Neither Magnolia West head coach Ben McGehee nor Angleton boss Jason Brittain were surprised that a 10-7 head knocker would unfold Friday night in a District 10-5A Division I football game in Angleton’s Wildcat Stadium.
After all, Angleton emerged with a 22-21 victory last year against the Mustangs, and all signs pointed to another gritty affair this time around.
“Our goal was to put up at least 24 points,” McGehee said, “but Angleton has a heck of a defense. We thought if we scored 24, we’d give ourselves a chance to win.”
As it turned out, all the Mustangs needed was Brayden Smith’s 24-yard field goal with 9:03 left in the third quarter to pull out the victory after the teams entered halftime tied at 7-7.
Truthfully, that wasn’t all Magnolia West needed. It summoned a magnificent effort by its defense, which was matched by Angleton.
Offensively, the Mustangs weren’t quite one-dimensional, but with senior running back Terry Daniels in the backfield, Magnolia West has an option which is hard to ignore.
Daniels carried 28 times for 121 hard-earned yards and accounted for the Mustangs’ lone touchdown on a 2-yard run with four minutes left in the first quarter.
“Ten points was enough tonight, fortunately, but we need to score more points,” Daniels said. “The defense is doing their job; we need to do ours.”
Daniels couldn’t help but praise the Mustang 11 which held Angleton in check.
“We’ve got a great leader in Stanford commit Sam Mattingly (senior linebacker),” Daniels said. “He’s great at what he does, and he gets our sophomore linebacker Rylan Langley fired up. And Brett Dalton, he’s a dog.”
Dalton, a senior defensive back, came up with a game-sealing interception on Angleton’s final drive, which could have produced the game-tying or game-winning points.
It was Mustang senior defensive back Brock Jedziniak, though, whose interception inside the Angleton 20-yard line set up Smith’s game-winning kick.
The win means Magnolia West (6-3, 5-2) advances to the playoffs as a No. 3 seed while talented Angleton (5-4, 4-3) will be a No. 4 seed.
Wildcat head coach Brittain wasn’t happy with the loss but knows his team will benefit from it.
“We’ve played a really tough schedule (including unbeaten Lake Creek), and everybody knows how tough our district is,” Brittain said. “Getting out and making the playoffs, you’re not going to see many teams better than what we see almost every week in district.
“We’re battle tested, and there’s nobody we’re going to play that we feel we don’t have a shot against. We’re excited about that. We still have a little work to do, and then the plan is to make a good run in the playoffs.”
Angleton will play District 9-5A Division I champion Galveston Ball in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
Magnolia West’s opponent is undetermined. The Mustangs could face Sterling, Wisdom, Waltrip or Madison, but that likely won’t be decided until after next week.
McGehee was still savoring Friday’s victory with one eye on the Mustangs’ regular-season finale at home against Friendswood.
“Our goal was to put up 24 points at least, but Angleton has a heck of a defense,” McGehee said. “We thought if we could score 24, we’d give ourselves a chance, but it turned into a defensive battle. Angleton has a lot of speed and quickness, and I thought our players did a great job of making tackles in the open field and bottling up their speed.”
Angleton’s lone touchdown was a 71-yard burst from senior Elijah Simmons, but the Wildcats were unable to produce one more explosive play which could have led to victory.
“Last year, they were beating us 14-0 at halftime and this year it was 7-7,” Brittain said. “Tonight, their defense just made one more play than us with that turnover that led to three points, and that was the difference in the game.
“Defensively, they were mixing up their fronts, they were mixing up their coverages. When we tried to check things, they checked things, too, so you have to give those guys credit. We don’t mind defensive battles. It just didn’t turn out our way tonight.”
Mustang running back Daniels embraces the heavy workload, but he’d prefer a bigger comfort zone toward the end of the game.
“Angleton’s d-line is good at the run stop, but I had to prove I could run the ball on them,” he said. “We did some good things, but we can get a lot better on offense — throwing, running, blocking, everything. This team can get a whole lot better.”
