Gabe

thats what I was thinking

I have seen many practices, workouts and watched many coaches coach being a sports writer and WO-S takes a backseat to nobody. When I came to The Orange Leader after living and graduating from PN-G of course I had feelings against the Mustangs. After several years being around this team, I have nothing but the highest respect this program. Gilmer can easily win this Saturday and the same can be said for WO-S. Both are good enough to beat the other - it should be a prime example of what Texas high school football is all about. Yet I can say Gilmer will not win because WO-S was not prepared, out-coached or a lack of discipline. WO-S or Gilmer will win Saturday because they were the better team that day and did what it takes to get the victory. Good luck to both teams and everyone be safe on the way to Lufkin.

As a PN-G alumni I wish the best for both PN-G and Coach Matt Burnett. I am saddened it came to this and all this negative talk is surrounding OUR Indians. I would have never dreamed PN-G would seem so divided. Coach Burnett would not even want it to be like this and I'm sure the school board is the same way. Whichever direction the board goes with a new coach, I surely hope these days of Indians arguing with Indians is over in a hurry. It really does shock me.

ive always thought Nederland seems to get a hard draw in the playoffs every single year. The Bulldogs seem to always play a highly ranked team in the second or third round right off the bat. The Dogs day will come

Speaking as a PNG grad and proud Indian - I too do not have a good feeling about this one.

DAllas Brown, Matt Johnson, Hunter Gonzales....and now my mind goes completely blank...HELP ME OUT ADMIN lol

Heard it was their second year ever to play volleyball too!

Amen admin, amen. Coach Crouch's offense is three rounds deep in the playoffs and still unbeaten. I know the defense is great yet give the man some credit. Saying the Mustangs offense doesn't run like it should also in a way slaps some great players in the face who have some gaudy numbers this year.

That is almost comical. WO-S is in shape. That is the last concern on any Mustangs' mind.

Good assessment bulldog

Congrats Jake. Proud to be able to have covered such a great player

Traditionally they are. Is PNG a step up over LCM? Both have been disappointing as of late but most would say PNG is a step up.

OU sucks so much they are winning 65-14 over the No. 2 team in the nation and still seem to suck

If its true, Lumberton find a way to keep him. He is a great coach and I have enjoyed what he has been able to do over there. Yet, LaMarque is a premier job and you hate to keep someone away from taking a step up in their career.

Mike we must have a show Monday! Here is how I see this game.... Gilmer gives up points and yards. WO-S can and should move the ball. Hypolite is a great leader and will do it again. A huge part of the Mustangs offense right now is the re-emergence of Q. Garrett. He is running wild and you can see in his eyes he does not plan on being stopped. If he has this same desire again Saturday, I don't care what defense the Mustangs are playing - he will get his yards and score some more. The WO-S needs to show patience in scoring and let the defense do its job and then take advantage of the opportunites given to them. Gilmer expects to score big. They will not put up 400 yards and 40 points on WOS. It simply will not happen. If WO-S can keep Gilmer in the 20's, WO-S can score enough to win the game and move on. WO-S needs a great defensive stand right off the bat to show Gilmer is going to be in a fight for yardage. It is exactly what they did to Caldwell. You could see the doubt in Caldwell's eyes right off the bat, even after the 75 yard run. The Hornets were not used to being wrapped up 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage. WO-S needs that to happen again. Put a little doubt and fear into Gilmer then let Hypo and Garrett go to work.

Trey Franks had an INT, a fumble recovery and chased down that qb on the 75 yard run with that cast on his hand too. The pass was a major duck floating through the air but he still went up and got it.

Because the competition is stiff and there are other really good teams out there. The "most talented" teams don't always win. There are too many intangibles to the game of football. Why doesn't Southlake Carroll win it every year? Why doesn't Katy win it every year? Why doesn't Northshore win it every year? Why doesn't LaMarque win it every year? That's football... Great post. Things happen in football.

