The 2019-2020 football season has come to an end for the Mansfield Sr High Tigers. After Harmony Grove froze Mansfield out of the 3A State Playoffs with a final score of 56-33 in the first round, the Tigers will bid farewell until next year. The Tigers have zero reasons to hang their heads though. With his first year as Head Coach, Tim Cothran successfully led his team to the Playoffs with a conference record of 4-3 and ended the season with a total record of 7-4. The Tigers were the 3A showstoppers offensively as they not only racked up a whopping 295 points on the scoreboard this year, but they did so with style.
After a frosty start to the game with the Hornets striking first, the Tigers were able to get a feel for the game and begin laying down the law. A scorching pass from Ethan Stovall to Layton Howard gave Howard a 66-yard run in for a touchdown and coupled with the extra point kick from Jaicy Griffin, the Tigers were up 7-6. As the Hornet offense attempted to get their next play off of the ground, Austin Carlton charged in like a Hollywood bouncer and shut their party down. As the first half of the game continued to heat up, unfortunately so did Harmony Grove.
The Hornets would go into halftime with 36 points but before time expired, the Tigers would add one more touchdown thanks to another Stovall to Howard miraculous pass and grab for 18 yards along with an extra point kick from Griffin to send Mansfield into their own halftime with 14 points. But before any player left the field or any fan went to get snacks, Tiger tackle and defensive end, Bri Sanderson, rocked the Hornets like a hurricane not only forcing a fumble but quickly scooping it up and plowing through the Hornets like a bull in a china shop before finally being lassoed by the Hornets.
In the second half of the game, both teams set the field ablaze with the Hornets securing 20 more points and the Tigers bringing in 19 but Mansfield, unfortunately, couldn’t close the 23 point gap to win the game. Stovall, Howard, Griffin, and Tyler Holmes continued to be the stars of the show with Ethan running a 1-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown and Jaicy kicking the extra point. The Stovall and Howard dynamic duo would go on to add one more touchdown for the Tigers along with a touchdown by Holmes before the first-round playoff game came to an end.
This was the last time under the Friday Night Lights for 14 Mansfield seniors as Layton Howard, Luke Ridenhour, Ethan Stovall, Tyler Holmes, Clay James, Jaicy Griffin, Blayne Bryant, Will Meadows, Brandon Carlton, Zach Lowe, Coby Hearron, Jacob Brown, Isaac Cothran, and Cameron “Makin’ em Hurt” Macon will be moving on to greener pastures. Staying behind to take charge of the team as seniors next year will be Randy Claude, Cody Fudge, Jared Schmidt, Dustin Holland, TJ Simmons, Lorenzo Alarid, and Bri Sanderson.
