Mustangs pull away from Loboes to end title drought
Mustang end zone greetings
Even for the best high school programs, winning a district championship isn’t easy. And after winning just one game in 2018, Sweetwater was just trying to get respect. But after Friday’s 48-32 win over Monahans, the Mustangs are District 1-4A D-II champs — their first district title since the 2015 season.
And after an off-week — which will be their second in three weeks — Sweetwater will face the No. 4 team from District 2-4A, D-II in the bi-district playoffs. Unlike 1-4A, 2-4A still has one week left in its season and its five teams — Lubbock Estacado, Perryton, Seminole, Levelland and Borger — are separated by 1 1/2 games in the standings.
So Ben McGehee, Sweetwater’s head coach, and his players will have to wait a few more days just to find out who they will play next.
Greenwood (3-1) will be the No. 2 seed, Monahans (2-2) the No. 3 seed and Pecos (1-3) the No. 4 seed in 1-4A after Friday’s finales.
Monahans gave Sweetwater all it could handle for the first three quarters. It was down just 28-26 after a touchdown, followed by a failed two-point conversion run attempt, with 7:23 left in the third period.
But Sweetwater put the game away with three unanswered touchdowns — a 17-yard Leo Holsey pass to receiver Jordan Sims, then a 2-yard Holsey sneak, plus two-point Holsey pass to Darian Carr, and finally a highlight-reel Holsey run of 15 yards where he met a Monahans defender head on en route to the end zone to all but clinch the win with 4:04 left to play.
“We’ve been pouring a lot into these kids the last three years,” said McGehee. “It’s a testament to them that they committed to believe in us as coaches and to believe in the process we were going through even when we had tough times. I’m fired up for our kids and coaches. They (coaches) are enjoying these rewards too.”
With its seventh consecutive victory, Sweewater has now matched its longest win streak since 2017, its first year under McGehee. And once again Holsey had a spectacular effort as the third-year quarterback ran for three scores and passed for three more – two to Carr and the other to Sims that came less than two minutes after Monahans had pulled within two points.
A lost fumble on its second play and 7-0 deficit put Sweetwater on its heels early as Monahans scored on a 5-yard run. Sweetwater tied it 7-7 a short time later on a 32-yard Holsey run and successful PAT by kicker Omar Hernandez, then forced a short Monahans punt that gave Sweetwater the ball at the 35-yard line of the Loboes — leading to a 22-yard Holsey-to-Carr scoring pass and 13-7 lead after one quarter.
Sweetwater increased its advantage to 21-7 in the second quarter when Carr caught his second TD pass, a 15-yarder, from Holsey and Cedrick Brown ran over a two-point conversion. But Monahans sandwiched two scores around Brown’s 5-yard TD run, narrowing
Sweetwater’s lead to eight points, 28-20, at halftime.
The Loboes got their last score with just :20 left, then cut Sweetwater’s lead down to just two in the third quarter on a 3-yard run by quarterback Cheno Navarrette.
But then Holsey took over by leading a scoring drive that put his team in charge from that point with 20 unanswered points.