Pictured is Fisher Willsey
The Mansfield Sr Tigers have vowed early on this season to never look back in their history. The team acknowledged their flaws from a 1-9 2020 season early in the offseason and challenged themselves to be the group to revamp Mansfield football’s reputation in 2021. With a summer full of hard work and extreme effort, the Sr Tigers were ready to put their money where their mouth is as they faced off against the Magazine Rattlers on Friday night.
The Tigers opted to receive the opening kickoff and went straight to work. The tone of the game was set in the first two plays as Zayne Dugan zipped a couple of quick passes to start the opening drive. Mansfield marched downfield with little resistance from the Rattler’s defense and capped off the drive with Fisher “Wiley” Willsey splitting defenders for 8 yards and the first Tiger touchdown of 2021. The Tigers missed the extra point kick leaving the score at 6-0 Tigers with 11:07 still to play in the first quarter. That’s when the Tiger’s new and improved titan defense took over. Mansfield’s defense was a big question mark for many early in the offseason, but they did their job quickly on Magazines first position and stuffed the Rattlers to give the offense the ball back.
Just as quickly as the Tigers got the ball back, it was another Willsey run again, this time for 17 yards and the score. Braxton Byers wasn’t phased by his first missed kick and drilled this one through the uprights giving the Tigers a 13-0 lead with 6:30 left in the first quarter. A fumble recovery on defense by, you guessed it, Willsey four seconds later sent Mansfields offense back on the field where Willsey yet again tucked the ball in for a19 yard touchdown. Byers tacked on the extra point and the Tigers stretched the lead to 20-0 at the 3:53 mark of the first quarter. Clint Stovall closed shop on the Rattlers with an interception to close out the first quarter with a commanding 20-0 score in the Tigers favor.
Mansfield kept the pedal to the metal going into the second quarter. The defense kept pounding away at Magazines attempts to get back into the game while the Tiger’s offense began to play the clock. Even by playing the clock though, the Tigers still found a way to score as Tyler Woolbright scooped up a bad snap and darted 9 yards for a Mansfield Tiger touchdown. Magazines Ashton Droemer was able to pull off a big run up the middle of the Tigers defense to score at 1:39 left in the half, but the damage had already been done as the Tigers went into the locker room at halftime with a commanding 27-7 lead.
The Tigers came out of the half on offense and wasted little time getting back on the scoreboard. Zayne Dugan struck a few fast-paced passes to get the Tigers down within the red zone and then came good ol’ “Wiley” Fisher Willsey. Willsey took a direct snap and went 22 yards for paydirt. The Byers kick was good and the Tigers were up 34-7. Mansfield’s defense stood strong and gave no quarter to the Rattlers. There was no second-level for Magazine as the Tigers defense swarmed the ball and team tackled everything in sight. Good defense sent out a pumped offense which led to the close-out runs of Caleb Collier. Collier rattled off eight straight runs in a row covering over 45-yards total en route to a 3-yard touchdown to end the game with a final score of 41-7.
Willsey was by far the offensive MVP against Magazine with three touchdowns, but he couldn’t have gotten there without a solid team effort. Running Backs Shawn Brown and Tyler Woolbright took turns chipping away at the Rattler’s defensive scales as the two small but determined backs combined for an average of 4 yards per rush. Scoring 41 points in a game is quite impressive, but having a defense to match is awesome. There wasn’t a stand-out leader on defense but rather there was one heck of a defensive unit on the field as 13 Tigers recorded tackles in the stat book. Unselfish team tackling led the way as there were 22 assisted tackles and 11 solo tackles. The Tigers walk into next Friday with another home field game. It will be no normal game though as it will be time for the Battle of Scott County against the Waldron Bulldogs. Kickoff will be at 7:00 pm.
