Football Keepsake 2015

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A supplement of the Mineral Wells Index
2015
KEEPSAKE
Mineral Wells Index A Season To Remember Sunday, December 20, 2015
Mineral Wells Rams 2015 District 4-4A-DI

Bi-District and Area Champs
Team pride, town pride

If you followed the 2015 Mineral Wells Rams football team, you
saw things no one else has seen. Ever.
That is because they did something no Rams (or
Mountaineers) team has ever done win two playoff games in
the same season and advance to the third round. The Rams this
season equaled the schools number of post-season wins in its
entire football-playing history.
We were witnesses to that history and it was a wonderful ride.
Yes, we wished the wagon could have kept rolling. Perhaps if that
game against Brownwood was played on a different day well,
although it is the Christmas season, we wont wish for ifs and buts
with our candies and nuts.
Instead, we join the entire community and Rams fans
everywhere in congratulating these coaches and players, trainers and staff on a tremendous season that
ended with an outstanding 10-3 record and bi-district
and area championships.
Better than all of that was how the community bought
in and backed this team, filling the west side of Ram
Stadium and traveling in large numbers for road games,
where the visitors stands in Godley, Decatur, Lubbock
and twice in Abilene were full of red-and-black-clad
Rams fans cheering and rattling containers full of whatever would fit inside them to make noise. Fans painted
business windows, streamers were placed on light poles
and young and old lined up along city streets to waive
the young men off en route their playoff games.
No, this was not anything we had seen before. This
was not the same Mineral Wells. There was never any
quit nor give up. This is a new day, and perhaps a group
of young men have shown an entire community what it
means to keep fighting, to keep pushing and trying, what it
means to support and back each other, and what can be
achieved when you work hard and give it your all.
So thanks, Rams, for a wonderful season, for taking us along
and leaving us with a lifetime of memories. You have made us
proud to say, We Are Mineral Wells. We look forward to what
you do next.
One team. One town. One dream.
Look for photos from the season in our SmugMug galleries at
photos.mineralwellsindex.com/events
4 36
A season for the

history books
pg
Season
Stats
pg
SEASON REVIEW
Week 1 vs. Bridgeport....................................... 8

Week 2 vs. Joshua.......................................10
Week 3 at Joshua.....................................12
Week 4 at Iowa Park..............................14
Week 5 at Godley................................16
Week 6 vs. Hirschi..............................18
Week 7 at Decatur............................23
Week 8 vs. Graham.........................24
Week 9 at Burkburnett......................26
Week 10 vs. Gainesville...................28
Week 11 vs. Snyder........................30
Week 12 vs. Pampa.........................32
Week 13 vs. Brownwood.................34
Sunday, December 20, 2015 A Season To Remember Mineral Wells Index
Sports Editor and Voice of the Rams Clint Foster remembers...
A season for the history books
By CLINT FOSTER
cfoster@mineralwellsindex.com
The 2015 season was one for the ages

for the Mineral Wells Rams.
After an offseason shrouded in turmoil, the Rams rallied together,
shocking everyone but themselves
and uniting a community that has
thirsted far too long for a champion
to rally behind.
Although I fully believed that these
Rams were capable of a second-place
finish in District 4-4A-DI and predicted such in my preview magazine Id
be lying if I said I was certain they
would after everything that happened.
The fact of the matter turned out to
be, these Rams, by all rights, should
not have only been district champions,
they easily could have finished the regular season 10-0.
In just the second year under head
coach Gerald Perry and his staff,
Mineral Wells went from 5-5 to 10-3,
altering perceptions and settling old
scores along the way. The Rams made
it as far as the third round of the
playoffs, giving them claim to half of
the postseason victories in school history a 27-22 win over Snyder that
was the first postseason victory since
1985 and first bi-district championship since 1928 and a 41-20 win over
Pampa, the first area championship in
Mineral Wells history.
But to fully appreciate this Mineral
Wells football season and how special it was, we must reflect on it one
week at a time, and the only proper
way to do so is to go all the way
back to the beginning.
IT WAS THE BEST OF

TIMES, IT WAS THE
WORST OF TIMES
Charles Dickens famous words have

perhaps neer seemed more apropos
with regards to Mineral Wells football
than in June of 2015.
The Rams were overflowing with
potential, highlighted by a tremen-
dous junior class,

and seemed destined for a special
season as the
countdown to
August ticked
away. But disaster
struck.
Nine players
each of which ended
up starting and
making valuable
impacts during
Clint Foster
the season made
the controversial
decision to temporarily turn in their gear
over the direction of the quarterback
competition.
What followed was a firestorm of
debate within the community and a
dark cloud of uncertainty about the
immediate future of the program as the
news spread to national outlets.
The seven days of protest felt like an
eternity, but in just a weeks time fences
began to mend as each of the players
returned to the fold under the promise
that the quarterback competition would
reopen with offensive coordinator Chris
Olson in charge of the decision.
Unbeknownst to anyone else, Olson
was about to make a somewhat unconventional decision that would alter the
course of the season.
FINDING THEIR FEET

THE NON-DISTRICT
SCHEDULE
In a wise move, Olsons decision in
the quarterback competition was to
simply not make a decision at all. Both
juniors, Trent Guinn and Tristan Perry,
would alternate series, bringing both
their skill sets to the table.
The decision initially had its detractors, and I have to admit I was a skeptic at first myself.
Rotate quarterbacks? I thought. If
it didnt work for Tom Landry, just how
is it going to work in Mineral Wells?
Ill be the first to tell you my reservations were unfounded.
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DAVID MAY/INDEX
w
The Mineral Wells Rams, a team once divided over the quarterback posiR
tion, found new unity and success through the friendship and shared talents t
of juniors Trent Guinn (8) and Tristan Perry (9) and the decision by offensive
coordinator Chris Olson to give them both the keys to the offense.
The perks to the two-quarterback

system with two capable leaders
showed fruit right away in a befuddling loss to Bridgeport in the season
opener at Ram Stadium.
While Guinn had a solid day throwing and running the football, it was
Perry who found the endzone for a
school-record six times. Perhaps the
most brilliant came in the first overtime,
when Perry hit none other than Guinn
on a 7-yard touchdown pass to keep the
game alive. Both quarterbacks rushed to
meet each other in the endzone for a celebratory side bump. A happy realization
s
t
followed: this teams going to be OK.
r
Theyve got each others backs.
A packed house at Ram Stadium suc-l
cumbed to stunned silence in the sec- w
r
ond overtime period when a missed
extra point served as the deflating fina- e
le to a thrilling 42-41 game that was as
thrilling to broadcast as it was confus- i
a
ing to determine exactly what hapr
pened in the final seconds.
s
Newly minted senior kicker Zach
Gray lined up for the extra-point, hav- o
ing gone 5-for-5 on the night so far. But 4
s
something went awry. Star running
y
back Johnny Morales came rushing
onto the field as the Rams' 11th man.

Seemingly in an instant, a whistle blew,
the ball was snapped as Morales pulled
up to the line and the kick fluttered
lifelessly to the right of the uprights as
penalty flags careened through the air.
Come to find out the call was illegal
motion, a decline-able foul that
allowed Bridgeport to escape with the
victory. After coming so close to victory, the Rams would make sure from
then on that losses in 2015 would be
few and far between.
The Rams went on to win their
remaining four non-district games by
comfortable margins.
Guinn had his coming-out party
against Joshua in Week 2, leading a
zone-read attack with seven carries for
102 yards and two scores and completing 6-of-7 passes for 89 yards and a
score in a 35-17 win. The victory was
also the first of nine 100-yard rushing
games for Morales, who also scored
two touchdowns.
The following week, Mineral Wells
looked truly dominant for the first time
in a 41-26 win at Glen Rose a final
which the Tigers made appear more
respectable after a fourth-quarter surge.
For a rivalry game that already had a
touch of revenge to it, the win felt extra
special after the Rams got some extra
motivation from the Glen Rose
Reporter newspaper.
Line play is not a strength of the
young team, the paper declared in its
preview of the Rams. Mineral Wells
will keep things interesting for the first
half but the Tigers' big fellas upfront
will eventually wear down the younger
Rams' line. The game has potential to
turn into a one-sided affair.
Mineral Wells, and the Rams offensive linemen in particular, didnt take
too kindly to the remarks. The sarcastic
rallying cry of Mineral Wells offensive
line featuring four senior starters
was to the tunes of young and inexperienced and the O-line stinks. In the
end, they proved their point.
The offensive line continued to shine
in the next of a three-game road trip
against Iowa Park. The Rams and their
rushing attack beat the Hawks into
submission after surviving an early
offensive onslaught to win going away,
42-27. Guinn and Morales could not be
stopped, combining for almost 300
yards and four touchdowns.
The non-district schedule culminated

in a 54-7 stomping of Godley whose
student body hung some less-than-flattering signs about Mineral Wells that
drew the ire of Rams fans. Personally,
having to broadcast outside, under the
PA system behind a student section
fond of what I can only describe as
powder bombs, after being assured of a
spot in the press box, I, too, took some
extra satisfaction in the drubbing.
Seth Hobbs already stout defense
was flawless in the win, as Godleys
only touchdown came on an interception return. The Rams lived in Godleys
backfield, wrestling down quarterback
Kaid Dalton nine times behind the line
of scrimmage and holding the
Wildcats vaunted rushing attack to
negative 4 yards.
The Rams had captured their first
4-1 start since 2006, but the best was
yet to come.
SOMETHING TO PROVE
THE DISTRICT
SCHEDULE
The District 4-4A-DI schedule began
much as it did last year, with a win
over Wichita Falls Hirschi. Only this
time, the Rams victory was far more
demonstrative.
Mineral Wells demolished the
Huskies behind 162 yards and four
touchdowns from the human wrecking
ball Morales. The win also marked the
sixth straight game with a touchdown
by senior receiver Douglas Stevens he
would score in every game this season
but two and a breakout night for
sophomore receiver Carlos Gray, who
scored twice on three catches.
Heading into a game with rival
Decatur a team the Rams had the
opportunity to beat last year Mineral
Wells had the opportunity to take the
district title race by the horns. Sadly, it
seemed the Rams simply werent ready
for the spotlight yet.
A five-game winning streak came to
an end in Decatur, 20-12, on a chilly
Friday night one I was not appropriately dressed for to be broadcasting on
the press box roof with swirling winds.
The Rams had countless chances to
take control of the game and win, but
could never cash in.
Mineral Wells defense was thorough-
DAVID MAY/INDEX
A long-awaited victory over arch-rival Graham in a torrential downpour provided the seminal moment of a regular season that wont soon be forgotten.
ly impressive in the loss, holding firm

