Mason impresses in runaway win over Christoval
CHRISTOVAL – The Mason High School football team played like the team with the home-field advantage here Friday, responding to a two-hour road trip with a dominant first half in beating the Cougars 50-12 in a Class 2A Division I nondistrict football game Friday at Jack Pardee Memorial Stadium.
Mason powered to a 34-0 first-half lead and outscored Christoval 16-12 in the second half to improve to 3-1 overall and win its third-consecutive game since falling 7-6 in the season opener to Coleman, now the No. 5 team in the state.
After a three-and-out by the Mason defense to open the game, Punchers’ junior running back Ryne Todd scored on the first play from scrimmage to put the first points on the scoreboard with 10:04 to play in the first quarter.
On Christoval’s second punt, Todd returned it 65 yards for a TD to put the visitors up 14-0 with 6:36 to play in the first quarter.
After Isaiah Bishop’s interception stopped the Cougars’ third drive, Mason used a fake punt with about four minutes to play in the first quarter to extend a drive that was capped by Brody Comey’s TD catch with 31.9 seconds to play in the first quarter to give the Punchers a 21-0 lead.
“I was pretty impressed with the way the kids executed the game plan,” Mason head coach Michael McLeod said. “We got that special teams score and that always helps momentum. That kinda jump-started us early and it was like throwing gasoline on a fire.”
Mason improved to 3-1 and hosts Ballinger on Sept. 23. Christoval (2-2) travels to Brady on Sept. 23.
It was the first meeting between the two teams since 2012. The Punchers have a 4-0 win-loss record against the Cougars.
Mason continued the onslaught in the second quarter with another Todd TD, this one from 58 yards out with 8:44 to play as the Punchers built a four-TD lead before adding a fifth before halftime.
Christoval’s Ketcher Joiner kept the Punchers from leaving town with a shutout, powering to two second-half rushing TDs, but spotting the McLeod-led Mason defense five scores kept the Cougars from tasting victory at home so far in 2022.
“You don’t want to get off to a bad start against a team like that,” said Christoval head coach Casey Otho, whose team misplayed the second kickoff and was down 7-0 deep in its own territory before punting away its second offensive possession.
Christoval did not score until the 7:27 mark of the third quarter after the Cougars forced a rare Puncher mistake and sophomore Manuel Riojas recovered a fumble that led to Joiner’s first TD.
Joiner capped Christoval’s final scoring drive with a wide sweep down the sideline before a bruising TD run up the middle of the Puncher defense with 11:09 to play to pull the Cougars within 43-12 . Mason took the ensuing kickoff and took almost six minutes off the clock before Matthew King scored Mason’s fourth rushing TD of the night to stop any momentum shift away from the Punchers.
Despite sitting at a .500 record in 2002, Otho – hands-down Christoval’s most successful 11-man coach as he lost just his 21st game in his seventh season – said playing a schedule against Mason and 3A Division II Brady in nondistrict play is critical for a program that is playing its first season in 2A D-I after statewide success in D-II.
“It was vital for us to make a schedule like this, moving up into Division I,” Otho said. “You can’t get better if you’re not playing anybody.”
Mason has been a state powerhouse in D-I, culminating in an undefeated state championship in 2018 and regular appearances in the Texas Football magazine's Top 10 weekly rankings. Christoval, which made program history with its first 11-man playoff game win during Otho's tenure and came within a game of the D-II state semifinals in 2020, was realigned up into D-I at the last UIL reorganization, based on enrollment.
The 2022 season, however, has been about redemption for McLeod's squad, which was bounced from the playoffs last year in the first round. Since the loss on opening night to Coleman, in a game where the Punchers went for the two-point conversion for the win instead of a tie, Mason has outscored its opponents 125-33 so far this season.
On Friday, Mason scored with its offense and special teams and the defense complimented it all, said Todd, who was his district's most valuable player last year as a sophomore. The Mason special teams got two more points in the second half after the defense forced a punt from deep in Christoval territory, where the snap went over the punter's hands and out of the back of the endzone.
"Defense is the heart of our team," said Todd, who had an interception in the second half from his free safety position. "We've given up 33 points so far this year. Defense wins championships, we keep our defense strong and it helps our offense."
Defense kept the Puncher offense in good position all night giving Mason the opportunity to just lean on its offensive line.
"Our offensive line up front, doing their blocks, pancaking left and right...and without them, we couldn’t do it," said Todd. "They don't get as much credit as they need to."
Senior lineman Cason Jacoby said his unit takes pride in the points on the scoreboard.
"We get tons of other stuff," Jacoby said. "We get pancake stickers, we get breakfast tacos in the morning. The skill guys get enough credit to where it makes up for it. Our team has tons of brotherhood. There’s tons of love going around on the team for everybody."
The loss ended a two-game winning streak for the Cougars, who not only are experiencing growing pains as a program, but have been bitten by the injury bug. In addition to losing two lineman for most of their season-opener, the Cougars were without starting senior quarterback Kyle Loehman for the second full game after an ankle injury sidelined him in Week 2. Junior Kyle Abilez finished for Loehman in the win over Grape Creek and led Christoval to a win last week against Colorado City but had a tough time navigating the Mason defense.
"This is his third game to get experience in and you know, it's a big game, I thought he did well, he made a few mistakes, but nothing we can't fix," Otho said.
Joiner had his third 100-yard game this season, rushing 23 times for 122 yards. He also caught a 17-yard pass to tally 139 total yards.
Senior defensive back Cayden Carpenter had a team-high nine tackles and two pass deflections while Jake Edmiston had a sack for a loss of 15 yards to lead the Christoval defense.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Mason football team impresses in runaway win over Christoval