Turning the table WO-S ground attack buries Caldwell, 37-7 Van Wade The Orange Leader THE WOODLANDS — Simply put, the Caldwell Hornets got a taste of their own medicine Friday night in the Class 3A Region III Division II area round playoff game against the third-ranked West Orange-Stark Mustangs. The Hornets checked into the contest averaging a stunning 406 yards on the ground and 464.5 yards a game total. However, it was the Mustang ground arsenal that gobbled it up time and time again at The Woodlands’ Woodforest Bank Stadium. Senior tailback Quintavious Garrett rumbled for 217 yards on 22 carries and senior quarterback Ortavious Hypolite ran for 123 yards on 15 totes as the Mustangs rolled up 392 of their 468 total yards on the ground to post a decisive 37-7 victory. Garrett now has 1,117 yards rushing on the season. The Mustangs will take on Gilmer, a 50-36 winner over Mexia Friday, in the regional semifinals next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Lufkin High School. “It was a complete team victory,†said Mustang head coach Dan Hooks. “We proved tonight that our running game could be pretty darn salty. Quinney (Garrett) ran wild. The kid has had big nights like this before but he hasn’t done it like he did tonight, running through people and dragging them around all over the place.†The Mustang “Chain Gang†defense held the Hornets to just 167 total yards, almost 300 less than they averaged. “I’m so darn happy with our kids,†said defensive coordinator Cornel Thompson. “Caldwell has an excellent running attack but our old kids just hunkered down and got after it. They played great, mentally-sound football tonight and we were way more physical. You have to play that way against a team like that and the kids responded in a big way.†The Mustangs erased a 7-0 deficit by scoring 21 unanswered points in the second period. WO-S (10-0) went up 28-7 early in the third period thanks to a strange play. Mustang punter James Haynes saw his punt blocked by Hornet Nicholas Havermann but Haynes caught the block in mid-air and ran 18 yards to the Hornet 38. On the next play Garrett got loose on a 38-yard scamper up the middle as he went untouched and into the end zone with 9:32 in the third. The Mustangs moved the leather from their own 35 all the way to the Hornet 8 early in the fourth period and Sparrow made it 31-7 when he nailed his second field goal of the season from 25 yards with 11:16 left in the game. The Mustangs chewed up 61 yards on yet another nice scoring drive in the fourth. WO-S capped it when Hypolite, getting great protection, hit receiver Curtis Rose on a 25-yard dart pass for a touchdown with 4:58 left, making it 37-7. Caldwell (6-4) got on the board first with their third series of the game. Slick Hornet quarterback Trentin Sims faked an inside handoff to his fullback and sprinted around the right end down the WO-S sideline for a 74-yard scamper all the way down to the Mustang 10. Two plays later Sims took the honors as he zipped around the left end for a 9-yard touchdown dart. Kicker Michael McCoy’s point-after kick was good as the Hornets grabbed a 7-0 edge with 1:42 remaining in the first quarter. “They got loose on that one play, but that was it,†said Hooks. “Cornel (Thompson) put together a great plan all week in practice. He spent countless hours studying everything Caldwell does. You hold a team to 300 yards less than what they averaged coming in, that’s a whale of a job. Not too many people can do that and that’s a credit to our kids and Coach Thompson.†The Mustangs took advantage of a Caldwell miscue to get points on the board early in the second. A punt snap went over the head of Hornet punter D.J. Cumby and WO-S’ Kevin Robinson pounced on him at the Hornet 32 with 1:49 in the half. The Mustangs scored five plays later. James Haynes scored on a 6-yard sweep around the right end that was called back due to holding. However, two plays later Hypolite found a streaking Adrian Steen over the middle for an 8-yard touchdown strike. Justin Sparrow’s extra-point kick was good, enabling the Mustangs to tie it at 7-7 with 8:11 in the half. The Mustangs used the brute force of Garrett to grab the lead. WO-S dashed 75 yards in six plays to find the end zone. Garrett took the first play of the series 31 yards around the right side, carrying Hornets on his back. After Hypolite ran twice for 17 yards, Garrett capped it with a 19-yard touchdown blast straight up the gut and he carried three Hornets on his back to get into the end zone, making it 14-0 with 4:23 still in the half. WO-S got the Hornets to cough the ball up again when defensive back Trey Franks picked off Randall Lister on the wide receiver’s pass attempt at the Mustang 31 with 2:36 in the half. Hypolite quickly put a dagger into the hearts of the Hornets as the senior leader bolted along the right sideline and outran the Caldwell secondary on a 69-yard sprint to the end zone, making it a 21-7 game with 2:12 left. “Hypo, he’s the man, what more can you say about him,†said Hooks. “He’s so smooth out there and the kids feed off that. He broke loose on that big one and those two touchdown passes were right on the money.†The Mustangs missed an opportunity late in the half when Franks jumped on a Kyson Wooverton fumble at the Hornet 13. WO-S failed to move the ball and Sparrow missed a 30-yard field goal attempt that went wide-left with 0:34 left. The Mustangs outgained the Hornets 265-96 in the first half. Garrett had 11 carries for 113 yards. Hypolite had nine totes for 91 yards and completed 4-of-8 passes for 48 yards. Sims had three carries for 80 yards. Sims finished the game with 72 yards on 10 carries. He completed 3-of-6 passes for 24 yards. Hornet fullback Woolverton, who entered the game with more than 1,300 yards, had just 35 yards on 16 carries. Tailback Nelson Scott, who had 1,100 coming in, finished with 44 yards on eight carries. WO-S 37 Caldwell 7 WO-S 0 21 7 9 — 37 CW 7 0 0 0 — 7 Scoring summary Caldwell – Trentin Sims 9 run. Michael MCCoy kick. WO-S – Adrian Steen 8 pass from Ortavious Hypolite. Justin Sparow kick. WO-S – Quintavious Garrett 19 run. Sparrow kick, WO-S – Hypolite 69 run. Sparrow kick. WO-S – Garrett 38 run. Sparrow kick. WO-S – Sparrow 25 field goal. WO-S – Curtis Rose 29 pass from Hypolite. Kick fail WO-S CW First downs 20 6 Rushes-yards 43-392 40-143 Passing 76 24 Total 468 167 Comp-Att-Int 6-12-0 3-7-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-1 Penalties-Yards 3-20 2-15 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—WO-S Garrett 22-217, Hypolite 15-123, James Haynes 2-31, Stephen Cook 4-21. Caldwell Trentin Sims 10-72, Nelson Scott 8-44, Kyson Woolverton 16-35, Kedrin Sheppard 5-14, Team 1-(-22). PASSING— WO-S Hypolite 6-12-0 76; Caldwell Sims 3-6-0 24, Randall Lister 0-1-1 0. RECEIVING—WO-S Steen 2-33, Rose 1-29, Mark Roberts 1-8, Haynes 1-7, Garrett 1-(-1). Caldwell Scott 1-13, Eli Gage 1-6, DJ Cumby 1-5.

