Mules vs. Sweetwater (9-4-2015)

Mules vs. Sweetwater (9-4-2015)

The Mules were able to move the ball almost at will against the Sweetwater Mustangs Friday night but struggled crossing the goal line. The Mules opening drive went inside the 10 of the Mustangs but an interception turned the ball over at the Sweetwater five-yard line.

Three plays later the Mustangs were in the Mule end zone. The final play of the drive was an 89-yard pass and run. The two-point conversion was good and the Mustangs led 8-0.

The Mustangs went on to score four more touchdowns to defeat the Mules 36-14.

“We had 500 yards of offense Friday night against a highly rated class 4-A team,” said Mule head coach David Wood. “That is always good news. The bad news was we had a tough time scoring.”

“Sweetwater was able to score from any place on the field and that certainly got in our heads. I admit that I quit punting because of it. I felt we needed to try to use all four downs to keep our drives going and keep the ball away from them.”

“We learned from this game that we need to just keep playing our game and not get down on our selves. We will be better because of this game.”

The Mustangs had two more drives in the opening period. A four-play 54-yard drive gave Sweetwater a 14-0 advantage with 2:02 remaining in the first quarter. The Mustangs’ final drive of the first period was capped with a 52-yard run. The drive took four plays for 71 yards and the Mustangs led 22-0 with ten seconds left in the opening quarter.

Sweetwater opened the second period with four-play 57-yard drive that ended with a six yard run. The Mustangs led 30-0 with 9:56 left in the half. That was the final score of the first half.

The Mules opened the second half with a 13-play scoring drive that covered 67 yards. Danny Campos completed a nine-yard pass to Jason Florez for the Mules first touchdown. Felipe Guerrero booted the point after and the Mules trailed 30-7 with 26 seconds left in the third period.

Sweetwater scored on a nine-yard pass with 8:11 left in the game to complete an 11-play 74-yard drive. The two-point conversion failed and the Mules trailed 36-7.

It only took the Mules one play to score the final TD of the game. Campos again connected with Florez for a 50-yard pass and run. Guerrero’s kick was good to end all scoring.

Campos completed 32 of 55 passing attempts for 346 yards, two TDs and had two passes intercepted. Florez led the Mules with 11 receptions for 126 yards and two TDs, Tony Castillo made eight catches for 103 yards and Mario Flores had four receptions for 40 yards. Five other Mules had one or more receptions for a total of 83 yards.

Evan Paez led the Mules in rushing with 13 carries for 75 yards, Josh Lopez rushed nine times for 38 yards and Jose Mendoza carried three times for 26 yards. Campos had four yards rushing and Florez ran once for 11 yards.

Javy Perez led the Mule defense with 11 tackles, Tony Vasquez made nine stops and broke up three pass and Mendoza had nine tackles with three being for losses. Donovan Gutierrez also made nine tackles with two being for losses and mad two quarterback hurries.

Paez made seven tackles with two being on special teams and one for a loss. Dagen Dunham finished with six tackles with one being for a loss, one being a sack and blocked two passes.

The Mules will host the Seagraves Eagles Friday night in the Mules’ home opener. Game time is 7:30 in Benny Douglas Stadium.