For those who may not know, the town of Mansfield sits in two counties. This places the Tigers with basically two rivalry games each year. The JR High Tigers had already been crowned the 2022 Scott County champions with a big win over Waldron, but when you have two rivals in two counties, you strive for the double whammy. So on Thursday, September 15th the Tigers traveled to Hackett to take on the Hornets for the coveted Sebastian County title. With the game being for bragging rights and an early lead in conference play, both teams knew how big this small-town showdown was for them.
Photo courtesy of Lita Hecox
Right off the bat, the Hornets tried to get a jump on Mansfield with an onside kick, but instead, the kick rolled out of bounds giving Mansfield good field position. Mansfield didn’t waste time on offense. With their Tigers first snap as Zander Walters took the handoff from Cooper Edwards and busted a 17-yard run. Ethan Martin got the next run and gained 11 yards on the Hackett defense. Hackett knew they had to stop Walters and Martin, but lost track of the fact that the Tigers are a battleship of offensive weapons. Mansfield ran quarterback Cooper Edwards and running back Dawson Robinson for positive yards then Martin took the ball around the corner for a 28-yard gain putting Mansfield at the one-yard line. A single yard was simple for Zander Walters as he punched the ball in for a Tiger touchdown. Walters also ran the ball in for the two-point conversion to give Mansfield an 8-0 first quarter lead.
Photo courtesy of Lita Hecox
Mansfield’s defense forced Hackett to go three and out on the Hornets first offensive possession giving the Tigers the ball right back. Ethan Martin and Dawson Robinson kept the running game going strong which caused Hackett to become one-dimensional on defense. Seeing an opportunity to make an airdrop, Cooper Edwards found a wide open Dominic Shores on a 23-yard pass and score. The two-point conversion was good with a Zander Walters run and the game was quickly 16-0 in Mansfield’s favor. Hackett’s offense kicked it into overdrive once they got the ball back and began to drive the field on the Tigers defense. The teams switched ends of the field for the start of the second quarter which was bad luck for the Hornets.
On their first possession of the second quarter, Hackett aimed for the endzone with a pass but Dominic Shores became the unintended target as he picked the ball off at the one-yard line. Although the Tigers got the ball back with Shores interception, their drive for another score stalled out and Mansfield was forced to punt. The stars seemed to be aligned just right for Mansfield though as Hackett muffed the catch allowing Mansfield to recover. What comes around goes around though as a Mansfield pass was intercepted by the Hornets but Dominic Shores would make another pick of his own to give Mansfield the ball back again as the back-and-forth turnover battle continued. The Tigers kickstarted their offense with a Matthew Burton reverse for 28 yards but the drive ended soon after due to Hackett’s solid pass defense. Halftime couldn’t come soon enough for both teams due to the ping pong turnover game, but when the half did arrive, the Tigers walked off the field up 16-0.
Photo courtesy of Lita Hecox
Hackett started the second half on offense and the Tigers defensive line made sure the Hornets had a short tenure with the ball. Cadien Ore, Logan Ore, James Bausley, and Matthew Burton swamped the Hornets backfield and forced a quick punt by Hackett. Unfortunately for Mansfield, the turnover curse wasn’t done yet as Mansfield fumbled the ball right back to the Hornets. Before anyone knew it, the Hornets made it down to the 10-yard line and were in a prime position to score. That’s when the Tigers linebackers corps took charge. Alex Hecox, Dawson Robinson, Zander Walters, and Ethan Martin left Hackett with negative yardage on four straight plays as Hackett turned the ball over on downs. Now with the ball back, Mansfield’s offense made running the ball look “E-Z”. Ethan Martin and Zander Walters combined to shave off 85 yards on Hackett’s defense and capped the drive off with a nine-yard Walters touchdown. Cooper Edwards took the snap and ran a “Cooper Keeper” for the two-point conversion to stretch the game out to a 24-0 score in Mansfield’s favor.
The Tigers may have thought they had the game in the bag, but the Hornets had other plans. Hackett gashed Mansfield’s defense in just a handful of plays to quickly score and close the gap to 24-8 in the third quarter. The Tigers roared back with their stable of running back studs and picked up a score to answer with a Zander Walters run but didn’t get the extra point leaving the score at 30-6. Hackett began to drive on Mansfield’s defense as they did on their last possession, but the Brothers of Destruction, Logan and Cadien Ore made sure that didn’t happen. The twins busted through the Hornets offense as Cadien Ore slammed into Hackett’s quarterback forcing a fumble with Logan Ore recovering the ball. Once the Tigers offense was back on the field, Ethan Martin made the worst-case scenario look too sweet. Martin took a handoff from Cooper Edwards, fumbled the ball, the ball took a bounce right back into Martin’s hands, and next thing you know it’s a 53-yard Tigers touchdown. Martin then put up the two-point conversion which set the scoreboard at 38-6 Mansfield.
Photo courtesy of Lita Hecox
Hackett would add another score but couldn’t swarm up enough points to come back as the Tigers won with a 38-16 final. “Last night was a learning experience for the team as a whole. We had some mistakes that could have been bad, but they overcame them. I feel the players may have turned a corner in the way they handled such a physically demanding game. I’m very proud of this team and this was a big win for them” said head coach Tim Cothran. The victory puts the JR Tigers with a 3-0 overall record, 1-0 conference record, and in control of bragging rights in both Scott and Sebastian county for 2022. With that much going in Mansfield’s favor, one would think the team would be elated but Mansfield is eyeing something bigger……a 3A-1 Conference Championship. The Tigers still have six more conference opponents on the schedule and until they beat them all, they will continue to be unsatisfied. Next up on Mansfield’s conference hit list is the West Fork Tigers. The JR Tigers will host West Fork on Thursday, September 22nd.
