Thursday night, after coming off of a bye week, the Mansfield Jr High Tigers were geared up to open conference play at home against the West Fork Tigers. Although Mansfield was missing a few key players, they put on their game faces and marched out onto the field. The first quarter opened with West Fork slamming out the first touchdown of the night at 4:43. After Mansfield forced West Fork to punt, the quarter ended with West Fork up 8-0. The start of the second quarter saw Mansfield having a hard time finding their flow. After a blocked West Fork punt, the Jr Tigers fumbled the ball handing possession back over to West Fork.
This was just what West Fork needed to pull off their second touchdown of the game and along with the two-point conversion, the Tigers kept control of the board 16-0. Defensively though, Mansfield wasn’t short of players delivering the BOOM to any West Fork Tiger that stepped in their way. Helping in those deliveries were Austin Oldham, Sammy Sellers, Tyler Turnipseed, Trey Powell, Zach Hayslip, and Dakota Langford. With 4:03 left in the first half, West Fork secured another TD plus PAT bringing the score to 24-0. After a nice completed 5-yard pass from Peyton Martin to Austin Oldham, shortly after, a West Fork linemen swooped in for the pick-off running the pigskin in for another touchdown. The game went into halftime 32-0 West Fork.
The second half of the game had a more calm and quiet demeanor with zero touchdowns being acquired. Turnipseed put the boot in a 33-yard punt, Turner Wright issued a massive tackle and Powell made a kingsize 10-yard run. The match ended with West Fork walking away victoriously 32-0. “We have to find a way to improve our O line play. We had 0 yards rushing. We have to be able to run the football. We will continue to try to find some way to move the football. The second-half effort was much better. Still need some work on our special teams,” stated Coach Tim Cothran.
Finishing the night, Martin earned 12 passes for 69-yards. Oldham received 6 receptions for 37-yards. Powell received 4 receptions for 21-yards. Turnipseed made 2 receptions for 11-yards. And Oldham and Toby Towe obtained two fumble recoveries for the Mansfield Tigers. Up next for Mansfield, the Jr High Tigers will travel to Greenland on October 1st to attempt a ship takeover. “Greenland will be big and physical. We will be working hard in preparation for this game.”
