WO-S, Vidor have final tune-up
It was the final time for both the West Orange-Stark Mustangs and the Vidor Pirates to work out the kinks as they butted heads in a scrimmage at the East Campus Stadium at West Orange-Stark Friday night.
Both teams showed plenty of promise as the game, which had four 10-minute quarters, ended in a 14-14 deadlock.
West Orange-Stark showed its prowess in passing the ball behind senior quarterback Ortavious Hypolite and receivers James Haynes, Trey Franks and Josh Gloston while the Pirates moved the ball extremely well on the ground behind backs Jake Travis, Theron Reynolds, Devin Dart and quarterback Chris Teinert and a stout offensive line.
“Dayton gave us a tremendous test last week and we knew Vidor would this week too,” said long-time Mustang head coach Dan Hooks. “This time of year is when you want to make the mistakes, not next week and especially not in district. The kids have been working hard and we’re just wanting to get this thing kicked off.”
The yellow hankie was the “theme” on a lot of occasions Friday night with plenty of holding calls and false starts and illegal touching on pass defense. Things that you would expect from a scrimmage.
“I’m real pleased with our kids,” said Vidor head coach Jeff Mathews. “We moved the ball pretty well against Orangefield last week and I thought we did well tonight against a tremendous West Orange team. We’re still making those silly mistakes here and there but that’s to be expected. One thing I can’t fault is our kids’ effort. They’re really playing hard.”
The Mustangs scored on the very first play from scrimmage in the first period as Hypolite hooked up with Franks on a beautiful 99-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline. Franks faked out a Vidor defender and hauled in the ball around the 50 and sprinted the rest of the way.
After a bevy of penalties on both squads, the Mustangs finally punched in a nice scoring drive when Hypolite found Gloston on a 6-yard slant over the right side of the end zone to make it a 14-0 game late in the second period.
Vidor remained patient though, using a grinding running game.
Travis capped off a 70-yard scoring march with a 12-yard scamper around the left side late in the third period to make it 14-7.
Dart evened the game with 3:20 left in the game when he blasted his way off right tackle for a 10-yard touchdown dart.
The Mustangs, however, weren’t finished. Hypolite hooked up with Haynes on a 35-yard pass that went down to the Pirate 18 with 2:20 left. Hypolite then scored what would’ve been the scrimmage-winning touchdown as he used his lanky frame to bolt 18 hard yards up the middle for a touchdown. However, the touchdown was called back due to a false start.
Vidor defensive back Trae Hester put out the Mustangs’ fire when he picked off a Hypolite pass at the 12 with 1:32 remaining. The Pirates then ran out the remainder of the time to settle for the tie.
The Mustangs, 11-2 last season and winners of 24 straight district games since dropping to the Class 3A ranks four seasons ago, open the season next Friday at old District 20-4A rival Nederland.
The Pirates, 2-8 in 2007, start their 2008 campaign at home Friday against Beaumont Kelly.