(FREE) Mustang Survives 49-48 Thriller Against Norman North
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Mustang 49, Norman North 48 |
Mustang (2-2) ended up on the right side of this Friday-night barnburner to open district play.
For the Broncos, the win establishes a great start headed into meaningful games, but for Norman North (3-1), a loss headed into a tough stretch of games means the Timberwolves will have to work harder to catch up.
TURNING POINT |
The Broncos were on the downside of the scoring trade, either lagging a score behind North or tying the score for most of the game until the third quarter, when Mustang scored 28 unanswered points to take a 49-28 lead. Although this margin ultimately clinched the district win for Mustang, the Broncos hadn’t seen the last of Norman North.
The Timberwolves responded via an 80-yard connection from Gavin Frakes Gavin Frakes 6'4" | 210 lbs | QB Norman North | 2022 State OK to Cason Cabinness, then a Frakes quarterback keeper, then a 5-yard pass to Brayden Dorney. At that point, the T-Wolves trailed one with the decision to tie it with a kick or take the lead with a 2-point conversion.
North elected to go for the win, and it appeared that Frakes had made a spectacular play to Hayden Hack Hayden Hack 6'3" | 175 lbs | WR Norman North | 2022 State OK , but the conversion was negated due to ineligible player downfield and too many players in the backfield against North. The Timberwolves also tried an onside, but Mustang recovered it and regained possession with two minutes to go.
The game looked out-of-hand, a minute later, when Mustang quarterback Tristen Russell Tristen Russell 5'11" | 175 lbs | QB Mustang | 2023 State OK broke away for a 45-yard gain, and it looked like he was going to reach the end zone until, just before he broke the plane, a North defenders poked the ball toward the end zone and recovered it at the one yard-line.
With 54 seconds to go, the T-Wolves had 99 yards to cover; they got to work quickly with completions to Cabinness and Chapman McKown Chapman McKown 5'8" | RB Norman North | 2023 State OK , who got out of bounds; shot by shot, gain by gain, the North offense drove down the field and stopped the clock. They got all the way to the 3 yard-line as the clock drained to 5 seconds. They were called for 12 players on the field on an attempt to spike the ball. The Broncos chose to decline the penalty, which caused the clock to start once the official blew his whistle; the T-Wolves set up for an 18-yard field goal, but it was too little, too late as the clock expired.
PLAYER OF THE GAME |
Jay Bedford rushed for four touchdowns to lead the Broncos to the win.
The junior back rushed for 137 yards, including scoring plays of 50 and 33 yards. He capitalized on a North defense focused on stopping Mustang’s air game, often finding space out of the trenches and making the most of it after that. He’s an intuitive back with great feel for the game, who can accelerate in a blink and evade tacklers at the second tier.
QUOTABLE |
Bedford, in fact, was rather offended that North used a desaturated interior in favor of protecting the deep threat, he said after the win.
“The defensive coordinator for [North] said that they felt like they could stop our run with six in the box,” said Bedford.
“So all week at practice, we had a chip on our shoulder to show that our run game was like that.”