The West Orange-Stark Mustangs did it. The team repeated as Class 4A D-II champions Friday with a 24-6 win over Sweetwater.

This game took some work, too, after the Mustangs found themselves down 6-0 for most of the first half.
WOS did it with defense. A unit that allowed only 69 points all season or four points per game through 16 games.

Right after the Mustangs finished off Geronimo Navarro in the state semifinals, 49-7, I took to social media and stated if WOS won it all, they could be the best team to ever come out of Southeast Texas.
Lets backtrack just a little bit. To say one team from one generation is better than another team is so hard to say, and it can lead to endless arguments. It also can be unfair to the teams you are arguing about.

This group of Mustangs needs to be described exactly for what they were, dominant.

So, this I will say publicly: The 2016 West Orange-Stark Mustangs are the most dominant team to play out of Southeast Texas, and the six playoff games prove the point.

Sweetwater entered the state final putting up 44 points a game in the playoffs. WOS held Sweetwater to six points and those came off a fumble recovery.

The Mustangs gave up one offensive touchdown in the state semifinals and finals combined, and it was against Navarro a week ago in the third quarter when the game was already out of hand.

To put the Mustangs’ playoff run into perspective I gave former News sports editor Bob West a call to hear his thoughts.

West agreed it is too hard to call one team the best ever to come out of our area. This is due to some teams played in bigger classifications and in different times.

What West did say was what the Mustangs did through the playoffs is the most dominant he has ever seen. This is coming from a guy who has over 40 years’ experience in our area.

“They held six playoff teams to 39 points,” West added. “That may never happen again. It is the most dominant run through the playoffs I’ve ever seen.”

The Mustangs scored 290 points in the six playoff games while holding teams to under 40 points. That is insane.

WOS gave up eight offensive touchdowns all season and outscored opponents 811-69. The Chain Gang defense pitched eight shutouts and 10 times held opponents’ offenses out of the end zone.

Again, we will not say this is the best team to ever play football out of Southeast Texas but the 2016 West Orange-Stark Mustangs dominated opponents like no other has done from our area.
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I must tell a side note on the Mustangs and a certain part of the team’s lore that very few know about.

Coach Cornel Thompson and his wife, Frances, always eat at the same Waffle House the day of games. The only miss over the last few years was two years ago when the Mustangs lost in the state final in Arlington.

Skip ahead to last season, and the couple made sure to find a Waffle House before the game in Houston. WOS defeated Celina after the Thompsons’ bellies were full from Waffle House.

So did the Thompson family find a Waffle House before this year’s state final?

Frances reported she and Coach T found a Waffle House 6 miles from their hotel in the Dallas area Friday.

They got up at 5:30 a.m. to eat and even had a friend video chat with them from the Orange location, so it seemed they were back home for their meal.

“Took no chances,” Frances said in a Facebook message.
Congratulations to the Thompson family. They truly are some of the best people I have met over the last 16 years and I am so proud of Coach T, his staff and players.
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Gabriel Pruett: 721-2436 and gabe.pruett@panews.com. Twitter: @PaNewsGabe