Could not agree more with this statement admin. Good coaching and the players are working hard in the offseason.

Dayton---who was the broncos qb or maybe it was their rb in about 1999 or 2000? I remember yall having a great one in that time frame when they played PNG at LU

Coaches get together and vote

Matt has decided to come back to BC. This topic will remained locked due to the fact we are talking about a HS kid and several of us mods did not like where it went when it was opened.

Why give kudos for giving his opinion? That's his job. Let's give kudos to the garbage man also for dumping that trash can. Same thing. Actually yes you should. Are you out there dumping trash unless you are a trash man? I am a type of person who gives honor to anyone's line of work as long as it is legal and ethical. Someone has to do the jobs.

real impressive win. Been saying for a few years Jasper was getting close. Really like the work this coach has been doing.

One thing I want to point out is the world "column" on the Port Arthur News' website. This means this is not a news story and is Tom Halliburton's opinion. Whether you agree or disagree, we sports writers and journalists are paid to have opinions. It takes a lot of courage to right what you feel knowing many people who read it will only criticize you. I applaud people in this profession who can write an opinion column, put his name and headshot to it and stand by his opinion. There is no hiding from it behind false names and it is out there in the open for anyone to read. I have done it myself on many issues and will continue to do it because of people like Tom and Bob who have taught me to not care if what you write will cause friction. Be a man, write your opinion and feel great you have this liberty to do so in this country. Kudos Tom for giving your opinion whether anyone else, or I for that matter, agree or not.