By Van Wade
The Orange Leader
NEW CANEY – It was smooth sailing for the West Orange-Stark Mustangs as they utilized all three phases of the game to totally dominate the Caldwell Hornets 69-13 in the Class 4A Region III Division II Regional Semifinals Friday night at Texan Drive Stadium in New Caney.
WO-S jumped on the Hornets early to snare a 20-0 lead after the first quarter. WO-S outgained the Hornets 205-17 in the first 12 minutes.
The Mustangs (12-1) finished with 465 yards of total offense while the Hornets (8-5) had 276, most of them coming in the second half.
The Mustangs picked off Caldwell quarterback Joseph Crnkovic four times, returning two for scores. Crnkovic finished 16-of-35 for 239 yards.
“We wanted to come out and establish a complete game throughout and the kids accomplished that,” said Mustang coach Cornel Thompson. “You practice hard and you play hard, that always pays off big. The kids have been focused and have that ultimate goal in their minds. We’re just happy to move on and we get to play some December football again. Not many teams can say that.”
The Mustangs face Bellville (13-0) in the Region III Finals after Bellville defeated Giddings Friday night.
The Mustangs went on to lead 49-7 at the half as they piled up 335 total yards while the Hornets had 142. WO-S also got a punt return and an interception return for scores in the opening 24 minutes.
Te Mustangs piled up 375 rushing yards on 37 carries in averaging more than 10 yards a pop.
Jeremiah Shaw finished with 108 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. Melech Edwards had 96 yards and a TD on eight totes while Keion Hancock rushed for 86 yards on five carries and scored twice.
Mustang quarterback Jack Dallas didn’t have to put the ball up much, passing for 90 yards and a score.
“We really thought we could come in and run the ball,” said Thompson. “Give credit to our offensive line. That bunch has improved leaps and bounds since the year started. They are playing as good or better as the line we had last year at this point.”
Caldwell receiver Devin Morris had six catches for 118 yards and a score.
“We held a pretty darn good offense in check for the most part tonight other than that long pass play at the end,” said Thompson. “Their quarterback is a gunslinger but we got some key interceptions tonight and took two of them to the house.”
The Mustangs made it look easy on their first series of the game as they put together a eight-play, 61-yard touchdown drive.
WO-S ran the ball seven times for 53 yards on the march. Hancock broke loose on a 18-yard run to the Hornet 25. Dallas went on a 13-yard trip to the 12 and Shaw carried three straight times for 12 yards, including a three-yard touchdown blast to make it 6-0 with 9:10 left in the first quarter.
The Mustangs found paydirt again late in the first quarter by going 62 yards in three plays that took just 1:06 off the clock.
KJ Miller broke loose on a 17-yard gain and Hancock swept around the left side for a 21-yard gain to the Caldwell 24. Dallas then found Miller over the middle. The swift Miller made a nice catch, turned to get loose along the left side and scooted in for a 24-yard touchdown pass. Dallas ran in the two-point conversion, making it 14-0 with 3:23 in the first.