with their backs against the wall time
after time and continually keeping the
game alive. Frustratingly, the offenses
biggest struggles came in the red zone.
One possession in particular which
might have changed the complexion of
the game had instant replay been available saw Gray dive for the endzone
after an impressive run-after-the-catch
only to have the ball snatched from his
grasp, seemingly after he had already
crossed the plane. Regardless of what
truly happened, a fumble was called
and Decatur used the momentum to
travel 99 yards and ultimately ice the
game in the third quarter.
Even so, the Rams continued to have
opportunities on offense, but failed to
convert. The game truly had the feeling
of one that got away, perhaps even
more so than the Bridgeport loss and
left a sour taste in the mouth of every
player, coach and fan.
Coach Perry questioned when his
team would be ready to handle highpressure games. He wouldnt have to

wait long to find out.
What came next was my personal
favorite game of a historic season and easily the most exhilarating broadcast Ive
ever been a part of. Theres so much about
that night I will simply never forget.
The dreaded Graham Steers were in
town, a team Mineral Wells had not
beaten in 27 years or even come close
to beating in three. A highly-anticipated game would have to wait as buckets
of rain and lightning filled the skies
and delayed kickoff two hours also
turning the press box windows into an
oversized fog shower door, adding considerable difficulty to the broadcast.
When things finally got going, the
first half was fun to be sure, but nothing spectacular for the Rams. The
defense looked outstanding, but the
offense largely struggled, leading to a
12-3 halftime lead for the Steers.
Thats when things got really interesting.
Mineral Wells legend and Super Bowl

champion Alvin Garrett had agreed to
join me on air for a halftime interview
after presenting a commemorative golden football to the school that night.
Alvin is a joy to talk to and it was a welcome addition to our halftime show to
have him reminisce both on and off
the broadcast about his time in the
NFL and share lessons hes learned.
At one point on air, we were talking about the game the first Rams
game Alvin had been able to attend
since his graduation when Alvin
made a bold prediction.
The Rams are going to come back
and win this game, he declared. You
just watch.
My partners and I kind of laughed
him off. OK, Alvin. Its kind of like how
Lou Holtz would pick Notre Dame to
win even if they were winless and playing the 85 Chicago Bears, right?
Well, whether Alvin is related to
Nostradamus or hes just one heck of a
good luck charm, he turned out to be right!
After all, if youre reading this, you

almost certainly know the rest. The Rams
rallied from 18 down to beat the Steers,
31-27, and effectively turn the page on a
new chapter in Mineral Wells history.
The final plays are etched in the
mind of every Rams fan.
After scoring to go ahead, 27-24, with
1:08 left, Graham practically giftwrapped
a program-defining moment for the Rams
on a flubbed onsides kick to give Mineral
Wells the ball at the Steers 42-yard line.
With steady rain falling once again and
the scoreboard no longer working, Trent
Guinn scrambled 27-yards on the first
play before finding Jordan Duckett for the
15-yard game-winner.
With an undetermined amount of seconds remaining, Graham threw for two
first downs in their own comeback
attempt before Cameron Weiss snagged
his second interception of the night to
secure the ball game and wash away the
mire of a quarter century of suffering.
In the final two weeks, Guinn
shined, having taken sole possession of
the starting role after Perry broke two

fingers on his non-throwing hand.
Under Guinns command, the Rams
survived a 29-21 Thursday night game
in Burkburnett a dogfight in the truest since of the word and capped off
an 8-2 regular season with a 44-6 drubbing of Gainesville in Ram Stadium.
Against the Leopards, Guinn was an
eyelash shy of perfect, with 244 yards
and four touchdowns on 22-of-23 passing and three carries for 45 yards, all
with a stinger in his back.
But perhaps even more memorable
than Guinns gallant performance that
night was the scene that unfolded
immediately after the game. After coming out on the wrong end of a threeway tie for third, fourth and fifth place
last year because of point differential,
the Rams again found themselves having to scoreboard watch to find out
their playoff fate. This time, Mineral
Wells was guaranteed a spot in the
postseason, it was a matter of whom
they would play in the first round:
Snyder or Brownwood.
Coaches huddled around phones to
listen to updates from the Graham/
Decatur game and their rooting interests changed on a dime depending on
the situation. If Graham won by two
touchdowns which they had most of
the game the Rams would have a
share of the district title, a No. 2 seed
and a first-round date with Snyder. If
Decatur won, the Rams would finish
second in district, again assuring themselves a game against Snyder.
However, if Graham won by less than
two touchdowns, the Rams would,
again, have a share of the district title,
but it would feel rather hollow with a
No. 3 playoff seed and a game against
top-10 Brownwood.
Late in the game, Graham led by one
touchdown the worst possible scenario. But Rams coaches were overjoyed
when the Eagles scored to make it
42-41 and later got an interception to
seal the deal.
As Olson put it, Ive never been so

happy to lose a district championship.
Far from losers, the table was set for
the Rams with the opportunity to do
something truly special.
RAMS, MEET HISTORY

THE PLAYOFFS
For the first time since 2011, the Rams
were in the playoffs. The community
was already abuzz, the town painted
red and droves of fans lining the streets
of Mineral Wells to bid the team buses
farewell on game day which would
become a playoff tradition.
But in order to do something truly
special, the Rams had to go through the
Snyder Tigers a third-place team from
an outstanding District 3-4A-DI. In the
historic confines of Abilenes Shotwell
Stadium, Mineral Wells football added
a significant page to its own history.
Guinn answered an opening-drive
Snyder score with three straight touchdown passes and the Rams appeared to
be in complete control. The tide began to
turn when Snyder found its way into the
endzone on a fourth-down pass right
before halftime to bring the score to 21-12.
The second half was all about running and defense both of which would
ultimately win the day for the Rams. As
the Tigers gradually clawed to within
five points, the Rams looked to its
power back to bleed the clock.
Johnny Morales answered the call
finishing the game with 23 carries for
116 yards and helped tick 4:38 off the
fourth-quarter clock before Tristan Perry
pinned Snyder deep with an outstanding punt that hung in the air for eight
seconds to leave Snyder with just eight
seconds on the clock to try for a miracle.
With time for two plays, Snyder
quarterback Logan Tate dropped back
to pass when he was almost immediately pulverized by a free-running
Stefan Sandoval, who forced an incomplete pass. On the final play, Snyder
tried for a hook-and-ladder, but fumbled instead. As senior defensive tackle
David Garcia dove onto the loose pigskin to secure the 2015 Rams place in
school history, the Black and Red sideline and a packed home side of
Shotwell erupted.
The Rams had finally done it. For the
first time since 1985, Mineral Wells had
won a postseason football game their
first bi-district championship since

1928. The scene of celebration on the
field when the Rams players finally
took hold of that trophy was a memorable one to say the least.
But the Rams werent done.
Mineral Wells was bound for
Lubbock to play their second-round
game against Pampa on the big stage of
Texas Techs Jones AT&T Stadium the
turf of which many Rams likely grew
up only dreaming they might play on
some day. With the Jumbotron running
and the Rams clad in all black, Mineral
Wells looked right at home.
Each member of Rams Nation that
made the long trip was in for a treat.
While Rams fans got their pick of the
litter of the best seats in the house, I
was perched high above the field level
on the top floor of the press box, where
Tech officials warned me I would need
binoculars they werent kidding.
Our radio suite, complete with automatic windows, a TV for replays and
live in-game stats delivered from media
relations was certainly a far cry from
the roof at Decatur or the Godley student section. Lubbocks flat surroundings filled with twinkling lights both
provided a picturesque setting and
gave new meaning to the Bob Wills
song Miles and Miles of Texas.
From the stadium, to the amenities
and the stakes, it was the result on the
field delivered by a Rams team bent on
making school history that made that
night one I nor likely anyone else in
attendance will ever forget.
From the opening whistle, the Rams
played like a team possessed possessed with a single-minded determination to achieve what their community has been starved for for far too many
years. The game never felt in doubt.
The Rams took a 21-point lead out of
the gate and never looked back. The
Rams, again, leaned on Morales in the
second half to close things out and
when the offense wasnt on the field,
Kaine Carraway was busy slamming
the door in Pampas face with back-toback interceptions in the endzone.
The 41-20 win felt almost perfect and
when it came time to hoist another trophy, signaling the Rams first-ever trip
to the third round in school history, an
entire community gathered on the field
around the Double-T could soak in a
truly beautiful moment.
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Seniors like Richard Munoz, Tristan Seargeant and Douglas Stevens have
left a legacy in Mineral Wells that will live on forever. The juniors that will
take their place next year could have even bigger things ahead.
Even when Mineral Wells season

ended the following week against a
stout Brownwood squad a game that
still never felt out of reach despite miserable winter weather that grounded
Mineral Wells pass-heavy offense
you couldnt shake the good feelings
about this team.
They accomplished so much, overcame so much and did it the way
youre supposed to as a family. Week
in and week out, the impression you
got from that locker room was the most
important person to each kid was their

brothers to their right and left. Its that
attitude that breeds champions.
It feels as though the days of football
purgatory in Mineral Wells are long past,
and if you thought this year was fun, just
wait until next year. Countless key playmakers return for their seniors seasons
with many more promising youngsters
rising in the ranks. These Rams are hungry and theyre here to stay.
Strap yourselves in, folks. Only eight
months until August.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 1 vs. BRIDGEPORT
Rams lose opener in shootout, 42-41

By CLINT FOSTER
Shock. Stunned silence. Heartbreak.

A tidal wave of emotions eclipsed the
Mineral Wells sideline and a packed
house at Ram Stadium Friday night when
the Mineral Wells Rams 2015 wild season
opener yet another instant classic in the
ever-thrilling series with the Bridgeport
Bulls ended in perhaps the most bizarre,
gut-wrenching way imaginable.
Perhaps never before had the oft-overlooked extra point seemed so crucial.
After a back-and-forth game with five
ties, Mineral Wells found itself in the bottom half of a second overtime period in
need of seven points. Junior wide receiver
Jordan Duckett supplied the first six on a
25-yard touchdown pass from Tristan
Perry out of the gate. Then disaster struck.
Newly minted senior kicker Zach Gray
lined up for the extra-point, having gone

5-for-5 on the night so far. But something
was awry. Star running back Johnny
Morales came rushing onto the field as the
Rams 11th man. Seemingly in an instant,
a whistle blew, the ball was snapped as
Morales pulled up to the line and the kick
fluttered lifelessly to the right of the
uprights as penalty flags careened
through the air.
What was the call? A dead-ball false
start? Illegal procedure? Illegal motion?
Confusion swirled like a whirlwind
throughout Ram Stadium, when suddenly the Bulls and their fans erupted as the
officials declared them victorious. 42-41.
The Bulls got their revenge from last
years 27-20 overtime win by Mineral
Wells and Ram Nation began filing out of
the stadium, struggling to allow what had
just happened to sink in.
But what did happen on that fateful
Mineral Wells running back Johnny

