High School Football

Taylor shuts out George Ranch for first win of season

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 9/2/22

“The whole team was on the same page, the offense, defense and special teams, it was a real team performance,” said junior defensive back Cyrus Reyes. “On defense we were just flying around and trying to make plays when we read our keys."

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High School Football

Taylor shuts out George Ranch for first win of season

Posted

ROSENBURG — There is a lot of motivation inside the Taylor locker room this season.

The Mustangs don’t like how last season went, they don’t like where some picked them to finish district and they don’t like being overlooked.

Taylor has used this motivation throughout the offseason and summer and into the season.

And after earning their first win of the year the Mustangs wanted to let everyone know how they felt.

“This motivation has been building since last year,” said senior quarterback Joe Jefferson. “Everyone just has been lifting each other up and there’s this huge sense of wanting to prove everyone wrong. It’s one of the key things we talk about, we want to play with a chip on our shoulder and go out there and work every day. This year is a different story than last year and we’re ready to write it.”

The Mustangs improvements were on full display Thursday, as Taylor (1-1) earned a shut out victory over George Ranch(0-2), 16-0, to earn its first win of the season.

It was a terrific defensive display from the Mustangs, as they allowed just 108 yards rushing and 59 yards passing and even without a turnover were able to secure the shutout, as they completely shut down the George Ranch offense throughout the night.

It was the exact type of defensive performance head coach Chad Simmons was looking for and he was extremely proud of what his team was able to accomplish.

“The guys really just started playing with a whole lot of confidence,” Simmons said. “There’s really nothing that fancy about it, the kids are just learning to read their kids and playing hard and everyone is taking care of their job. I was really proud especially how we responded when George Ranch was able to start building something on offense. It’s really hard to shut out anyone, so doing that gives them confidence. It’s fun to play defense when you see that kind of success.”

And the Taylor offense did its part as well, driving the ball methodically down the field and controlling the clock while scoring points.

The Mustangs got on the board midway through the first quarter on an Alei Sabek 23-yard field goal after driving the ball inside the red zone and setting up a short attempt. Sabek then doubled Taylor’s lead in the second quarter with another short field goal, before they again methodically drove down the field and scored on a 6-yard pass from Chase Cobbin to Ian Flynt.

“The whole team was on the same page, the offense, defense and special teams, it was a real team performance,” said junior defensive back Cyrus Reyes. “On defense we were just flying around and trying to make plays when we read our keys. That’s what the coaches want us to do and we were able to do it tonight.”

The run game was the path to success for the Taylor offense, they ended the night with 268 rush yards and Jefferson, Cherron Lewis and Dante Archie all ended the game with over 50 yards on the ground.

And that’s exactly how things were supposed to work for Taylor, as they wanted to come in, establish the ground game and use the teams strong offensive line and running game to make a difference.

“We knew coming in that we were going to run the ball until they give us a reason to throw,” Jefferson said. “We ran it and we jammed it down their throat as much as we could. We’re a team where if we’re doing the same thing and it’s positive then we’re going to keep it going and that’s what happened tonight. We ran it all night and then we mixed in the pass as we needed to.”

Sabek added a third field goal in the fourth quarter after another strong drive from Taylor, this one from 35-yards out, to seal the win, and it was a happy Taylor locker room as everyone exited the field.

“It was relieving to get this win,” Reyes said. “We know every team doubts us and so every team the whole way, we’re going to have to try to upset. People aren’t going to look down on us anymore, we’re going to prove ourselves.”

Taylor starts District 19-6A play next against Cinco Ranch and they know how tough of a challenge it will be, but at the same time, the team is looking forward for another chance to prove themselves.

“This was exactly what we had to see happen,” Simmons said. “We put together one good half last week against Cy-Woods but we weren’t able to put together a whole game, the second half wasn’t very good. To come out here and put two halves together is huge, now we just have to keep building on that as we go forward.”

Taylor 16, George Ranch 0

Taylor

3

10

0

3

 --

16

George Ranch

0

0

0

0

 --

0

First quarter

T: Alei Sabek 23 field goal, 6:41

Second quarter

T: Sabek 25 field goal, 10:57

T: Chase Cobbin 6 pass to Ian Flynt (Sabek kick) 3:38

Fourth quarter

T: Sabek 35 field goal, 3:52

Team stats

Taylor

 George Ranch

  First downs

14

8

  Yards rushing

37-268

21-59

  Yards passing

32

108

  Passes

4-10-1-0

 11-21-0-0

  Punts

1-11

3-34

  Fumbles-lost

1-0

0-0

  Penalty-yards

5-50

8-67

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Taylor: Cherron Lewis, 12-105; Dante Archie, 12-83; Joe Jefferson, 8-52; Chase Cobbin, 5-28; George Ranch: Hayden Drinkard, 9-36; Jaden Shelton, 10-23; Deion Drinkard, 2-0;

Passing – Taylor: Joe Jefferson, 2-7-23-0-0; Chase Cobbin, 2-3-9-0-0; George Ranch: Deion Drinkard, 11-21-108-0-0

Receiving – Taylor: Daniel Bruns, 1-17; Ian Flynt, 1-6-1; Alexandro Zubia, 1-6; Alei Sabek, 1-3; George Ranch: Gregor Jones, 5-51; Jackson Muckelroy, 2-38; Jaden Shelton, 1-15; Hayden Drinkard, 1-3; Bryce Odum, 2-1;

Katy ISD, Taylor, sports, football, high school