The Staley Mustang 8th Grade Football White Team hosted the Griffin Gators tonight.  The Mustangs put on a dominant performance on both offense and defense.    The Mustang offense started out a little slow, going three and out.  The Gators took over after Staley punted.  The Mustang defense pushed them back on first down, great coverage on second down lead to an incompletion.  On Griffin's third down, the quarterback dropped back and threw the ball to his receiver, however, the Mustang corner #4, Alex shuffled back, kept his eye on the ball and came down with the interception, turned up field for the return before being pushed out of bounds.  

The Mustangs ran a couple of plays for short yard gains,  then the quarterback #18 threw the ball out to #88, who started going down field, breaking tackles, when he was hit from behind and the ball popped out.  Griffin recovered the fumble.  The Mustangs defense was strong, keeping them from getting a first down.  The Mustang running back #27 got things started with a run up the middle.  The second play, the quarterback handed off to #8, who headed to the far sideline, and then cutting back and forth down the field to outrun the defenders and score the touchdown. The Mustangs went up 8-0. 

The Mustang defense proved to be too much for the Gators, dropping them for a huge loss in their set of downs. On the very next offensive series for the Mustangs, the second play had #8 running down the sideline for 40 yards for the score.   Number 25 drilled the ball through the uprights to get the PAT.  The Mustangs led 16-0.  The defense held and Staley got the ball back again.  Number 21 came in for quarterbacking duties,  and the running duties were distributed between #25 and #27 for this series.  After two nice runs by the running backs, the quarterback kept the ball, headed to the sideline and gained the first down.  Then the Mustangs had the quarterback fake a hand off, roll out with the ball hidden by his hip, and he threw it out to #27 who ran the ten yards for the score.  The Staley boys led 22-0  at the break.

To open the second half, the Gators and Mustangs traded a set of downs.  The Gators had a promising drive going, get their first, first down of the night before #21 had a pick 6.  # 21 caught the ball and ran it back 70 yards for the touchdown.   A successful PAT had the Mustangs put this game out of reach. 30-0.  The defense held and Staley was victorious: 30-0.  

The Mustangs played fantastic  through out the game, using a strong running game to score thirty points.  The Staley defense was outstanding, containing the Gators, getting two interceptions, one being run back for a score, and not letting the Gators anywhere near the red zone.  The Mustang White Team improve to 3-0 and take on district rivals, Cobb, next week.

The highlight of the night, for me, was seeing my son get his first interception.  Way to go Alex!!!  Congratulations Mustangs on a great win!!!!

Here are some images of the night: