On Tuesday, Oct.17, our 8th grade football teams faced off against a fierce competitive rival here at Canyon. But how did our upperclassmen fair against the green and gold of Walsh?

At 5:30, the Blue team game kicked off. Four plays later, the home team was up 6-0, having scored on a long touchdown run by Eric Moon, but missed out on the two-point conversion. For the rest of the first quarter, both offenses stagnated, with multiple fumbles and three-and-outs the outcomes of potential offensive drives. But in the second quarter, the offense came back to life, with Eric Moon scoring another touchdown after Walsh scored early in the quarter to make the game 12-8 in favor of the Red and Blue going into the halftime break. In the second half, however, the momentum shifted. Walsh scored to take the lead in the third quarter, and never looked back, as they gained control of the game on both sides of the football. When the clock sounded at the end of the 4th, it was 22-18, visitors.

After that game, the Red team faced off against the Wildcats. From very early on in the game, tensions between players flared, as the Wildcats and the Mustangs have what can only be described as a fierce competitive rivalry in all facets. But, it was the men in blue that were first on the board, with running back Kolton Clements scoring two plays after running back Jaiden Webber set up the play with a long run. Quarterback Karsten Bresser converted the two-point conversion on a short throw to Clements. Then, the away team responded, scoring two touchdowns, but got stopped on the two-point conversions, and led, 12-8 going into halftime. The second half was very similar to the first half- the Blue and Red scored towards the end of the the 3rd quarter through Clements, but Walsh responded with two six-point touchdown plays. During the final drive, there were many dubious no-calls by the referees; a block in the back and unnecessary roughness by the Wildcats were waved away by the ref. One final drive was orchestrated by our Mustangs offense, but our hopes were squashed as a final pass by Bresser intended for Webber was batted down as the clock expired to secure a Walsh victory, 24-16.

Our Mustangs put up one heck of a fight against Walsh, but in the end, it just wasn’t to be. Onto the next one for the Mustangs, though, as they play out of district opponents Benold in Hutto tonight.