Mustangs must win against Vandegrift for shot at playoffs
MARBLE FALLS — The good news for the Marble Falls High School football team and Leander Vandegrift is both squads have played in a winner-take-all contest before – in the last game of the 2010 season.
The Mustangs (4-5, 1-4) just hope the results this year are the same when the two teams play 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at Mustang Stadium, 2101 Mustang Drive. Except this time it’s Marble Falls that has to win by 17 points.
“And our kids went over there, stepped it up and were able to hang on to the football, put it in the end zone enough to win that ballgame and did themselves a favor,” head coach Cord Woerner said. “We got to do that again.”
Here’s the scenario.
If the Mustangs beat the Vipers (6-3, 2-3) and Cedar Park Vista Ridge defeats Leander Rouse, Marble Falls, Vandegrift and Vista Ridge will be in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot.
District 25-4A minutes stipulate head-to-head results are the first tiebreaker. That would be thrown out because neither team holds a tiebreaker over both. Vista Ridge already beat the Mustangs 6-0 Sept. 23.
So then it comes down to points scored for and points scored against.
Vista Ridge beat the Mustangs but lost to the Vipers 28-10. District minutes, however, only count 17 points for or against a squad. So the Rangers are at a negative 11 points.
Therefore, Marble Falls knows to have a shot at the postseason, they must beat the Vipers by 17 points, thus eliminating both the Vipers and the Rangers.
If Rouse beats Vista Ridge, though, the Mustangs simply need to defeat the Vipers.
“Those don’t mean anything unless we come out and win a football game,” Woerner said. “And our kids are going to do the best they can with that.”
To win means the Mustangs must play at the level they did in cruising against Rouse 21-6 Sept. 30.
Marble Falls scored on a long touchdown pass and several runs in gaining 267 yards of total offense. In addition, the defense only allowed one score and 197 yards of total offense.
Since then, the Mustangs have suffered through 12 scoreless quarters in being outscored 129-0. Two of those games, however, came in losses to Cedar Park High 52-0 and Lake Travis 57-0.
In losses to third-place finisher Dripping Springs (17-0) and Rouse, the defense was able to record numerous turnovers.
“Our defense has been playing very well,” the coach said. “They’ve done a great job. And unfortunately, we’ve struggled with weaponry and opportunities to get the ball in the end zone. I fully expect them to step up and play just like they’ve been playing. And that’s what we want out of them. It’s just all got to come together.”
Meanwhile, the Vipers haven’t had that obstacle. Leading 28-21 in the third quarter, they added two more scores from their top two players, quarterback Dakota Prukop and running back Yuron Shears.
Shears (148-1,208-11) leads the district in rushing yards, while Prukop (121-703-12) ranks fourth in the category.
Brandon Brown (39-679-5) ranks third in receiving in the division.
“They run the ball very well,” Woerner said. “Not only is Shears a good back, Prukop, the quarterback, they like to spread it out and let him run the ball. He runs the ball very well as well. Then they get a lot in empty, and they throw the ball around. So they’re very dangerous and they do a lot of things.”
Defensively, Vandegrift has allowed 159 points but scored 300.
“They have 11 starters back on both sides of the ball,” the coach said. “Anytime you have that type of experience on both sides of the ball, it’s going to help.”