The News staff reports and The Orange Leader

SABINE PASS — It had been a long time coming, but Sabine Pass has finally won a football game.

The Sharks ended an 18-game losing streak Friday night, beating Galveston O’Connell 16-14 in a game that was originally scheduled to be played in Galveston. But the Buccaneers weren’t going to have a field ready in time.

That may have made the Sharks’ first win since the 2014 season that much sweeter for their fans.

Sabine Pass trailed 14-6 at halftime before storming back to win. Times of each score were not available, but the Sharks got on the board with Brayden Miller’s 12-yard catch from Dominique Wilson.

In the second half, D’Coven Turner returned a punt 57 yards, and Wilson added a two-point conversion. The Sharks accounted for the winning margin with a defensive safety.

The win also marked the first under head coach Jason Thibodeaux since 2010, when he last coached the Sharks prior to this season.

Sabine Pass cheerleaders honored 3-year-old Austyn Halter, who had been battling an extremely aggressive form of leukemia, with a breakthrough banner including a drawing of a dinosaur, her favorite animal, and the message “Let’s make childhood cancer extinct.” Austyn’s cancer is now in remission, but she remains hospitalized.

WO-STARK 45, LC-MAURICEVILLE 0

LITTLE CYPRESS —Utilizing big special teams plays in the first half and a dominating defense throughout,  the West Orange-Stark Mustangs crushed the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin’ Bears 45-0 to capture the The Orange Bowl for the 18th straight time.

The defending Class 4A Division II State Champion Mustangs used the legs of punt return men KJ Miller and Jarron Morris to help enable WO-S (2-0) to a commanding 30-0 advantage at the half.

Miller had two punt returns that went for 112 yards in the first half, one a 66-yard touchdown, while Morris set up another score with a 50-yard return trip.

Meanwhile, the WO-S Chain Gang Defense limited the Bears (0-2) to just 63 total yards and five first downs.

WO-S has allowed just 72 yards a game in their first two contests after shutting out Nederland 42-0 last week. The shutout against the Bears also marked the 101st shutout for the Mustang program.

“It was a good team effort,” said Mustang coach Cornel Thompson. “Defensively, we’re playing really well. Two shutouts in a row against bigger schools is nice but we know we still have some work to do. It’s a long season and we just want to show improvement each time we take the field.”

Mustang quarterback Jack Dallas completed 9-of-14 passes for 131 yards and two scores. WO-S tailback Jeremiah Shaw was the night’s leading rusher with 59 yards on just eight totes. The Mustangs finished with  259 total yards as they played on a short field most of the game.

“Offensively, we did some things well after that first series and the turnover we had,” said Thompson. “We were able to do some things we wanted to do. LC-M got after us pretty good defensively, especially in the first half.”

The Mustangs, who lead the Bears 29-2 all-time in the series, will head to Bridge City for another Orange County showdown next week as they face the hot 2-0 Cardinals while the Bears will remain at home and will welcome the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks.

“Bridge City is playing really well and they have a great senior group and so do we,” said Thompson. “It’s going to be a hard rock to mine when we head to their place next week. Should be a great atmosphere.”

BRIDGE CITY 56, HOUSTON N. FOREST 13

BRDGE CITY — The Bridge City Cardinals came into Week Two on their first home game of the season to face off against the Houston North Forest Bulldogs and the Redbirds made it look easy as they flew to a convincing 56-12 thumping in the first ever meeting between the two schools.

The Cardinals piled up 512 yards of total offense, 479 of it coming from their explosive running game.

Back Patrick Morris and Max Baker combined for 240 yards and five touchdowns with Baker rushing for 122 yards and Morris 118. Freshman Andy Lara also rushed for 89 yards and two scores.

Bridge City’s defense held strong in the first half of play only giving up six points and 120 total yards. The Cardinals took the lead and never looked back. The defense for the Cardinals stood tall with multiple sacks from the defense and an interception from Justyn Romero.

North Forest finished with just 214 total yards.

The game was won early in the trenches for Bridge City (2-0) and the Cardinals never gave up much ground. The running back group was missing Cayce Draper, who had strep throat, but the gaps the offensive line made, made up for it, giving Morris, Baker and Lara more than enough room to make plays.

Bridge City welcomes in the West Orange-Stark Mustangs (2-0) to Larry B. Ward Stadium next week.

KIRBYVILLE 21, ORANGEFIELD 7

KIRBYVILLE — The Orangefield Bobcats rolled into Kirbyville Wildcat Stadium with a chip on their shoulder Friday night after losing to the Wildcats last season 24-13 at home.

This season again would be another classic match-up between the two schools with the Bobcats coming up short once more, falling 21-7.

The Bobcat offense was unable to produce much offense against the speedy Wildcat secondary.

Last week the Bobcats shut out the Buna Cougars while Kirbyville was shut out by the Newton Eagles, leaving fans on both sides questioning what their teams would bring in week two.

Despite losing their star running back Ty Dennis in the first half, the Wildcats were still able to produce offense under direction of new quarterback Tadarius Jackson. He rushed for 75 yards while passing for 83 yards including a 64-yard touchdown to Joseph Fentrist.

The Bobcat defense looked primed for an upset early, intercepting Jackson on the first play of the game to take over the ball at the Wildcat 43. However, the Bobcat offense sputtered out the gate, unable to garner positive yards to go three-and-out and being forced to punt the ball back to the Wildcats.

The Bobcats (1-1) host Woodville next Friday. Kirbyville (1-1) goes on the road to Palestine to face Westwood in a non-district matchup.