“Friday night was a very tough and emotional game; when you put that much effort and determination into something and you come up short, it is very hard to deal with. I think that this game helped us grow as a team and is going to help us later in the season,” said Trojan head coach Troy Moses.
“We took another big step this week. Our players now believe that they can play with anyone.”
On the first play from scrimmage of the second overtime, Rodriguez scrambled up the middle for a 25-yard touchdown that turned into the seven-point margin in the win. The Trojans had their second overtime opportunity end on a third-and-six interception of a Brook Holder pass from the 21-yard line.
It was a game of two halves as the Mustangs dominated the first two quarters with their running game. King scored early in the first period on a 39-yard run by Robert Polanco to take a 7-0 lead with Ryan Layman’s PAT splitting the uprights.
The Trojans were forced to punt on their next possession but got the ball right back from King as Sebastian Rodriguez recovered a Mustang fumble on the Beeville 49-yard line.
Two plays later, the Trojans were in the end zone as Lazaro Smith got behind his defender and QB Holder threw him a strike to cover the 51 yards for the Beeville score. Lonnie Jordan made good on the PAT and it was all tied at 7-7.
The teams traded punts over the next three possessions before King began a drive from its own 23-yard line.
Polanco ran for 15 and 12 yards, sandwiched around a 33-yard scamper from Rodriguez to get the Mustangs down to the Beeville 17. A penalty got the Mustangs five yards closer and a run of three yards moved them to the 9-yard line. Rodriguez then took off and went the remaining nine yards for the Mustangs’ second score at the 2:51 mark of the second quarter. The kick was again good and the Mustangs were in front 14-7.
The Trojans ran out the clock to end the half with the score still 14-7 in favor of the 5A squad.
Beeville ate up the clock in the second half and controlled the tempo of the game. The Trojans opened the third quarter with a 12-play drive that covered only 47 yards and resulted in the ball going over on downs at the King 31.
The Beeville defense gave up one Mustang first down but then forced a punt to give the ball back to the Trojan offense. The King punt rolled dead at the Trojan 26 and the Beeville running attack used 15 plays to reach the end zone. Jordan Nelson went the last five yards for the score with 6:38 left in the fourth quarter. Jordan’s kick for the PAT was straight and it was all tied up at 14-14.
King was then forced into a three-and-out series that gave the Trojans one last chance to win the game in regulation.
The Trojans started from their own 37 and marched into King territory behind the running of Aaron Shirley. At the Mustang 45, it was a crucial fourth-and-three call. Jeremiah Puentes was stopped just short and the drive ended. King tried a long 50-yard field goal as time wound down, but it was way short and off to the left. The game went to overtime, still knotted 14-14 at the end of regulation.
Neither team scored in the opening OT session. King again tried a field goal from 33 yards out but it sailed wide to preserve the 14-14 tie through the first OT.
King got the win in the second overtime session.
The Mustangs rushed for a total of 254 yards in the game. QB Rodriguez picked up 90 of those and Polanco rushed for 116 yards on 13 attempts.
The Beeville rushing attack accumulated 164 yards on 52 carries. Shirley led the way with 83 yards on 20 carries. Nelson finished with 28 yards on 13 attempts. Jeremiah Puentes ran for 36 yards on 10 rushes. Brandon Harris finished the night with 14 yards on five carries.
Holder completed two passes out of four attempts for 62 yards and had the one interception.
King’s Rodriguez completed just one of five attempts for 16 yards passing.
The Beeville defense was led by Frankie Gutierrez, Dalton Torres, Jeremiah Puentes and Nick Waters. All were in on nine or more tackles in the game.
The Trojans play the Schertz Clemens Buffaloes on Friday at Schertz. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
“Clemens is a traditional powerhouse football program, they are consistently in the state playoffs and this year is no different. Their offensive and defensive lines are very big and they have good skill positions,” Moses said.
“This is going to be another big test for our team, but I know that we are up to it. We have been making great improvements every week and Friday night is going to be another great game.”
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