Morales watches as
junior receiver
Jordan Duckett
fights through a
tackle attempt by
Bridgeport's Efrain
DeLuna during the
epic, double-overtime battle
between the Rams
and Bulls in the
season opener.
DAVID MAY/INDEX
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 1 vs. BRIDGEPORT

extra-point attempt? Head coach Gerald
Perry explained the Rams side.
Wed had some cramping on the sidelines, Perry said. We were trying to substitute and we had one that we knew was
cramping and when he didnt go out there,
we werent prepared as a coaching staff to
have his backup in there. We were running
a guy out on the field and I didnt even
see the kick but it was basically illegal
procedure and they declined it.
Youre hearing whistles like it was
dead before the snap, but they said the
whistles were to start the clock, even
though it was already going. I dont know.
Whether its the right call or not, thats
on us. Ultimately, its on me. We had too
many situations where we didnt have
enough guys on our special teams. Thats
discipline. Its very frustrating that we
allowed some of those things to happen.
Ill take responsibility for that and that
will be fixed.
Bridgeport head coach Danny Hensons
camp told the Index the penalty was illegal
motion, as Morales was in the game but
moving toward the line of scrimmage at
the snap. As illegal motion is not a deadball foul, Bridgeport was able to decline the
penalty and accept the win.
Regardless, it was an ending while
wild that didnt seem to befit the intense
six periods of action that transpired
between the Rams and Bulls Friday night.
It was the kind of game that has typified
the rivalry series between Mineral Wells
and Bridgeport since 2006.
I was talking to [Henson] and he said
as far as he can remember, just about all of
Mineral Wells games with Bridgeport
have been overtime or seven-point games.
He said hes had enough of them, Perry
said with a bit of a laugh.
Mineral Wells home opener Friday
with all its excitement was enough to put
anybody in an early grave. From beginning to end, it had the feeling of a heavyweight fight that would come down to the
very last play.
With the exception of the ending, the
feeling for any Mineral Wells fan had to
be overwhelmingly positive.
After months of speculation,
Mineral Wells ended up starting both
its junior quarterbacks, Tristan Perry
and Trent Guinn, who rotated series
and both played outstanding. Perry in
particular, hurled all six of Mineral
Wells touchdown passes: three to
Duckett, two to senior Douglas
Bport
7 0 7 14 7 7 42
M. Wells 7 7 7 7 7 6 41
Scoring Summary
M Tristan Perry 66 pass to Jordan
Duckett (Zach Gray kick)
B Corbin Coleman 53 pass to
Colten Waters (Efrain DeLuna kick)
M Perry 15 pass to Douglas Stevens
(Gray kick)
B Coleman 4 run (DeLuna kick)
M Perry 33 pass to Duckett (Gray
kick)
B Brazier Talley 12 run (DeLuna
kick)
B Eric Stonechek 18 INT of Perry
(DeLuna kick)
M Perry 7 pass to Stevens (Gray
kick)
M Perry 7 pass to Trent Guinn
(Gray kick)
B Grayson Mathes 1 run (DeLuna
kick)
B Coleman 12 pass to Keenan
Holdman (DeLuna kick)
M Perry 25 pass to Duckett (kick
failed)
Mineral Wells Stats
(unofficial)
Rushing: 150 yards
Passing: 25-for-35 for 300 yards
Interceptions: 3
Fumbles: 2
Stevens and even one to fellow trigger
man Guinn in the first overtime.
The game was chock full of superlative
individual performances for the Rams.
Junior defensive backs Cameron Weiss
and Kaine Carraway both had interceptions. Mineral Wells linebackers and
defensive linemen stepped up. The receiving corps depth was on full display and
running backs Morales and Tristan
Seargeant ran strong.
Everyone had flashes, Perry said. I
praise both quarterbacks. Going into this
thing, we had all the issues the quarterbacks were never the issue. We had great
quarterback play and both of them are
special. Now youve got to figure out how
you get both of them enough reps. Both
those kids can win.
However, for all the positives, what irked
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Sophomore receiver Carlos Gray seeks yards after hauling in a catch

against Bridgeport.
Perry the most were the little mistakes.

Too many errors that cost us, he said.
We played well at times on both sides of
the ball. But we had some mistakes and
were not good enough to overcome those
mistakes right now. Weve never had that
many problems with special teams.
It was a heck of a football game.
Someones got to win and someones got
to lose. You dont want to lose, but you
cant make those mistakes at critical
times and we did.
We got a little more winded than I
thought we would. Im concerned about
the cramping. We didnt have a single
cramp until the last game last year and
we had some already this year. Ive got
to evaluate what were doing in practices. Those things all fall back on me.
Well get it right.
Even so, Perry acknowledged that the
ceiling looks incredibly high for this
team after the way they played against
Bridgeport. As heartbreaking as the loss
was, at the end of the day, its just a nondistrict game and nothing more. Mineral
Wells proved Friday night it has the

chops to be a very special team this year.
Weve got a dang good football
team, Perry said. Im proud of our
kids. They fight and fight and fight and
they dont care how big the kid is across
from them. The efforts there. But we
cant make mistakes.
NOTES
Gerald Perry seemingly had an
impressive moment of salesmanship
with the officiating crew Friday night
when the referees reversed what was
initially called a fumble to an incompletion fairly long after the fact. Perry
described the moment.
Well, officials usually listen to me,
he said. What I saw was the official on
[Bridgeports] sideline came in waving
his hands as incomplete. The back judge
called it a fumble. Well, they didnt communicate that was my thing. If you
make a bad call, at least get together and
talk. They did after I reminded them
and they changed it.
10
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 2 vs. JOSHUA
Rams get first win in 35-17 defeat of Joshua

By CLINT FOSTER
The Mineral Wells Rams shirked

the disappointment of last weeks
double-overtime loss to Bridgeport
with a much-needed victory over
the 5A Joshua Owls, but it didnt
come easily.
After jumping out to a commanding 21-0 lead, Mineral Wells (1-1)
fell victim to a miraculous 14-point
surge by Joshua (0-2) in the final 30
seconds of the first half. The Owls
made things uncomfortable for a
while for the fans in attendance at
Ram Stadium Friday night, but ultimately the team with only one win
in the last two years couldnt close
the deal and the Rams cruised to a
35-17 win behind a dominant rush-
ing performance.
It was a little concerning in the
second quarter when they scored and
then turned around and kicked the
onside kick, recovered it and scored
again, head coach Gerald Perry
recalled. That was disheartening
going into halftime. It was a big
momentum shift. But the kids came
back out, we made some stops when
we had to and did some good things.
Rushing yards were a lot better
tonight. They put a lot of pressure on
us with blitzing and we didnt connect on a lot of long balls like we
were hoping to do, but we made
plays when we had to.
With junior quarterback Tristan
Perrys record-breaking, six-touchdown performance against Bridgeport
in the rearview mirror, Mineral Wells
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Junior quarterback Trent Guinn and his legs were in complete control of the
Mineral Wells offense against Joshua. He supplied two touchdowns on the
ground and another through the air.
tale of two QBs continued against

Joshua. In this chapter, it was all
Trent Guinn.
The junior signal caller was in complete control of the offense during his
designated series, consistently hurting the Owls with both his legs and
arm. He ran the zone read to perfection and gave the Joshua defense fits
when they had to concern themselves
with defending against both him and
junior running back Johnny Morales
on the ground.
Guinn and Morales supplied the
Rams first two scores on runs the
first an 8-yard read by Guinn and the
second a Herschel Walker-esque
34-yarder in which Morales bulldozed every defender in his path.

Guinn stretched Mineral Wells lead
to 21 in the second quarter when he
found senior receiver Douglas
Stevens in the corner of the end zone
for a 15-yard score.
Then, with half a minute until halftime, the momentum flipped a complete 180.
When a surprise onside kick by
the Rams was called back because of
an offsides penalty, Mineral Wells
opted to pooch kick into the wind.
The ball stalled and gave Joshua outstanding field position and the Owls
took advantage.
11
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 2 vs. JOSHUA

The usually slow-paced,
plodding Wing T offense of
the Owls opted for a paradigm shift and took to the
air. Quarterback Josh Kelso
found Dakota Jones on a
26-yard scoring strike, then
Joshua kicked it onside,
recovered and with about
15 seconds tried to do it
again.
As the clock struck zero,
Kelso heaved the ball into
double coverage around the
10. Junior safety Kaine
Carraway elevated, seemingly snagging his second
interception of the night.
But out of nowhere came
Jones again, who snatched
the ball from Carraways
grasp and trotted into the
end zone untouched.
Basically they just threw
the ball up and made the
catches, Perry said. You
go into practice all week
and you may only see three
or four balls a day being
thrown at you. Everything
was geared to the run. But
they made some adjustments and threw the ball a
little bit. Youve got to tip
you hat to them for making
some adjustments and putting points on the board.
No matter what they
throw at you, youve got
to play your fundamentals
and what youre coached
to do. Youve got to make
plays out there.
Joshua was first to score
out of the locker room, as
Raul Miranda nailed a
28-yard kick to make the
score 21-17, but the rally
ended there.
On Guinns next position,
he broke the defense wide
open housing yet another
zone read from 71 yards
out. All-State cornerback
and holder Cameron Weiss
added two points on an
impromptu rush when the
ensuing extra-point attempt
went awry.
Morales then provided
much better. Weve still got

to hit some of those deep
balls, too, to open the
offense up. Carlos [Gray]
played well, made some big
catches for us.
Joshuas 250-pound fullback Nathaniel Rutherford
led the Owls rushing
attack with 25 carries for
113 yards. Mineral Wells
undersized defense bent,
but rarely broke, as the
group forced four turnovers including interceptions by Caraway and
David Howeth.
Weve just got to keep
getting better, he said.
Our schedules just going
to get tougher from here on
out. Weve got some good
opponents coming up and
we cant let them have
14-point swings like we did
tonight. We played a lot of
kids tonight and that helps
us build depth. We should
be pretty healthy coming
out of this. Weve just got to
keep getting better.
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Junior safety Kaine Carraway skies for an interception of

a pass intended for Jeremiah Biggs on Joshuas opening
drive of the game.
the exclamation point in the

fourth quarter with an
11-yard ramble to pay dirt.
Morales led the Rams
with 143 yards on 20 carries
for a 7.15 yards-per-carry
average. Guinn added 97
rushing yards on eight
attempts and 77 yards on
4-of-6 passing.
[Guinn] played well,
Perry said. The way they
play their defense, the
threat of a quarterback run

was big. He maximized his
opportunities and had some
nice balls as well. Weve
said all along, both quarterbacks can win. Rotating
them like this, one of thems
going to get hot. It just is
what it is.
Johnny ran a lot better,
Perry continued. The line
played well. Our pass protection is getting much,
NOTES
Both Mineral Wells
quarterbacks missed a number of wide open receivers
on the night. Junior receiver
Jordan Duckett in particular
was all alone or in single
coverage on numerous occasions, but was frequently
overthrown save one catch
for 35 yards. Sophomore
Carlos Gray led the receiving corps in catches with
three grabs for 34 yards.
The Mineral Wells front
seven deserves a lot of credit for preventing any rushing scores by the run-heavy
Joshua offense. Altogether,
the Owls racked up 191
yards on the ground, but
Mineral Wells defenders
did a good job of swarming
to the football, gang tackling and limiting big plays.
Two fumble recoveries for
this group was the icing on
the cake.
Josh 0 14 3 0 17
MW 14 7 8 6 35
Scoring Summary
M Trent Guinn 8 run (Zach Gray
kick)
M Johnny Morales 34 run (Gray
kick)
M Guinn 15 pass to Douglas
Stevens
J Josh Kelso 26 pass to Dakota
Jones (Raul Miranda kick)
J Kelso 49 pass to Jones (Miranda
kick)
J Miranda 28 field goal
M Guinn 71 run (Cameron Weiss 3
run for 2 pt)
M Morales 11 run (kick failed)

