Mustangs run past Heat

HOT SPRINGS – These Mustangs proved to be hard to break.

Paced by a dazzling offensive attack keyed by quarterback Keenan Murnion, the Jordan Mustangs outscored the Hot Springs Savage Heat 74-57 in the Class C 6-Man playoff quarterfinals in Hot Springs Saturday.

Now 9-2, the Mustangs, the No. 3 seeded team from the Eastern C will travel to Lambert Saturday to take on No. 2 seeded Eastern C Richey-Lambert in the semifinals. The winner of that game will face the survivor of the other semifinal game between 12-0 Wibaux and 12-0 Winnett-Grass Range for the 2018 State C 6-Man championship on Nov. 17.

Wibaux, which only recently has been an 8-Man grid power, is the No. 1 seed from the Eastern C while Winnett-Grass Range is the No. 1 out of the Southern C.

The freshly crowned champions of the Western C division, coach Jim Lawson and his Savage Heat complete play with a 9-2 record, and their football self-respect returned. The Heat did not play varsity football in 2017 after being reluctantly realigned into the 8-Man game after the 2016 campaign.

"It's too bad the season had to come to an end like this, but it sure is nice to be back in the 6-Man game where we feel like we belong," Lawson said. "And, honestly, our kids came a long ways from where they were even early this season. We ended up having a great season and these kids should be proud of what they have accomplished."

Jordan wasted no time in getting out to a lead against the Heat Saturday, and then never really let Hot Springs back into the game.

On the game's opening drive, Murnion completed passes of 29 and 25 yards to Edward Murnion and Derek Reis to put the Mustangs in scoring territory. On a fourth down and goal to go from the 6-yard line, Keenan Murnion completed the drive with a touchdown pass to Cole Murnion to make the score 6-0 Jordan.

On Hot Springs' first play from scrimmage after that, Keenan Murnion took the ball right out of the Savage Heat ballcarrier's hands to give Jordan possession at the Hot Springs 25-yard line. On fourth down and 21 yards to go, Keenan Murnion streaked down the right sideline for a 31-yard touchdown run.

On Hot Springs' next try with the ball, Keenan Murnion came up with an interception, and five plays later found Cole Murnion with another touchdown pass and, after Ed Murnion kicked through the two-point conversion kick, the Mustangs now led 22-0 with 5:53 left in the first quarter.

The Heat were finally able to answer, using runs of six, 13 and 25 yards by Tyler Knudsen to score their first touchdown of the day to make it 28-6 Jordan, but the Hot Springs boys were forced into a game of catch-up all day after that, and never could quite get back into the game.

Before the half ended, Keenan Murnion scored on a 15-yard run, threw an eight-yard scoring strike to Ed Murnion, and completed scoring for Jordan with touchdown passes of 62 and 13 yards to Cole Murnion and Reis.

The Heat countered with TDs by Tyler Knudsen, off a 62-yard pass from brother Brandon, and Kyle Lawson, off a 35-yard pass from Brandon, but the Mustangs led 48-19 by then.

The teams kept exchanging scores in the second half but the Mustangs ultimately were able to hold off the Heat for the win.

Tyler Knudsen scored three more touchdowns for the Heat and Luke Waterbury and Tyler Carr one each in the second half as Hot Springs managed to stay within striking distance.

Cole Murnion scored two more touchdowns, and Ed Murnion and Reis one more each for Jordan in the second half.

Coach Lawson respected what he saw from the Mustangs.

"Jordan is a really good team obviously," he said. "Their offense was clicking and it seemed like the quarterback was on the money completing all his throws.

"We dug ourselves a hole early and that proved difficult to overcome," he added. "We kept battling back but it was too big of a deficit and we could never quite get there."

Lawson said the loss overshadowed fine efforts by Tyler and Brandon Knudsen. Tyler ran for three touchdowns and caught passes for two more while Brandon threw five touchdown passes and for over 250 yards total.

Coach Lawson is already looking ahead to next year.

"It is tough to win playoff games and it always has been," he said. "We may not have won this game but it was valuable experience for our young kids to get. We are just happy to be back where we belong and look forward to it again next year."