Pictured is #88 Toby Towe

The Mansfield Jr Tigers got their first taste of 2021 football on Tuesday night as they hosted the Mena Bearcats for a friendly scrimmage. The scrimmage was well worth the wait for both fans as the Tiger faithful witnessed their team step up and go toe to toe with the 4A Bearcats. For the players, it was an opportunity to obtain game-like experience against stiff competition and learn what needs work before the regular season kicks off.  

The Tigers started off the scrimmage on offense with some ground and pound run plays led by Zander Walters and Dawson Robinson. With the first snap of the game, Walters took the handoff and gave the larger Bearcat defense a bust in the chops for a quick 8 yards. Mansfield repeated the play again for a first down and the Tigers were on a roll. It didn’t take too long for Mena to start squeezing in the box to stop the run game though as they forced the Tigers into a 4th and long play. The Tigers went with a play-action pass over the middle, but Mena sniffed it out and intercepted the pass with 1:50 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers Jr squad now faced a high octane big and fast Mena offense. The intimidation factor of Mena would have been easy to understand for any other team, but Mansfield merely gave a smirk followed by a chuckle as they were now exactly where they wanted to be. On the hunt for hits. The Tigers stunned Mena with solid team tackles and a persistence of perusing the ball anywhere it roamed. If Mena went outside, they were ripped down by Trey Powell, Cooper Edwards, Boston Elmore, or Alex Hecox. If they went to the inside of the Tiger defense, they were met by linemen James Bausley, Toby Towe, and Ethan Martin while also trying to miss headhunters Jeremy Strozier and Walters. The first quarter ended with a dead even 0-0 score. Both teams continued to battle it out with neither willing to give an inch on either side of the ball. Mena finally broke through the Tiger’s defense though with a pass to the corner of the end zone with 1:13 left in the half. The end zone push gave the Bearcats the first points of the game but Mansfield shut down their two-point conversion leaving the score at 6-0 going into halftime. 

Mansfield came out of halftime looking to get right back into the mix, but the Bearcats had other plans. Mena hit the field on offense and quickly put together a string of plays to shoot downfield and score. This time they didn’t squander their 2 point conversion opportunity giving the Bearcats a 14-0 lead with an even 11:00 on the clock. Mansfield could have just washed their hands and laid down at that point, but that’s not the mentality of these Jr Tigers. With the ball back in their hands, the Tigers clocked in and went to work. Dawson Robinson took back-to-back handoffs and busted into the open field with each run eating up a huge chunk of yards. With the Bearcats defense making an adjustment to Robinson’s quick feet, the Tigers fake to Robinson and handed the ball off to Ethan Martin who rumbled downfield for a Tiger touchdown. Unable to get their 2 point conversion, the Tigers stared at a 14-6 scoreboard with 6:27 left in the game.  

The Mansfield defense bowed up again shutting down Mena’s spread offense forcing the Bearcats to give the ball right back to them. With the Bearcats defense now eyeing Martin and Robinson, they made the fatal mistake of leaving Walters uncovered and Walters made them pay with a bruising run downfield for another Mansfield score with only a second left in the game. The Tigers were unable to secure their 2 point conversion and the scrimmage ended with a close 14-12 loss for Mansfield.