MW
16
243
90
6-16
0
0
Team Stats Josh

First Downs
13
Rushing Yds
191
Passing Yds
133
Comp-Att
4-15
INT
2
Lost Fumbles
2
Individual Stats
Passing: MW Trent Guinn 4-6, 77
yds, TD; Tristan Perry 2-10, 13 yds.
Joshua Josh Kelso 4-15, 133 yds,
2 TD, 2 INT.
Rushing: MW Johnny Morales
20-143, 2 TD; Trent Guinn 8-97, 2
TD; Tristan Seargeant 1-8; Cameron
Weiss 1-3; Matthew Lawhon 1-(-1);
Tristan Perry 3-(-3); Jordan Duckett
1-(-4); Tyrel Hulin 1-0. Josh
Nathaniel Rutherford 25-113; Hayden
Chittum 16-65; Hunter Schneck 7-9;
Bradley Reid 1-3; Josh Kelso 1-1.
Receiving: MW Jordan Duckett
1-35; Carlos Gray 3-34; Douglas
Stevens 1-15, TD; Domingo Tamez
1-6. Josh Dakota Jones 2-75, 2
TD; Jeremiah Biggs 1-38; Hayden
Chittum 1-20.
NEXT
The Rams in Week 3 hit
the road for the first time
in 2015 to take on the
2-0 Glen Rose Tigers.
12
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 3 at JOSHUA
Rams race past Glen Rose, 41-26

By CLINT FOSTER
GLEN ROSE Mineral Wells marched into the

Tigers lair Friday night, but they were anything but
lambs to the slaughter. Oh no. This time, it was the
Rams that were hungry. And did they ever eat.
The Mineral Wells Rams (2-1) began a three-game,
non-district road trip Friday against 24th-ranked
Glen Rose of Class 3A and dominated their southern
rivals in every phase of the game, holding off a late
Tigers rally for a 41-26 victory thus breaking a
three-game losing streak in the series.
Head coach Gerald Perry said he told his club
before the game theres very little Mineral Wells has
that Glen Rose doesnt, but that hunger and need to
win is the one thing that separates them.
We talked to our kids about being hungry,
Perry said. Theyre a winning program and we
havent been. But the one thing we have that they
dont is were hungry. Use that to your advantage
and be hungry for success.
As if the cross-classification rivalry in itself wasnt
enough to get the Rams fired up, they got some
added motivation from an unlikely source: the Glen
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Rose Reporter newspaper.
Mineral
Wells
linebackers
Jackie
Dooley
(20)
and
Stefon
Sandoval
(2)
take
down
a
Glen
Rose
ballcarriLine play is not a strength of the young team,
er in the Rams' 41-26 road win over the Tigers.
the paper declared in its preview of the Rams.
Mineral Wells will keep things interesting for the
zone untouched to give the Rams a 7-0 lead.
Everybody did their job. Im very proud of our
first half but the Tigers big fellas up front will
After a quick defensive stop, junior quarterback
defensive coaching staff. Those guys do an absoluteeventually wear down the younger Rams line. The
Tristan Perry took control of the offense and poundly outstanding job. I cant say enough about coach
game has potential to turn into a one-sided affair.
[Neil] Mesler, coach [Kelly] Wilson, coach [Matt]
Mineral Wells, and the Rams offensive linemen in ed his way into the end zone for a 2-yard score to
Williams and coach [Bret] Barrick. Everybody does
particular, didnt take too kindly to the remarks. The make it 14-0.
A 4-yard touchdown run by Glen Rose quarterexactly what theyre supposed to do and our kids
sarcastic rallying cry of Mineral Wells offensive line
back Ethan Hartman was just about the only bright
are prepared. Especially against somebody that runs
featuring four senior starters was to the tunes of
spot for the Tigers in the first half as Guinn
as many different things as Glen Rose. I couldnt do
young and inexperienced and the O-line stinks.
answered with a second touchdown pass to senior
it without those guys.
In the end, they proved their point.
Hobbs was especially pleased with his defenses
The Glen Rose paper went ahead and said some- Douglas Stevens to give Mineral Wells a 21-6 lead
and allow the defense to take over until halftime.
physicality, as plenty of players like junior linebackthing about that my O-line was a weak link, offenDefensive coordinator Seth Hobbs bunch executer Stefan Sandoval and junior safety Derek King
sive coordinator Chris Olson said with a wry smile.
ed their game plan to perfection, keeping everything came away with authoritative big hits on the night
Really not a lot of motivation needed toward the
in front of them, apparently unfazed by Glen Roses
and Sandoval, Tristan Seargeant, Richard Muoz
end there. They were begging me to go in there and
countless formations, motions and fake handoffs.
and James Gonzales all had sacks. Its proof that a
finish the game off. They did a fantastic job.
The defenses effort was the epitome of the bend
defense full of new starters is really starting to come
Coach [Sean] Harvey does wonders with the
but dont break adage, typified by a 17-play drive
into its own.
O-line. They made great adjustments, gave us
Thats what we preach everyday, Hobbs said of
enough time to get those passes off and that was the to end the first half in which the Rams not only kept
Glen Rose out of the end zone, but forced a turnover the physicality. Part of what we practice every
difference in the game.
on downs.
Monday is just a one-on-one drill where they just
We talked about that all week and all game
Thats exactly what our plan was going in,
line up across from one another and kick each othlong, Perry added of the article. I thought the
Hobbs said. We wanted to make sure we were solid ers butt. Thats starting to show up, especially in
O-line and d-line did a tremendous job.
against the run, and when you do that, you see the
some of those skill positions. Now theyre starting to
The game began with a bang for Mineral Wells.
ball thrown 5 yards outside time after time. We just
get the strength to go along with the mentality.
After each offense took a series to feel its opponent
Mineral Wells came out firing in the second half
out, junior quarterback Trent Guinn tossed a 96-yard had to keep them in front of us, especially once the
offense got the lead.
as Perry connected on his own long touchdown
bomb to Jordan Duckett, who streaked into the end
13
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 3 at JOSHUA

pass, this one a 67-yarder to Stevens.
In a game full of outstanding performances, Stevens was a constant
go-to guy. The Allen move in led the
Rams with six catches for 143 yards
and two scores and was an excellent
safety valve on in the flat. With the
ball in his hands in open space, he
continually made noise.
He did a phenomenal job, Olson
said of Stevens. Hes a perfect compliment to Jordan Duckett on the other
side. Youre kind of danged if you do,
danged if you dont. You can either
double him and let Johnny [Morales]
run up the middle, or you can single
cover him and let him make plays. It
was his turn tonight, and he made the
most of his opportunities.
Hes a great kid first of all, coach
Perry added. Hes very smart and
understands football. They have to
decide, are they going to bump and
run with us or are they going to back
off. Trent did a good job a couple of
times pulling on inside zones and hitting those little hitches when the corner backs off. Quarterbacks do a great
job of reading the field.
After another Hartman rushing
score, Mineral Wells kept the Tigers at
arms length with a 25-yard Perry pass
to Duckett for a touchdown
Ducketts second catch of the night
and second score.
Then, with the score at 34-13, things
took a bit of a turn. Hartman began to
put Glen Rose on his back for a comeback attempt much akin to the
Rams late surge against Glen Rose
last year.
He led the Tigers down the field on
an 11-play drive, capped off by a
5-yard rushing score of his own. Then,
after a perfectly executed onsides kick,
Hartman again marched Glen Rose
down the field and punched the ball
in himself from 3 yards out. Once
again though, the momentum swung.
Glen Rose lined up for the extra
point and nailed the upright after a
bad snap. But an offsides penalty on
the Rams gave the Tigers a second
chance. Again, the snap was bad and
Glen Roses holder tried to make
something happen, but he was wrestled down in the backfield. Still, a second offsides penalty on Mineral Wells
gave the Tigers another chance and
with the ball at about the half-yard
MW 14 7 6 14 41
GR 0 6 7 13 26
Scoring Summary
M Trent Guinn 96 pass to Jordan Duckett
(Zach Gray kick)
M Tristan Perry 2 run (Gray kick)
G Ethan Hartman 4 run (kick failed)
M Guinn 4 pass to Douglas Stevens
(Gray kick)
M Perry 67 pass to Stevens (kick
failed)
G Hartman 1 run (Cashon Klipfel
kick)
M Perry 25 pass to Duckett (Gray
kick)
G Hartman 5 run (Klipfel kick)
G Hartman 3 run (conversion failed)
M Johnny Morales 8 run (Gray kick)
MW Team Stats GR
13 First Downs 28
50 Rushing Yds 150
295 Passing Yds 276
13-25 Comp-Att 34-59
0 INT 1
1 Fumbles Lost 4
Individual Stats
yds, 2 TD; Tristan Perry 4-12, 121 yds,
2 TDs. GR Ethan Hartman 34-59, 276
yds, INT.
Rushing: MW Johnny Morales 21-58,
TD; Cameron Weiss 1-2; Tristan
Seargeant 1-1; Trent Guinn 5-0; Tristan
Perry 2-(-11), TD. GR Ethan Hartman
22-69, 4 TDs; Chasen Monk 7-39;
Dakota Prcin 8-21; Tyler Torres 3-14;
Tanner Stroud 4-7.
Receiving: MW Douglas Stevens 6-143,
2 TD; Jordan Duckett 2-121, 2 TD; Johnny
Morales 3-19; Carlos Gray 2-16; Domingo
Tamez 1-10; Cameron Weiss 1-4. GR
Cashon Klipfel 7-76; Brazos Overton 5-56;
Tyler Torres 7-27; Dakota Prcin 3-26; Austin
Mullins 2-20; Kully Reynolds 3-13; Chasen
Monk 1-9; Tanner Stroud 2-9; Other 1-4.
Rams Defensive Leaders

