By Dr. David Davis
Former Friendswood alum Jordan Johnson returned home to take over the football fortunes of the Mustangs and his team presented him with his first victory as the new head coach. The ‘Stangs beat the Willowridge Eagles 49-6 in a dominating performance by the offense and defense.
While Johnson anticipates many more wins in the future — the first one will go in the memory bank as one to always remember.
“We’ve come a long way in terms of preparation, in terms of playing for each other,” Johnson said after his first win as head coach of the Mustangs (1-1). “Expectations were a big thing we talked about during the week. Having high expectations for ourselves, having high standards that we try to meet every single day. It all came to fruition in this game.”
Both teams were slow to get started as the Mustangs quickly went three and out on their first possession.
Willowridge took their time with more than five minutes and 15 plays, to the Friendswood 1-yard line. A fumble by senior quarterback Kendron Penson Jr. was recovered by Friendswood senior linebacker Kolton Postma.
It would be the first of missed scoring opportunities for the Eagles.
The Mustangs went on 14-play drive capped off by a 3-yard run by senior quarterback Brock Foster for a 7-0 lead at the end of the opening period.
Foster also threw a pair of scoring passes to junior wide receiver Garrett Muecke in the second quarter. The first scoring pass covered 32-yards and the second strike covered 23 yards to give the Mustangs a 21-0 lead.
“(Foster) has done such a good job. I love his demeanor; he’s locked in and he knows what his reads are,” Johnson said. “He knows what he’s doing when (the center) snaps the ball and he catches it and knows exactly where to go with it.”
Following the game, Foster acknowledged how much the team likes the fast offense, calling it a 180-degree difference from his first three seasons as a Mustang.
“We’re really big on speed, getting the ball down and snapping the play and getting the next play across,” Foster said. “We did that really well, and it showed when we put up 49 points.”
Junior running back Walker Winters ran for nearly 150 yards before the end of the first half which included two touchdowns. Winters finished with 173 yards on 25 carries and two scores on 3 and 23 yards.
Sophomore running back Ty Diesel Rudolph took over in the second half and scored on a 7-yard run which pushed the Mustangs ahead 49-0. Rudolph had 12 carries for 63 yards.
Friendswood led 28-0 at halftime and 49-0 after three quarters before Willowridge got on the scoreboard to post the 49-6 final score.
Foster was 8-of-18 passing for 90 yards and two TDs while Butler was 6-of-6 for 51 yards and one score.
The Mustangs evened their season record to 1-1 while Willowridge is also 1-1.
Friendswood begins district action on Friday, September 8 when they host FB Kempner at 7:00 p.m. at Henry Winston Stadium.
Kempner is 0-2 in 2023 with losses to Santa Fe (50-20) and Pasadena Memorial (71-6).
The Mustangs are heavy favorites to pick up their second win of the season.
