Defense limited the Bobcats to just 55 total yards on 44 carries and held outstanding Orangefield back Christopher McGee to 36 yards on 18 carries. McGee had 909 yards coming in.

WOS return man Jarron Morris returned a pair of punts for touchdowns to ignite the crowd.

“We did everything well tonight,” said Thompson. “Our offense generated some big plays and defensively, we got after them all night and we got some big plays on special teams. We wanted to bounce back this week because we didn’t play a complete game against Liberty last week. We’re really proud of the kids’ efforts tonight across the board.”

The Mustangs (10-0, 4-0) stormed out to a commanding 33-0 lead at the half as they outgained the Bobcats 273-27 in the half.

Mustang quarterback Jack Dallas completed 7 of 11 passes for four touchdowns and 209 yards in the first half, including two TDs going to receiver K.J. Miller, who had two catches for 72 yards in the half.

The Bobcats (5-5, 2-2) managed just 27 yards on 21 carries with their usual high-octane running game.

Bridge City 56, Huffman Hargrave 14

HUFFMAN — The Bridge City Cardinals swamped the Huffman Hargrave Falcons in the final regular season game of the year, 56-14, in convincing fashion.

The Cardinals (7-2, 5-0) entered the final week of the regular season undefeated in district play and captured the District 10-4A Division I crown flawlessly with high-flying fashion against the Falcons (4-6, 1-4).

Bridge City will now move on to face Center (6-4), the fourth-place team out of District 9-4A D-I, in the bi-district round of the playoffs next Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Splendora High School.

The Cardinals piled up 434 yards of total offense. Bridge City showed a strong offense with multiple running backs able to take control of any drive.

Bridge City’s run game came out well, running for 247 rushing yards in the first half behind five different players.

Running back Cayce Draper lead the Cardinals with 21 carries for 126 yards rushing for the night. Draper would pass the 1,000-yard mark rushing on the season. Draper was part of a three-headed monster for the Falcon defense as he was one of three Cardinals rushers that went over 100 yards. Patrick Morris had 126 yards on eight carries and Max Baker had 110 yards on five totes.

Huffman finished with 304 yards. Back Cameron McMahon had 123 yards on 24 carries. Quarterback Dylan Lorfing was 10-of-21 for 120 yards but threw four interceptions, three of them to Cardinal defensive back Zack Honeycutt.

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Also Friday: Evadale 42, Sabine Pass 14.