INT: Cameron Weiss (1)
FR: Jerome Johnson, Richard Muoz,
Carlos Gray, Matthew Lawhon (1)
Sacks: Stefon Sandoval, Tristan
Seargeant, James Gonzales Richard
Muoz (1)
line, the Tigers decided to go for two,

trailing 34-26.
Luckily, the third time wasnt a
charm, as sophomore linebacker James
Gonzales grabbed hold of Hartman

and slammed him to the turf. This
time, there was no disputing the failed
conversion in a moment, it seemed
the point-after demons of the overtime
disaster against Bridgeport had been
exorcised.
The Rams got the ball back and let
the offensive line and power back
Johnny Morales close things out, as
Morales iced the game with a brutal
8-yard charge to pay dirt. Down two
scores, with about a minute and a half
remaining, Glen Roses ensuing possession was futile.
The win was a significant moment
for Mineral Wells, showing how far
the program has come in just over a
year s time and exhibiting what
they could be capable of in the very
near future.
Well watch tape and keep getting
better and better, but were starting to
show some flashes, Perry said. Last
week we had trouble with all the blitzing. They got to us a couple times, but
we made them pay this week. And we

ran against them. Last week we
couldnt run against the blitz and this
week we were able to do some things.
Our conditioning held up a little better
this game. We got a lot of guys in the
game, too.
In all, nine offensive players
touched the ball for the Rams and
plenty more got valuable playing time.
It plays right into Mineral Wells offensive philosophy.
The Rams also made a huge impact
on special teams, as Zach Gray went
5-for-6 on extra points and Muoz,
Matthew Lawhon, Jerome Johnson and
Carlos Gray all recovered fumbles on
muffed kicks and punts.
From stem to stern, things are looking up for the Rams and with an
upcoming match up against a floundering Iowa Park squad, Mineral
Wells stock should only continue to
rise. The Rams have only to stay hungry. After all, they are the hunters this
football season.
14
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 4 at IOWA PARK
Rams bulldoze Iowa Park, 42-27

By CLINT FOSTER
IOWA PARK In a tale of two

halves, the Mineral Wells Rams outlasted an early offensive onslaught from
the Iowa Park Hawks and their powerful offensive line, only to run roughshod over the home team in the second
half and spoil Iowa Parks homecoming, 42-27, Friday at Hawks Stadium.
The win moved the Rams to 3-1 on
the year, while Iowa Park fell to 1-3,
with all three losses coming against
teams from District 4-4A-DI.
Mineral Wells revved up their diesel
engine of a running back Johnny
Morales and rode the junior the way to
victory, as the workhorse back racked
up 150 yards and two scores on 21 car-
ries. Fellow junior quarterback Trent

Guinn was the lightning to Morales
thunder, adding an additional 134 yards
and two rushing scores on seven tries.
Altogether, Mineral Wells piled up 300
rushing yards on Iowa Parks defense.
The Rams may not have gone into
Fridays game with a run-heavy philosophy in mind, but offensive coordinator Chris Olson said, once they saw it
was working, there was little reason to
abandon it.
They came out and did some different things to us than what we were
expecting. They put five in the box,
which I expected to have seven, Olson
explained. I have to credit [special
teams and running backs] coach
[Quinton] Jones for keeping me
grounded, literally. He said, Run the
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Rams running back Johnny Morales carved his way through the Iowa Park
defense, racking up 150 yards and two scores on 21 carries in the win.
ball. Theyre not adjusting. So, we

stuck with it. We played that in-andout game with our [run-pass options]
and really chewed them up on the
ground. It was good to see.
Whats even better is the kids are
starting to understand if you try to
shut down one part of the offense,
another one is open. Theyre getting
excited for each other doing that.
Mineral Wells bruising rushing
attack also did a lot to exhaust an Iowa
Park team with multiple two-way start-
ers as the game wore on.

Just from my vantage point, I think
they wore down, head coach Gerald
Perry observed. Its to our advantage
having a lot more kids and we dont go
both ways. I think conditioning, for us,
played a big role in that. We kept getting better and better as the game went
on and Im proud of our team.
At first, the Rams and Hawks were
locked in a pure shootout and it looked
as though the game might come down
to whichever team held the ball last
15
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 4 at IOWA PARK

much like Mineral Wells season-opening loss to Bridgeport.
After Mineral Wells opened the
game with a three-and-out, quarterback
Landen Kimbro put Iowa Park on the
board first, capping off an eight-play,
63-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown dive.
Guinn then came out to lead the
Mineral Wells and immediately set the
offensive tone for the game. Captaining
his own eight-play drive, Guinn
marched the Rams 84 yards down the
field with a drive highlighted by a
41-yard scramble before punching the
ball into the endzone himself on a
1-yard plunge.
The very next possession was another
long one for Iowa Park, before running
back Bowie Franks broke loose for a
39-yard score to put the Hawks up 14-7.
Again, Guinn answered, this time
with a 47-yard run to pay dirt. Iowa
Park delivered the next punch on a
74-yard bomb from Kimbro to Cole
Oxford his favorite target on the
night with 13 catches for 185 yards
but Mineral Wells countered with a
thunderous Morales touchdown run
from 33 yards out to knot up the score
heading into the halftime locker room
at 21-21.
Iowa Park never punted in the first
half, scoring on three of their five possessions and surrendering turnovers on
the other two the first a fumble recovered by Derek King after a 12-play
drive and the second and interception
by all-state cornerback Cameron Weiss
deep in Rams territory.
At some point in time, people are
going to figure out it might not be the
best idea to throw at Cameron Weiss,
defensive coordinator Seth Hobbs said
with a grin. But Im cool with it if they
want to keep doing it.
Turnovers aside, the first half was less
than ideal for the Mineral Wells defense.
Defensively, we did not tackle or
get off blocks well, especially in the
first quarter and a half, Perry said. It
got better as we went on, but that was
disappointing early on. We knew going
in they were going to be a physical
team, they always are. We didnt match
it early on. But we scored points.
In the second half, Mineral Wells
defense looked like a completely different group, forcing two turnovers on
downs and a punt compared to one
scoring drive. Hobbs said the main

adjustment was really pretty simple.
We got lined up right, he said.
Most of our mistakes came from not
being lined up correctly. They threw a
bunch of formations at us, just like last
week, and some new ones and we did
not get aligned correctly. Whether it
was in the secondary, the front or both.
That was the key to most of it. Once
that started, we had the deer-in-headlights look.We were playing slow.
Once we got everything figured out,
we really started playing faster. It really
started to happen toward the end of
the second quarter.
To their credit and it sounds silly as
much as they run the ball but it wasnt
necessarily the strength of their offensive
line, it was their speed. They were zoning our defensive linemen and linebackers, building a wall, and thats what hurt
us the most. So, credit to them for what
they do with their offensive linemen. As
fast as those guys move, that was the
part in addition to getting lined up
that we had to get used to as the game
went on.
As the defense finally started to clamp
down, the offense just kept rolling.
After the defense forced its first
three-and-out of the game to start the
second half, Mineral Wells offense
stalled and had to punt, but for the
second time in as many weeks deep
snapper Zach Elder streaked down the
field and jumped on a muffed punt to
give the Rams a fresh set of downs
deep in Iowa Park territory.
On the very next play, Morales rumbled 16 yards into the endzone and the
second-half avalanche began.
Guinn and fellow junior quarterback
Tristan Perry traded touchdown passes
to senior Douglas Stevens Guinns
from 10 yards out and Perrys from 25
yards to cap off a string of five unanswered scores for the Rams.
Kimbro engineered a 13-play drive
in the fourth quarter, scoring on a
7-yard run to attempt to start a rally,
but it was too little, too late.
With a third straight win under their
belt, reality begins to set in that this
Mineral Wells team is not just good,
theyre a couple missed plays in a double-overtime loss to Bridgeport away
from being undefeated with a struggling Godley (1-3) squad awaiting
them in their non-district finale on the
road next week.

But the Rams dont appear to be
buying into the hype, or taking the
cheese, as TCU baseball coach Jim
Schlossnagle would say.
It says that were headed in the
right direction, but thats all it says,
Hobbs said. In our minds right now,
were still 0-0 in district, and thats the
way we have to look at it. Were happy
where were going and were seeing
gains and good things playing good
teams. But, in the end, they dont really
count until we start playing Hirschi.
Thats the way I can look at it and be
humble about it.
Everyone is buying into what were
doing, Olson added. The kids work
hard for one another and they truly
want to do well for one another. The
work doesnt seem like work and its a
lot of fun right now. Last year was the
same way, they were just young. Now
youre coming with that attitude along
with the experience and its paying off.
Like he said after the Glen Rose win,
Perry said they lynchpin holding
everything together is that the Rams
stay hungry. As the Rams rolled into
Iowa Parks recently-renovated stadium Friday before the game, Perry soon
found a new means to pique his teams
appetite.
We drove into this nice stadium
here and you look at all the playoff
wins on that big board and I said,
Guys, that could be Mineral Wells.
Theres no reason we cant do that,
Perry said. Our goal is to stay hungry.
We want to put a record board up there
in Mineral Wells so you can see what
we can do and what weve done in the
past as well.
If the Rams continue on their current
trajectory, Mineral Wells could soon
have a few new impressive skins to
add to such a wall.
NOTES
Perry was very complimentary of
Mineral Wells special teams Friday
night, which posted a 100-percent conversion rate on extra-point attempts for
the first time this year in addition to
recovering a fumble on a punt yet
again. Senior Zach Gray and junior
Ruben Castorena split the kicking
duties, with Castorena nailing four conversion kicks to Grays two. Gray and
Tristan Perry also had excellent place-
MW 7 14 7 14 42
IP 14 7 0 6 27
Scoring Summary
I Landen Kimbro 2 run (Dylan Meyer
kick)
M Trent Guinn 1 run (Zach Gray kick)
I Bowie Franks 39 run (Meyer kick)
M Guinn 47 run (Gray kick)
I Kimbro 74 pass to Cole Oxford (Meyer
kick)
M Johnny Morales 33 run (Ruben
Castorena kick)
M Morales 16 run (Castorena kick)
M Guinn 10 pass to Douglas Stevens
(Castorena kick)
M Tristan Perry 25 pass to Stevens
(Castorena kick)
I Kimbro 7 run (kick failed)

MW Team Stats
IP

20
First Downs
23

300 Rushing Yds 295

166 Passing Yds 235

13-20 Comp-Att 18-30

0
INT
1

0
Fumbles Lost
2
Individual Stats
Passing: MW Tristan Perry 6-9, 84
yds, TD; Trent Guinn 7-11, 82 yds, TD.
IP Landen Kimbro 18-30, 235 yds,
TD, INT.
21-150, 2 TD; Trent Guinn 7-134, 2 TD;
Tristan Seargeant 2-7; Tyrel Hulin 1-5;
Brandon Hinojos 1-3; Tristan Perry 2-1.
IP Bowie Franks 24-163, TD; Landen
Kimbro 17-90, 2 TD; Cole Oxford 2-22;
Colton Dickerson 6-20.
Receiving: MW Jordan Duckett 4-75;
Douglas Stevens 4-63, TD; Carlos
Gray 5-28. IP Cole Oxford 13-185,
TD; Colton Dickerson 2-30; Dylan
Meyer 1-22; Gerrit Deatherage 1-2;
Bowie Franks 1-(-5).
Defensive Leaders
FR: Derek King and Zach Elder (1)
ment on kickoffs and punts.

