Steers comeback attempt falls short, Andrews comes away with 56-35 win
It may not have been the result they wanted, but Head Football Coach Cannon Mcwilliams was thrilled with the way his team bounced back on Friday night after falling into a 36-7 halftime deficit. There was some rust to knock off after three weeks off from games, but the Steers showed a lot of fight and heart in Friday night's loss.
“I'm proud of our kids,” Mcwilliams said. “At points there in the third and fourth quarter, we were within 7 points after being down 35-7 to the No. 21 team in the state. We were supposed to be huge underdogs and it really ended up being a 14-point game. We played well and played hard.”
Andrews has the ability to score and score fast. They put that on display at Memorial Stadium where they defeated the hometown Big Spring Steers 56-35 on Friday night. Andrews quarterback EJ Lopez found the end zone _ times for the Mustangs on a night where the deep ball was open early and often.
Big Spring did make some halftime adjustments where Mcwilliams challenged his guys to see what they were made of. They followed that up by scoring 21 unanswered points and making a real game out Friday night's district opener.
“We just wanted to test our guys on what kind of young men they are and how they were going to respond to being down big and when things aren't going good. Football is such a great game and life teacher because it's all about how you respond when you get knocked down,” Mcwilliams said.
The Steers had been blown out by this team in year's past and the game appeared destined for a similar finish on Friday after 24 minutes of action. Big Spring's Gabriel Baeza and the rest of the offense decided they were going to show off their talented offense in the second half and had a chance to tie it up early in the fourth quarter. Defensive coordinator Brad Harman's defense also began to force some turnovers and stops that put the pressure on the Mustangs.
With two games left on the calendar against Fort Stockton and Lake View, Mcwilliams knows his squad will need to play like they did in the second half on Friday night for a chance at a second-place finish in the district.
“If we can continue to bring that kind of effort to Fort Stockton and Lake View, then great things are going to happen,” Mcwilliams said.
The Steers (3-2) will take the field next Friday night when they travel to Fort Stockton to take on the Panthers (2-5).
GAME RECAP
Big Spring received the opening kickoff on Friday night and put their offense led by junior quarterback Gabriel Baeza straight to work. Following a false start to open the game, the Steers had a screen pass that went nowhere on first down. Then, Andrews defensive lineman Jaxon Lawdermilk came up with a sack on second down, and a pass to Jose Cantu gained only one yard on third down which forced the Steers to punt it away.
Andrews could not get much going on their first drive of the night either. They shot themselves in the foot with two false start penalties before Elijah Darrow and Kaegen Mitchell came up with two huge hits on back-to-back plays. Then, defensive end Caydon Rash chased down Lopez for a sack that knocked the Mustangs back and forced them to punt.
The Steers' next drive was more productive and included a steady dose of Baeza-to-mitchell connections through the air. With the ball at Andrews' 32yard line, the Steers' drive was stopped in its tracks when Baeza threw four straight incompletions and Big Spring turned the ball over on downs.
Andrews made their first move towards the end zone on their second drive of the night. The play that kept the drive alive was a 27-yard connection from Lopez to Markeese Lawrence on a 3rd-&-12 from the Steers' 47-yard line. Two plays later, Luis Cervantes ran the option for 15 yards and set his team up inside the 5.
Big Spring then jumped offsides two plays in-a-row and Lopez was able to take the read-option run one yard into the end zone for the first Mustang score of the night. The point-after kick was good and Andrews had a 7-0 lead with 2:29 remaining in the first quarter
Big Spring was ready to answer right back.
Their next drive began at their own 49-yard line after an unsuccessful onside kick attempt from Andrews and the Steers were set up in great starting field position. The first play of the drive was a screen pass to Maverick Yanez for 47 yards that took the Steers all the way to the Mustangs'
3-yard line. After a few bad decisions, the Steers were facing a fourth down from the 10. Then, there was a pass interference call in the end zone on Andrews that gave the Steers new life.
Three plays later, Baeza found Cantu running wide open across the back of the end zone for the Steers' first score of the night. The extra point attempt kick was a success and the game was tied up at 7 early in the second quarter.
Lopez connected with Lawrence for a gain of 36 yards to start the next Andrews drive and kept going to the talented receiver. After Rash threw down a ball-carrier for a loss of five yards, Lopez found Lawrence again for a gain of 11 yards. Facing a 4th-&-9 from the 37-yard line, Lopez looked to the other side of the field and found Luke Armendariz streaking down the right sideline and ended their second straight drive in the end zone. The Mustangs now held a 14-7 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Mustangs were not done yet finding the end zone.
Both teams had trouble moving the ball on their next offensive drives and a bad Big Spring snap that sailed over Eli Cobos' head on an attempted punt allowed the Mustangs to take over on the Steers' 10-yard line. Cervantes ran it in on the first play of the drive from 10 yards out and the Mustangs had quickly increased their lead to 21-7 with just under five minutes to play in the half.
Another Big Spring three-and-out on the next drive did not help and the Steers punted it away to the Mustangs once again. This time, it took two straight pass plays for Andrews to find the end zone. The first was a 15-yard completion to AJ Britten and the second was a connection with Armendariz down the right sideline for a 45-yard score that put the Mustangs ahead 28-7 with three-and-a-half minutes left in the second quarter.
Big Spring's next drive started off well with a 12-yard completion to Dehoyos but quickly went south. A sack by Andrews' Andrew Vasquez pushed the Steers back and on fourth down, Baeza attempted to find an open receiver but was picked off by Brock Tijerina of Andrews. The Mustangs then completed a 32-yard pass to Manuel Rojo, Tijerina ran it 15 yards to set his team up inside the five and then scored from three yards out on the next play. This gave the Mustangs a commanding 35-7 lead going into the halftime break.
Now, it was the Steers turn to make some noise.
The Steers outscored the Mustangs 21-0 in the third quarter and made a great game out of a contest that seemed to be heading towards blowout territory. Andrews received the opening kickoff of the second half but Lopez was intercepted by Cobos on a throw across the middle. Then, Baeza found Dehoyos for a gain of 27 yards that moved the Steers into Andrews territory. The offensive line created a huge hole on the next play and Baeza sold the run fake perfectly on his way to the end zone for a 28-yard score. This made the score 35-14 with just over a minute played in the second half.
The Steers' next drive also took only three plays to find the end zone. After a pair of runs from Baeza and running back Orlando Sanchez, Baeza found wide receiver Quetavian Lewis for a 69-yard touchdown completion. The successful extra point attempt made the score 35-21 with 8:00 remaining in the third quarter.
Lopez was picked off once again on the next drive when Mitchell jumped in front of the intended receiver. It did not matter much, though, because Baeza was intercepted a few plays later by Jose Bustamante.
The turnover barrage was not done yet.
Andrews then fumbled on a run by Cervantes two plays later that was recovered by Big Spring's Jonathan Miller. This time, the Steers capitalized when Baeza rushed for another score from 44 yards out. The extra point made it 3528 and the Steers trailed by just seven points heading into the fourth quarter.
Cobos was able to grab another interception early in the fourth quarter and gave his team the ball back with a chance to tie it up. However, on a pass deep down the middle, there was a holding on the defense that went uncalled and the Mustangs' Bustamante was able to intercept the ball once again. “Those calls will bounce our way eventually,” Mcwilliams said. Andrews then began to put the game away following that last interception by scoring on their next three offensive drives with one Baeza-to-dehoyos 53-yard touchdown connection squeezed in-between.