If anyone tells you that the Jourdanton Indians didn’t come in last Friday night with a chip on their shoulder from a 2018 Homecoming loss to Natalia, they simply were not at a standing room only Mustang Stadium.
The #13 state ranked Jourdanton Indians (4-0) came out and knocked the Mustangs (3-1) in the mouth early and often en route to a 58-18 victory. They proved to be the better polished, more disciplined and overall better football team on this given night. Jourdanton will make plenty of noise in not only 15-3A (Div.I), but the playoffs as well proving why one poll has them ranked #2 in Region IV.
Jourdanton ran 77 plays for 645 yards of offense scoring on all nine of their offensive possessions, with eight of those being touchdowns. This simply turned into an up-hill battle for the boys in blue proving to be a long night of Friday Night Football.
“The game was disappointing to say the least,” Natalia Head Coach Ilyan Martinez said. “I credit Coach Andrus and his staff for having their boys ready to play. We got hit in the mouth early and never could recover. They are a good football team and we knew we had to play our best game to give us a shot.”
The Jourdanton Indians dominated the majority of the first half of the football game. They scored the first four touchdowns of the game courtesy of: QB Cole Andrus 8 yard touchdown, Aidan Borth 2 yard touchdown, Andrus 6 yard pass to Jarel Lilly and an Andrus 25 yard touchdown pass to Nick Cordova. Their first touchdown of the first half came with 10:09 to go in the 1st with their 4th touchdown coming with 8:17 to go in the 2nd quarter.
The Indians simply had too many true offensive weapons to slow down; including the biggest offensive and defensive line Natalia had and will face this season.
Natalia found their first true success of the game, on their 4th drive of the game. Natalia started at their own 32 and used six plays to march down field thanks to runs by Adrian Vasquez and Wyatt Woodson before scoring with 6:34 to go in the half. This came courtesy of a Jacob Navarro two yard run. The PAT by Diego Hernandez was blocked by J-Town, but the Stangs now trailed 28-6.
Jourdanton responded putting the true dagger in the heart of the boys in blue on the following drive. The Indians were able to march 85 yards down field on 11 plays and capped this drive off on a 1 yard Robert Miranda touchdown run. The PAT was no good, but the Tribe was in complete control up 34-6.
Jourdanton was able to shut down Natalia on the ensuing drive, before tacking on one additional touchdown on a Aidan Borth 1 yard run allowing them to take a commanding 41-6 lead at the half.
At the half, the Indians had produced 444 yards of offense compared to 154 by the Mustangs. Natalia simply was unable to neither produce enough consistency nor provide Woodson with enough time to get things rolling. When Woodson was able to find time to connect, there were a few crucial dropped balls. It was just one of those nights, when the better team on the field made Natalia look unlike the same team from the three weeks prior.
“Consistency held us back offensively,” Coach Martinez said. “We never could string plays together, because something always went wrong.”
Natalia received the football to begin the second half and marched down field on seven plays that stretched 75 yards. Natalia found Diego Zapata for a 51 yard catch and run strike giving Natalia a small amount of momentum. The two point try failed, bringing the score to 41-12.
Hoping to find a stop, the Stangs came up empty. Jourdanton had a 66 yard drive downfield on 12 plays and scored on a QB Cole Andrus pass to Colton Schuchart touchdown in the corner of the endzone with 6:13 to go in the 3rd quarter.
Big Red two final times offensively. The first was a 42 yard field-goal by Lilly allowing the Tribe to hold a 51-12 lead vs. Natalia. The Indians then scored on a Luke Tapp 21 yard run allowing a 58-12 lead with 5:17 to go in the game.
Natalia scored one final time on a 71 yard drive that was courtesy of a 12 play drive. Natalia’s Woodson took it in from 7 yards out for the final touchdown. He also took in the two point try, but the efforts didn’t prove to be enough in a 58-12 loss.
Final #s
Natalia finished the game with 304 yards of offense, as QB Woodson completed 5-18-95 yards thru the air and rushed 17 times for 136 accounting for the major majority of the yards.
Jacob Jass added 7 rushes for 39 yards as Adrian Vasquez had 15 carries for 32 yards.
Andrus who looked like a well oiled machine competed 21-27-297-3TDs as Lilly had 5 receptions for 95 yards-1TD, Colin Borth 4-73 and Jacob Reyna 7-69. Natalia’s Zapata led receivers with 2 catches for 55 yards. Rushing wise for the Tribe, Aidan Borth had 13 carries for 108 yards-2TDs as Andrus had 9 carries for 63-1TD.
“We were on our heels all night defensively,” Martinez said. “They did a great job of taking advantage of us being out of position. Same thing as the offense, when we could finally stop the run, they hit us on an easy pass or the other way around. We just lacked consistency.”
One positive that stood out in the stats again: Natalia had only 1 penalty for 5 yards showing improvement in this one.
Jourdanton had a rare 36 1st downs compared to 17 by the Mustangs. J-Town was 13-15 on 3rd downs and 1-3 on 4th downs.
Final Thoughts
One of the bigger crowds in 5+ years packed Mustang Stadium for what everyone thought would be a true four quarter battle. Things didn’t turn out like we had hoped, but one thing proved to be evident- Not taking anything away from Natalia, but on last Friday night, Jourdanton was that good of a football team. This loss will not define the boys in blue, yet allow them to grow as the Indians should go 10-0 on the season with the aggression and talent on the field.
“This was a humbling moment for sure for our program,” Martinez said. “We have been the most physical team and best prepared for the past three weeks in my opinion, but Jourdanton came out like they had something to prove and we couldn’t do much to stop them. Again, credit their kids and coaches. They played a complete game and deserved to beat us. We know we are a much better program than we showed and we will be chomping at the bit to get back on the field.”
Upcoming Game
Natalia turns their attention to the Strawberry Capital Friday Night as the Stangs travel to Atascosa County to battle the Poteet Aggies (1-2). See the preview story for further details.
By Eric Smith
Staff Writer