The kicking game came through
tonight, Perry said. We rolled both
kickers and had some competition
there. Special teams came up big for us.
Weve just got to keep getting better on
all phases.
16
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 5 at GODLEY
Rams win at Godley a good sign

By CLINT FOSTER
GODLEY The Mineral Wells Rams ended their nondistrict schedule in style Friday, marching onto Godleys
home turf for the final game of a three-game road trip
and pulverizing the Wildcats, 54-7, in Mineral Wells
most lopsided victory in two years.
With the win, Mineral Wells captured its first 4-1 start
in almost a decade, stringing together four straight wins
for the first time since 2010. The area around the visiting
locker room was waist-deep in good feelings as the
Rams changed, earned congratulations from family and
fans and loaded the buses.
The main thing is you want to have some excitement and right now were all happy, head coach
Gerald Perry said of the Rams standing before district.
Thats how important that game is going into the bye.
Mineral Wells was virtually unstoppable on both
sides of the ball.
After Mineral Wells exploded on its first drive a
three-play, 75-yard march capped off by a 56-yard
touchdown bomb from Tristan Perry to Douglas
Stevens things stagnated a bit. Both teams exchanged
punts and Perry threw the first of two interceptions on
the night in the red zone. But the tide quickly turned
and the floodgates opened.
The Rams defense got one of many crucial three-andDAVID MAY/INDEX
outs following the interceptions and the offense proMineral Wells defenders Richard Muoz (50), Stefon Sandoval (2) and Tristan Seargeant (32) swarm
ceeded to score on its next six drives. Meanwhile,
Godley's Jeremy Carter during a 54-7 blowout to close out the Rams' non-district schedule.
Mineral Wells defense forced Godley (1-4) to punt 10
straight times from the opening kickoff well into the
second half, before two turnovers on downs would end
series, I thought we played extremely well.
Johnny Morales Jr., while the real Morales rested on the
the night for the Wildcats offense.
We played a lot of second-team guys and we wantsidelines after 12 carries for 99 yards and two touchFor all the points on the board, defensive coordinator ed [the shutout] to be a point of emphasis with them.
downs.
Seth Hobbs unit were truly the stars of the show. The
They really did play at a high level.
Hinojos finished with 10 carries for 60 yards
Rams lived in Godleys backfield, scarcely allowing the
One of the many young players to see some game
and even added a goal-line touchdown on a promWildcats a breath and holding Godleys vaunted rushaction on defense was junior KYondric Cotton, who
ising night.
ing attack to negative 4 yards. Quarterback Kaid Dalton actually made his first varsity start at cornerback oppoOther than fumbling the ball that one time, he did a
was wrestled down nine times in the backfield, as junior site of Cameron Weiss. The coaches were pleased with
great job, Perry said of Hinojos. He gets down when
linebacker Stefan Sandoval stood out with at least a
his production against a Godley offense that actually
he makes mistakes, but hes got to learn to just brush
piece of three sacks, Andy Garcia with two and Jerome
aired out the ball quite a bit.
that off. Hes going to be a good one for us.
Johnson, Richard Muoz, Jackie Dooley and David
He did well, especially for a guy that kind of got
Hinojos is an exciting little freshman, offensive
Garcia joining the carnage, to name a few.
thrown into the fire like that, Hobbs said. KYondric
coordinator Chris Olson added. It was good to see
Although the scoreboard didnt show it Godleys
stepped up to the challenge. He had that wide-eyed
what he could do tonight.
touchdown in garbage time came when Will Buchholz
look a little bit, but he stepped up and did his job and
Elsewhere on the offense, the passing game shined.
returned a Perry interception 29 yards to pay dirt the
made some really nice tackles.
Both quarterbacks Perry and Trent Guinn finished
Mineral Wells defense pitched a shutout and Hobbs
They exposed him a little bit early, but he settled
the night with two touchdowns apiece and a combined
couldnt have been more pleased.
down and did some good things, Perry added. We
248 yards. As he did against Glen Rose, junior receiver
Im really happy about [the shutout], Hobbs said.
played a lot of guys and got some good experience.
Jordan Duckett needed just two catches for his two
I thought we played pretty well. They were a little bit
Another young player to raise eyebrows on the oppo- touchdowns and 60 yards, putting him not far behind
beat up, so that kind of changed what they wanted to
site side of the ball was freshman running back Brandon Stevens, who led the team with 89 yards and a score on
do. But our kids stepped up and did what they were
Hinojos. After a fumble on his first carry, Hinojos came
three grabs.
supposed to do. With the exception of the first couple
on strong in the second half and essentially looked like
But while Mineral Wells deep threats continued to
17
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 5 at GODLEY

score, the slots finally got a chance to
really shine. Domingo Tamez hauled in
his first varsity touchdown on a 30-yard
pass and fell just short of the goal line on
his second reception for 32 yards. Carlos
Gray continued to be a stalwart outlet,
hauling in five passes for 30 yards.
Back outside, senior Matthew Lawhon
finally got in on the receiving action as
well, with two catches for 10 yards.
I was real pleased to see the slots
get involved with the vertical game,
Olson said. Thats something Ive been
waiting on. I was glad we were able to
get some other players in tonight, too.
Matt Lawhon has been due to get some
catches in.
I cant give enough credit to my new
wide receiver coaches [Kevin Harvey
and Kevin Domingue]. Theyre learning
and working their tails off for me and its
showing with the wide receivers.
After such a dominant win and outstanding start for the season, it would be
almost impossible not to be inundated
with confidence for the final five games
of the regular season. Although Mineral
Wells coaches will be quick to remind
their players that the Rams are 0-0 in the
games that matter when Wichita Falls
Hirschi comes to town for a long-awaited
home game, Oct. 9, they acknowledge
that the Rams are in an exceptional spot
as a team.
As long as they continue to do what
theyve been taught to do and work hard
and play hard for each other, the skys
the limit for this team, Olson said.
Hirschi will bring on another test,
because you know theyve got athletes
across the board. Were 0-0 now, thats
what weve got to preach.
Its a great time for the bye week to
come, Hobbs added. Weve got to
make sure that we do right in the classroom and get everybody healthy getting David Howeth and Kaine Carraway
back to be at full strength by the time we
get to the meat of our schedule. And we
cant overlook Hirschi either.
It really is 0-0 as far as Im concerned.
If anything shows that, its last year
when we thought we were in and then
we were out. The last thing were going
to do is look at it any other way than that
weve got to win every one of them.
For the first time in a very long time,
Mineral Wells has the look of a team with
a realistic shot to be in every game from
here on out.
what we need going into the bye to get

ready for that first district game.
MW
14 26 14 0 54
Godley 0 0 0 7 7
Scoring Plays
M Tristan Perry 56 pass to Douglas
Stevens (Zach Gray kick)
M Trent Guinn 11 pass to Jordan
Duckett (Gray kick)
M Perry 30 pass to Domingo Tamez
(Gray kick)
M Johnny Morales 3 run (kick failed)
M Tristan Seargeant 3 run (kick
failed)
M Guinn 49 pass to Duckett (Gray
kick)
M Morales 5 run (Ruben Castorena
kick)
M Brandon Hinojos 3 run
(Castorena kick)
G Will Buchholz 29 INT of Perry
(Adrian Sotello kick)

MW Team Stats Gdly

18
First Downs
8

200 Rushing Yds
-4

248 Passing Yds 143

15-24 Comp-Att 17-27

2
INT
0

1
Fumbles Lost
0
Individual Stats
Passing: MW Tristan Perry 7-11,
140 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT; Trent Guinn
8-13, 108 yds, 2 TD. Gdly Kaid
Dalton 17-27, 143 yds.
12-99, 2 TD; Brandon Hinojos 10-60,
TD, Fum; Trent Guinn 5-32; Tyrel
Hulin 3-9; Tristan Seargeant 1-2, TD;
Tristan Perry 3-(-2). Gdly Jeremy
Carter 14-20; Johnny Davis 2-15;
Taylor Grimes 1-(-1); Kaid Dalton
9-(-38).
Receiving: MW Douglas Stevens
3-89, TD; Domingo Tamez 2-62, TD;
Jordan Duckett 2-60, 2 TD; Carlos
Gray 5-30; Matthew Lawhon 2-10;
Danny White 1-0. Gdly Taylor
Grimes 5-37; Dylan Erwin 6-36;
Johnny Davis 1-29; Will Buchholz
2-21; Jeremy Carter 3-19.
Defensive Leaders
Sacks: Stefon Sandoval, 3
Up Next: vs. WF Hirschi (0-5), Oct. 9.

Iowa Park def. Hirschi, 50-26.
Were off to a good start, Perry said.

The main thing is were healthy and
were getting better and better. Thats
NOTES
Godleys stud Kansas State commit
Blake Hickey switched his jersey with a
teammates before the game and spent
most of the night at fullback and
H-back rather than on the O-line,
where hes usually found. As a result,
he had a relatively quiet night, usually
working as a lead blocker and being
targeted for two passes, but catching
neither. Hobbs said the move worked
out well for the Rams defense.
Hes not a real big receiving threat, so
that kind of freed up our safeties to be
able to play both the run and the pass
more, Hobbs explained. If the game
would have turned a little bit differently
and they could have used him more as a
run blocker, you never know. In the end,
we told them all they did was switch jerseys with another kid. Its the same
thing: one guys coming to kick out, one
guys coming to roll up.
Mineral Wells got some extra motivation before the game from a number of
colorful student-made signs in front of
the Godley stands. As some fans found
many of the messages offensive, the
Godley administration quickly removed
the signage and Godleys middle school
principal David Williams publicly apologized to Mineral Wells students, alums,
parents and fans.
Mineral Wells blowout win came in
spite of three turnovers compared to
none by Godley. It was the first time the
Rams yielded a single turnover since
Glen Rose and the first interceptions
since the season-opener against
Bridgeport. Olson joked bad karma
might have been partially to blame.
I shouldnt have said anything about
those turnovers, he laughed. Its like a
dog-gone no-hitter, as soon as you say
something about it, something happens.
But the defense played outstanding
tonight. I was real disappointed we
werent able to keep the goose egg up
there for them.
18
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 6 vs. HIRSCHI
Rams steamroll Hirschi in district opener

