The Season Ends

Friday night in Seminole the Mules met their match, losing to the Wall Hawks 39-28. It was a game of determination and frustration on our part and determination and execution on their part. We elected to kick first and forced Wall to punt and were then able to score first on a 36 yard run by Cooper Washington. The kick by Saul Elizalde, whose PATs were good all night,  was good and the score was 7-0. And unfortunately, we were never ahead the rest of the game. After a chop block penalty against them, accompanied by an interesting and unusual crowd silence, followed by a roughing the passer call against us, they strike back with a touchdown and two-point conversion, going ahead 8-7. Early in the second quarter Wall scores again and it is 15-7. We keep the ball for seems like forever but can’t turn it into any points. With 1:05 left in the quarter, Wall runs in another one and the score is 22-7 going into the half. Things are not looking good. The third quarter starts with what some might have seen as a bad omen when we have trouble breaking through the tunnel to come onto the field. But then Jr. Baca breaks loose on the kick-off for a 40-yard run and we go straight down and score, so now it is 22-14. Unfortunately, Wall came right back and scored themselves in a nine-play drive and bumped the score up to 29-14.  We drive hard but Cooper fumbles and they recover. The fourth quarter is no fun at all. Wall still has possession of the ball and we fight hard, make them punt, and have a good series ourselves until we fumble, they recover and score, so now it is 36-14. Later Ryan DeLeon runs in a touchdown, the kick is good, and the score looks better, 36-21, but still not good enough. We tried an onside kick that did nothing but give Wall good field position and that pretty much signaled the end of the game. For about the last five minutes or more of the game they took their time setting up running plays, and it was obvious they were trying to let the clock run out. With 1:04 left in the game  they kick a field goal to make the score 39-21. But with 10 seconds left Ryan manages to get in one more time and the score is 39-28, and that’s the way it ends. Too many of our fans started leaving after Wall’s last touchdown and then the Wall fans started chanting the nah-nah-nah nah good bye song, and that hurt. But it has been a thrilling 10-2 season and the Mules have much to be proud of. And never doubt that the community is proud of them; they did a fine job.  We have next year to look forward to.