The players on the Mansfield Tigers JR High team have spent their past three years finishing their season as Runner Up. In the 6th Grade, Mansfield finished behind Magazine in the WCFL little league Championship game. Mansfield then came in second place to the Charleston Tigers in the 7th Grade and their first year of JR High in the 8th Grade. So the Tigers made a pact earlier in the year to do everything in their power to break away from the Runner Up curse and become Champions. Mansfield’s road to redemption officially kicked off on Thursday, August 25th as they hosted the Magazine Rattlers for a rematch three years in the making.
The Tigers received the opening kickoff and shipped out their powerful offense to get an early start on the Rattlers. Magazine had other plans in mind though as the Rattlers bowed and handed Mansfield two negative yard rushes and an incomplete pass forcing Mansfield to punt. With the Tigers offense out of sync, their defense stepped in to straighten things out. The Rattlers tried to make a quick strike on the Tigers with a pass on their first play, but their aim was off as the ball fell incomplete. That’s when Mansfield’s defense began to feast on the Rattlers backfield. Back to back runs by Magazine were swallowed up by Zander Walters, Braxton Bartlett, and Dawson Robinson along with a host of Tiger teammates swooping into to clean up each play. The Tigers defense forced a Rattler punt, but an ill-advised catch attempt of that punt by Mansfield created a fumble which Magazine recovered giving the Rattlers a fresh set of downs. The Rattlers went back to their passing game and completed a big catch, but the Mansfield defense stood tall and prevented Magazine from scoring as the first quarter of play ended with a score of 0-0.
Mansfield started the second quarter with the ball and wasted no time feeding their star studded backfield the ball. Ethan Martin and Zander Walters took the first couple of handoffs for big gains and were then followed by quarterback Cooper Edwards calling his own number for positive yards. The rushing attack drew Magazine into a tight boxed defense which was exactly what Mansfield had planned. With the defense boxed in to stop the run, Mansfield took to the air with a pass. Cooper Edwards found Ethan Martin on a swing route out of the back field and Martin rolled 55 yards downfield for a Tiger touchdown. Although the two point conversion was unsuccessful, the Tigers were still happy with a 6-0 lead in the second quarter.
Magazine would put on a good drive when they got the ball back, but the Tigers defense was an unmovable object in front of the end zone. Outside runs by the Rattlers were quickly cut down by linebackers Alex Hecox and Dawson Robinson. When Magazine tried to pass the ball, they got a face full of the Tigers defensive line aka The Four Horsemen (Braxton Bartlett, Matthew Burton, Logan Ore, and Cadien Ore). If by chance a pass got off though, corners Joseph Carter and Dominic Shores were Johnny on the Spot to swat the ball down. Mansfield would get another shot at scoring before the half as Cooper Edwards again found Ethan Martin on a pass sending Martin 67 yards for the touchdown. Unfortunately, that touchdown was taken off the board due a flag for an illegal man downfield. Even with a small handful of mistakes in the first half, Mansfield still walked into halftime with a 6-0 lead.
It took a halftime breather for the Tigers to shake off their offensive cobwebs, but once they did there was no stopping them. It only took Mansfield one play to score their first points of the second half as Zander Walters took a handoff and steam rolled his way 20 yards through the Rattlers defense for a Tiger Touchdown. Walters doubled down and punched the two point conversion past the goal line to give Mansfield a 14-0 lead. The big score fired up Mansfield’s defense as they sent their head hunters out on the field. Magazines receiver corps found out that they weren’t safe if they caught a pass. If a pass was even touched, Rattler receivers were met immediately by players like Travien Copeland, Dawson Robinson, and Alex Hecox all of whom punished Magazines air game. Mansfield regained possession of the ball and the Tigers rushing attack commenced to pounding out yards again. It became evident that if the Tigers wanted a “T”, they’d better give the ball to “E”. That’s just what Mansfield did and Ethan Martin scored again for the Tigers which pushed the score to 20-0 in the third quarter. Magazine would get their first score of the game late in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers remained calm and finished the game with a 20-8 final score over the Rattlers.
Head Coach, Tim Cothran, was pleased with his teams performance. “We made a few first game mistakes but the players overcame them well. What mistakes we did see were small and certainly fixable. The teams energy on the field was great. This team is showing a lot of promise”. The JR Tigers have started off the season with a 1-0 record for the first time in a very long time. Although Mansfield is proud with that stat, they know that their schedule will only become more difficult as the season goes on. The Tigers must continue to work hard if they hope to obtain Championship gold this year. Mansfield’s next game will be against the Paris Eagles on Thursday, September 1st. Paris defeated the Waldron Bulldogs 28-0 in their season opener which means the Tigers will have to be on their toes when they welcome the Eagles to The Jungle.