By CLINT FOSTER
Mineral Wells alums that came home

Friday night got an extra special treat.
Coming home themselves for the first
time since a three-game road trip to
close out non-district, the Mineral Wells
Rams made this years homecoming one
to remember with a 64-37 thumping of
the Wichita Falls Hirschi Huskies to
open District 4-4A-DI with a resounding
statement in front of a packed house at
Ram Stadium.
The Rams (5-1, 1-0) clearly established
themselves as one of the districts top
three teams, making it look easy against
an athletic and underrated 0-6 Hirschi
squad that refused to die. The Rams tied
a modern-era school scoring record set
last year in a 64-21 win over
Burkburnett and put the rest of the
district on notice as to just what this
offense is capable of.
For the most part, we were firing on
all cylinders on offense. We had just two
punts, head coach Gerald Perry said.
The defense gave up too many points
early, but well fix that. The main thing
for us is were healthy and weve got
some excitement going into next week. I
think were getting better pretty much
across the board.
Much like last years record-setting
romp, junior running back Johnny
Morales and the offensive line played a
massive role in the Rams success. As he
did in last years 64-pointer, Morales
scored four touchdowns, rumbling for a
game-high 162 yards on 19 carries an
8.5 yards-per-carry average and adding
a two-point conversion. He supplied 30
percent of the Rams 533 yards of total
offense and 23 first downs compared to
just two punts. The Huskies, for all their
speed, simply couldnt keep pace with
Mineral Wells offensive firepower.
Offensive coordinator Chris Olson
was quite pleased with the offensive
production and Morales in particular.
I was worried about the bye week
and how we would respond after that,
because we were on a roll offensively,
Olson explained. We executed pretty
well tonight. Well get into the video
WFH 13 0 16 8 37
MW 16 28 14 6 64
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Junior running back Johnny Morales led the way with 162 yards, four
touchdowns and a two-point conversion as the Rams tied Mineral Wells
modern-era scoring record set last year with a 64-37 bludgeoning of
Wichita Falls Hirschi in both schools District 4-4A-DI opener at Ram
Stadium. It was Morales third straight game with at least 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
room and Im sure theres still many

things we need to work on, but overall,
with all the hoopla and the week off, I
was pleased.
When [Morales] is rolling and the
offensive line is blocking, it makes
everything easier. It held true tonight. If
we can continue that trend, well be able
to do some pretty special things.
[Morales] is getting better and better, Perry added. Hes gotten better
because hes been challenged. Our
O-lines doing a great job. You cant say
enough about what theyre doing.
Weve got so many weapons at receiver,
you kind of have to pick your poison.
Offensively, it was a really good game.
Morales got the scoring started with a
31-yard scoring strike his longest of
the game. But the Rams quickly discovered the Huskies wouldnt be lying
down this year, as sophomore quarterback Martez Vrana marched his troops
down the field and hit a wide-open
Zach Downing on a 29-yard score.
On the ensuing drive, Mineral Wells
senior Douglas Stevens supplied one of

the plays of the game when he hauled
in a 36-yard, one-handed grab from
Trent Guinn to set up Morales second
score from 4 yards out. The coaches
were impressed, but by no means surprised by the play of a wide receiver
who has yet to be held out of the endzone in a Mineral Wells uniform.
It was crazy, Olson said of the
catch. He makes those plays all the
time, just people dont get to see them.
You kind of take it for granted, because
when he does stuff like that, its not like
I havent seen him do it over and over.
But it was a pretty awesome catch.
Hes impressive. Hes an impressive
player, Perry added. It was a little bit
overthrown, I didnt think he was going
to get to it, but he reached out and got
it. Just a great catch by a great athlete.
Its good to have playmakers.
Mineral Wells got a break when Hirschis
Matt Glenn tried to field the following
kickoff around the 1-yard line after an
odd bounce and ended up getting tack-
Scoring Summary
M Johnny Morales 31 run (Zach Gray kick)
H Martez Vrana 29 pass to Zach Downing
(Ezekiel Holmes kick)
M Morales 4 run (Gray kick)
M Safety on Matt Glenn
H Vrana 14 pass to Dominic Davis (conversion failed)
M Trent Guinn 15 pass to Douglas
Stevens (Gray kick)
M Tristan Perry 13 pass to Carlos Gray
(Morales 2 pt)
M Guinn 2 run (Gray kick)
M Morales 27 run (kick failed)
M Morales 1 run (Gray kick)
M Perry 29 pass to Jordan Duckett (Ruben
Castorena kick)
H Roman Turner 10 run (Gerrick McKinney 2 pt)
H Vrana 24 pass to Xavier Wilson (Vrana
to Davis 2 pt)
M Perry 25 pass to Gray (kick failed)
H McKinney 79 run (Vrana to Wilson 2 pt)
WFH
Team Stats
MW
16 First Downs 23
224 Rushing Yds 251
176 Passing Yds 282
16-31 Comp-Att 18-30
1 INT 0
1 Fumble Lost 1
3-31.7 Punts-Avg 2-33.5
Individual Stats
Passing: MW Trent Guinn 9-19, 167 yds, TD;
Tristan Perry 9-11, 115 yds, 3 TD. WFH Martez
Vrana 16-31, 176 yds, 3 TD, 2 2-pt conv, INT.
Rushing: MW Johnny Morales 19-162, 4
TD, 2-pt conv; Trent Guinn 6-75, TD;
Brandon Hinojos 4-11; Tyrel Hulin 1-3. WFH
Roman Turner 18-130, TD; Gerrick
McKinney 14-84, TD, 2-pt conv; Martez
Vrana 10-5; Tavion McKinney 1-2.
TD; Jordan Duckett 4-68, TD; Carlos Gray
4-65, 2 TD; Matthew Lawhon 1-17; Domingo
Tamez 1-12; Cameron Weiss 1-12. WFH
Xavier Wilson 4-70, TD, 2-pt conv; Zach
Downing 2-43, TD; Dominic Davis 4-42, TD,
2-pt conv; Matt Glenn 4-9; Mychal Lee 1-(-2).
Defensive Leaders
Sacks: Richard Muoz, Stefon Sandoval, Andy
Garcia (1)
INT: Ezequiel Morquecho (1)
FR: Max Grider (1)
Blocked punt: Andy Garcia
19
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 6 vs. HIRSCHI

led in the endzone for a safety. But the
Huskies got new life again after Ezekiel
Holmes recovered a Tristan Seargeant
fumble to set up a 14-yard score from
Vrana to Dominic Davis.
It was after Vranas second touchdown that the Mineral Wells defense
finally began to settle in.
First two drives, we kind of had to
adjust to the speed of the game, defensive coordinator Seth Hobbs said. We
werent fitting a couple things correctly
and the inside running game was giving us some trouble. We had two busts
in the secondary. One was on me, the
other, we didnt play it right. After that,
we were pretty sound, especially in the
second and third quarters.
We really made them throw it. We
want to take away the run first, especially with a team like that where most of
the time, when they spread us out,
theyre going it to run anyways. So, that
wasnt as big of a concern for us. When
we fit all the gaps, there were no issues.
With the defenses help, Mineral

Wells blew the game open in the second quarter with 28 unanswered
points. Morales and Trent Guinn each
ran for scores while Guinn and Tristan
Perry also tossed touchdowns to
Stevens and Carlos Gray, respectively.
From that point on, rally attempts by
Hirschi proved futile in the second half
as the Rams had plenty of cushion to
work with padded by Morales
fourth score and two touchdown passes by Perry.
In addition to getting the opportunity to rotate plenty of players in late for
experience, perhaps the biggest positive to come out of Fridays districtopening win was the knowledge that
the Rams dont need to be intimidated
by a team with world-class speed.
The one thing I like is we dont
have to freak out when we see people
that are fast, Hobbs said, specifically
referencing the defense. After we
adjusted to the speed of the game, our
guys saw that we can play with anybody speed-wise. If we do that, then it
all comes down to execution. Thats a
good thing when youre going into
Decatur and Graham. Those guys are
execution guys that are also fast, but to
know that we can handle the speed
part, that means all we have to do is
tune up execution and we should be
able to play with anybody.
With a trip to Decatur and a home
game against Graham looming,
Mineral Wells faces by far its two
toughest tests and most-important
games in the next two weeks. The double-header will go a long way toward
determining how the top three spots in
district shake out and, ultimately, who
Mineral Wells might face in the playoffs if the rest of the season goes
according to plan.
The Rams are ready to prove themselves.
Our kids have worked their tails off
and its just paying dividends now,
Olson said. We havent changed anything from last year. They just understand how to make things work now.
Once we have that going, were going
to be tough to beat. The next two
weeks could be pretty special. Next
week, were going to find out how
good we really are.
If you look in our trophy case,
theres a trophy in there with a question mark on it, Perry said. This past
spring, they got T-shirts with big question marks on them. Its about what are
you doing to win a championship? We
want to take that question mark off
that trophy and put whatever we get.
That was our discussion pregame.
Weve got big games coming up. Weve
just got to keep getting better.
Im excited about where were
going. We still havent played our best
game yet and were going to have to
these next couple weeks. We feel like
weve got a great opportunity. Well see
what happens.
Mineral Wells native, former Ram and Washington Redskins and Super
Bowl winner Alvin Garrett presents an NFL gold ball to the school.
ONE TEAM. ONE TOWN.

ONE DREAM.
At First Financial Bank Mineral Wells, were filled with pride for the Mineral Wells Rams.
Their strong spirit and dedication helps make our community great.
Congratulations on a job well done!
MEMBER FDIC
FFIN.COM | 940-327-5400
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : A SEASON TO REMEMBER IN PHOTOS
2015 Homecoming Queen and King Faith Moses and TerSean Carter
21
2015 Coming Home Queen Johnowene Moore Hall and her

grandson-in-law Wade Wiedebursch
Dad, Kayla, Averey, Landry & Aubrey
23
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 7 at DECATUR
Missed opportunities hurt in Decatur loss

By CLINT FOSTER
DECATUR A loss to your district rival

always stings, but it hurts immeasurably
worse when you had every chance to pull
out a victory.
With the District 4-4A-DI drivers seat
in their grasp, the Mineral Wells Rams
squandered opportunity after opportunity
coming up empty handed on four trips
to the red zone and fell short in a heartbreaking 20-12 defeat to the Decatur
Eagles on a windy October night at Eagles
Stadium.
At 5-2 with a 1-1 district mark, the Rams
still have every reason to expect a playoff
berth and are far from eliminated from the
district title race. But a win against Decatur
(6-1, 2-0) was not only one the Rams desperately wanted, it was there for the taking.
They simply couldnt cash in.
I feel bad for our kids, head coach
Gerald Perry said. We didnt take advantage of our opportunities. They made
adjustments in the second half and we
made mistakes.
I dont know if its just that our kids
havent been in these pressure situations,
these big games. Really, thats a game we
had a great opportunity to win and
didnt. That falls on me. It was a good ball
game with two good teams, we just didnt
make the plays. We just have to learn
from this game and hopefully the next
pressure game we will have been there
and done that and can handle that pressure a little bit better.
The games first three drives made it
seem as though a stadium packed full of
fans would have a shootout on their
hands, rather than the defensive struggle
that resulted.
Mineral Wells came out firing, as junior
quarterback Tristan Perry found speedy
wideout Jordan Duckett for a 28-yard
touchdown pass to cap off the games
opening drive. But it quickly became
apparent that stiff, chilly winds would
play a role, as Zach Grays ensuing pointafter attempt sailed no good.
Decatur answered on the very next
drive, assembling a methodical march culminating in the first of three 1-yard touchdown runs by junior quarterback Tyler
Ticknor. Another missed extra point kept
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Decaturs star all-purpose running

back Payton McAlister is sandwiched between Mineral Wells
defenders Max Grider (11) and
Andy Garcia. McAlister missed
most of the game with an injury.
the score tied at 6-6 to end the first quarter.

