Halliburton's account of WO-S win at H-F

[Small fry]

WO-S survives wild ride, 42-28

By Tom Halliburton

    Disney World may never offer a more bizarre roller-coaster ride than West Orange-Stark and Hamshire-Fannett would experience in this strange district opener.

    From the dangerous dungeon of 21-0 as a Longhorn Stadium visitor, West Orange-Stark hopped onto the high rails for 35 unanswered points and claimed a hard-earned 42-28 victory Friday night.

   The Mustangs (4-2 and 1-0) survived by changing their defensive approach at halftime, summoning Channing Larkin and his friends to pressure H-F passer Blake Broussard while the offense unveiled its own clutch air game.

   Yes, Orange County, this WO-S team can throw the ball too. Senior quarterback Kwalin Dugas proved it time and time again in the second half, complementing the dependable ground work of Khelvy Jefferson who punched in just another five-touchdown night and settled for quite a few one-yard gains.

   WO-S sat back for a half, pressuring the Longhorns passer very little. Broussard threw two scoring passes and caught another one. The talented H-F quarterback was 7 for 7 before the bands played.

   That’s when WO-S coach Hiawatha Hickman decided his defense had to make the ride more scary for H-F and send pressure with man-to-man coverage gambles. The Mustangs’ journey turned way more pleasant after that.

   “We had to start bringing pressure,” Hickman said. “We stopped covering them and had to start doing what we do. We didn’t plan on being down like that…. We just manned up and let the chips fall.”

   H-F entered nose tackle Channing Larkin's brutal tunnel in the second half. The Mustangs’ pressure started with Larkin, a tenacious two-way all-district player who never came off the field. 

   Larkin batted down passes, bottled up runs, hurried H-F’s plays and often just flat destroyed them. If Larkin wasn’t doing it, Anterrion Fontenot or Alexander Thomas was. The Mustangs decided they were going to enjoy the rest of the roller coaster.

   The result: H-F scored no second-half points and managed 80 yards after enjoying every twist and turn of the ride’s first half with 28 points and 183 yards. Meanwhile, the visiting passengers found the roller coaster became much smoother.

   Jefferson delivered his usual expected superior trip, carrying 25 times for 176 yards and five touchdowns. In spite of that outing, Longhorns coach Mark Waggoner felt his team did an acceptable job of enduring Khelvy's sprints and pivots.

    “I thought we bottled him (Jefferson) up pretty good,” Waggoner said. “Khelvy is an incredible player and the most prolific back in our area.”

    Jefferson managed two dashes of more than 12 yards. One covered 58 yards, setting up the Mustangs’ early touchdown. The next one turned the momentum in the first two minutes of the second half. The remarkable senior took a sideways handoff and ran 64 yards, cutting H-F’s lead to 28-20.

    This roller coaster offered an incline the H-F coaches had not anticipated at that point. Broussard went a shaky 4 for 13 after half and the lesser-heralded passer sent H-F on a painful, downhill skid. Dugas completed 8 of 9 second-half passes, finding five different receivers and connecting five times with junior Braydon Gipson for 111 yards.

   “We really hadn’t seen that (WO-S passing skills of Dugas),” Waggoner admitted.

  If the Horns could have changed one portion of their roller coaster suspense, they would have liked to alter the outcome of one snap early in the fourth quarter. That’s when Broussard threw a costly interception with the score tied at 28-28.

  The Horns passer was flushed out of the pocket, chunking a rainbow that bounced off the helmet of teammate Parker Sebastian near the goalline. Mustangs defensive back Travon Williams took the carom toward midfield. Near the end of the play, it became more disastrous for H-F when tackle Riddick Hurd sustained an upper arm fracture. A lengthy delay ensued as the standout senior was carted off the field.

   If H-F’s ride was going to improve, the Horns had to stop a third-down play nearly midfield in the final three minutes. That’s when Dugas solved 3^rd and 7 with a 51-yard throwback pass to Gipson inside H-F’s 5. Dugas struggled with his accuracy early in the ride but finished 12 of 17 for 174 yards and a touchdown. He also carried the ball 10 times for 52 yards.

   “I put a lot of work (on my passing) behind closed doors,” Dugas said of his off-season efforts to improve as a passer. “We showed we could be more versatile.”

   Tom Halliburton is a sports correspondent for the Beaumont Enterprise