Keeping up the trend of junior quarterbacks scoring on their first drive of
the night, Mineral Wells Trent Guinn
took the reins on the ensuing possession
and put the Rams back in the endzone
with a 10-yard connection to senior
Douglas Stevens.
Mineral Wells attempted to get its
missed extra point back with a two-point
conversion with junior power back
Johnny Morales in the Wildcat, but
couldnt convert, making their lead 12-6.
Thats when the offensive fireworks
stopped and the defenses took center stage.
On Mineral Wells next possession,
Perry threw an interception to set up a
Decatur drive that would push the Rams
defense to the brink. But with their back
against the wall in the red zone, Mineral
Wells muscled up and stopped the Eagles
on fourth down.
When Guinn couldnt move the
Mineral Wells offense again, Decatur

inherited another golden opportunity to
tie deep in Rams territory, but senior linebacker Max Grider played spoiler with an
interception to preserve Mineral Wells
lead into halftime.
Defensive coordinator Seth Hobbs
was complimentary of Grider, just one
of many standouts in an awesome
defensive effort.
He was flying around making plays
and thats what those guys are in positions to do, Hobbs said. He did a very
good job. I was impressed with his play.
After receiving the second half kickoff,
Decatur came out with a vengeance.
Ticknor completed a crucial fourth-down
pass in the red zone to Ryan Durdon in
high Mineral Wells coverage to set up his
second rushing score and give the Eagles
their first lead at 13-12.
On the following drive, Mineral Wells
had a chance to regain the lead but lost
the ball instead. Sophomore receiver
Carlos Gray was in the midst of an outstanding run after a catch, breaking tackles and darting through defenders on his
way to the endzone, but as he dove and
reached the ball out toward the goal line,
it was snatched from his hands by a
Decatur defender.
The Eagles had the ball at their own 1,
but they had all the momentum as well,
driving 99 yards to set up the Ticknor
score that would ultimately put the game
out of reach.
For Hobbs, that drive soured an otherwise outstanding defensive night.
I didnt think we played very well in the
third quarter defensively, he said. When
they get a turnover and have the ball on
their own 1-yard line, thats our chance to
stop them and make them punt, instead of
letting them drive all the way down the
field. They did good things, but we had
errors at critical points that broke us.
For offensive coordinator Chris
Olson, the many red zone miscues were
almost too much to bear a shocking
about-face for an offense that had
seemed almost unstoppable, averaging
46 points per game.
We got down into the red zone, and
Decatur did a heck of a job, but we made
uncharacteristic mistakes that we havent
made the last four or five games, Olson
MW 6 6 0 0 12
Dec 6 0 14 0 20
Scoring Summary
M Tristan Perry 28 pass to Jordan
Duckett (kick failed)
D Tyler Ticknor 1 run (kick failed)
Stevens (cnv. failed)
D Ticknor 1 run (Brandon Garza kick)
D Ticknor 1 run (Garza kick)

MW Team Stats Dec

23 First Downs
20

197 Rushing Yds 199

178 Passing Yds 179
15-33
Comp-Att 18-30

3
INT
1

1 Fumbles Lost
1
Individual Stats
yds, TD, INT; Tristan Perry 6-16, 82
yds, TD, 2 INT. DEC Tyler Ticknor
18-30, 179 yds, INT.
Rushing: MW Johnny Morales 31-115;
Trent Guinn 8-58; Brandon Hinojos 3-14;
Tristan Perry 3-10. DEC Tyler Ticknor
30-88, 3 TD, Fum; Dylan Nation 6-88;
Dane Fitzgerald 2-13; Payton McAlister
4-5; Ryan Durdon 3-5.
Receiving: MW Jordan Duckett 5-71,
TD; Douglas Stevens 7-70, TD; Carlos
Gray 3-37, Fum; Domingo Tamez 1-6.
DEC Ryan Durdon 4-57; Dylan Nation
5-55; Moses Ramos 3-29; Gunnar Parker
3-14; Addison Nation 1-11; Dane
Fitzgerald 1-7; Payton McAlister 2-6;
Parker Hicks 1-0.
Defensive Leaders
INT: Max Grider (1)
FR: Max Grider (1)
Up Next: vs. Graham (4-3, 2-0), Oct.
23. Graham def. Burkburnett, 42-7.
said. You cant turn the ball over. Weve

been preaching that whoever made the
least amount of mistakes would come out
on top and that was Decatur tonight. [Not
converting in the red zone], thats an
issue. Well head back to the drawing
board, take a look at what we do down
there and just make sure it doesnt happen again.
24
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 8 vs. GRAHAM
BELIEVE IT!
Rams erase 18-point deficit, 27 winless

years with 31-27 defeat of rival Graham
By CLINT FOSTER
October 23, 2015, will be a date long remembered

in Mineral Wells lore.
After 13 straight losses to their rivals to the northwest, the Mineral Wells Rams turned the page on a new
era in program history. After rallying from an 18-point
halftime deficit, junior quarterback Trent Guinn drove
the Rams down the field with a minute left in the ball
game, finding fellow junior Jordan Duckett for a
15-yard score to give Mineral Wells a 31-27 victory in
the Possum Kingdom Clash the Rams first over the
rival Graham Steers since 1987.
As the clock struck zero at Ram Stadium, a steady
rainfall seemed to wash away the grime of 27 years of
jeers, scorn and disappointment as the Rams secured
their first true marquee victory since head coach Gerald
Perry and his staff arrived in Mineral Wells last year. It
was a win that made a statement to both the Rams rivals
on the other side of PK Lake and a state at-large full of
doubters: these arent the same, old Mineral Wells Rams.
It was all made possible by a little belief and a lot
of guts.
The kids had it in them all the time, they just had
to get over that hump and truly believe, offensive
coordinator Chris Olson said. When you have that
level of belief in what you do, the skys the limit.
Tonight, through all the struggles, they never gave
up. Its a testament to the type of kids we have.
Theyre a special group.
Our kids just had to settle down and believe,
coach Perry added. When youve been down for so
many years, theres always that doubt. That stuff
starts to creep in at times. We just had to get that out
of our minds. We had some leaders step up in the
locker room, too. Just a gutty effort. It typifies the
way our kids are.
We are proud for this community. It pisses me off
when I hear Miserable Wells. I heard that when I got
hired, Why are you going to Miserable Wells? Its not.
Its a great place. Im just proud of these kids and everyone involved. Were trying to change not just this locker
room and this high school, were trying to change a
community. Weve had bumps in the road, but were
doing things right. Its just a tremendous change in this
community and something I cherish.
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Rams defensive back Tristan Seargeant upends

Graham quarterback Landry Turner.
In the first half, Mineral Wells defense came out

strong, but the Rams offense was almost completely
stymied by an experienced, physical Graham defense.
Outside of a 57-yard connection from junior quarterback Tristan Perry to Duckett, the Rams could barely
muster any yardage and were held to a total of just 5
yards rushing in the first two quarters.
Defensive coordinator Seth Hobbs unit kept the
Rams in the ball game, but with the scoreboard reading 21-3, Graham, at half, changes had to be made
and fast.
Hobbs halftime message to the defense was a familiar one.
One of our mottoes is Pull the Rope. Were always
going to hold on, no matter what, Hobbs explained.
I told them today, they were holding on for more
than just them. They were holding on for the last 27
years of guys that had come before them and all the
people in the stands. I told them, The pressures not
on you. The pressures on those guys who are scared
of losing to you.
You can call it halftime adjustments if you want
to, but it was really just our kids decided to play. We

didnt change a whole lot. Really, it was just our kids
executing. They deserve it.
Meanwhile, for Olson and the offensive coaches, the
key adjustment revolved around manufacturing a rushing attack to keep a Graham defense that had keyed
onto junior power back Johnny Morales honest. They
looked to their quarterbacks, who essentially gave the
Rams 104 yards on the ground in the second half.
We knew the quarterback had to run, Olson said. As
many as they had in the box, we had to spread them out
with four wide receivers and they still kept six in the box, so
the quarterback had to run. One of the adjustments we
decided to make was just run a lot more draw. We ran it at
least seven or eight times, including that last drive with
Trent. That seemed to spark what we needed on the
ground.
The results were immediate, as Guinn capped off
the Rams opening drive of the second half with a
42-yard run to pay dirt to make the score 21-10 and
give Mineral Wells some much-needed momentum
and confidence.
After the defense forced Graham to punt on the ensuing drive, junior cornerback Cameron Weiss sparked the
Mineral Wells offense with back-to-back first-down
catches for 27 and 33 yards. Perry then took on the rushing mantle and scored from 25-yards out to make the
score 21-16 following a missed extra-point.
Suddenly, it was a ball game.
A couple of drives later, Weiss snagged the first of
two game-changing interceptions, taking the ball back
34 yards to give the Rams offense a short field. Perry
put the Rams ahead for the first time in the ball game at
24-21, finding Douglas Stevens for a 7-yard touchdown
to open the fourth quarter.
The game was far from over, however.
Both teams exchanged turnovers until Graham got
the ball with a chance to bleed clock on a potentially
game-winning drive. The Steers did exactly what they
needed to, methodically marching down the field while
the Rams defense strived as they had all game to
prevent the big play.
Graham converted six first downs on that drive and
ran four plays inside the 15-yard line before Graham
quarterback Landry Turner finally punched the ball in
from 1 yard out to put the Steers ahead 27-24 with 1:08
left to play. Weiss blocked the extra point to ensure the
25
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 8 vs. GRAHAM

Rams could still tie with a field goal.
With so little time remaining to mount
a comeback, Hobbs said it crossed his
mind to let Graham score late in that
drive.
We actually talked about it, he
admitted. It was discussed, but it was
a quick discussion. We thought, with
the rain, we didnt want to concede
anything. When youre up, youre up.
We just felt like we needed to conserve
a little time with a timeout, but then
also try and get lined up to where we
could maybe stop them. You never
know, a fumble or anything could have
occurred. We didnt [stop them], but
credit to them. Theyve won games like
that before and they knew what to do.
It was just unbelievable for the offense
to just go right back down the field and
make it happen.
Incredibly, Graham virtually gift
wrapped a program-defining moment
for Guinn and the Rams offense. In an
odd twist, Graham opted to try for an
onsides kick after the score, but the ball
didnt roll the required 10 yards before
meandering out of bounds to give
Mineral Wells the ball at the Steers
42-yard line.
With the scoreboard no longer working and officials keeping time, Guinn
called his own number to start the
drive, scrambling 27 yards to set up the
game-winner that will live forever in
Mineral Wells history.
Olson said another halftime adjustment prepared Duckett and Stevens
on his earlier touchdown - for the shining moment.
We had told them at halftime they
were going to continue to press-man us
the whole time, he said of the Graham
defense. I told them we have to be
physical. On both of those routes, you
can see them get into the defensive
back before they broke on the route
and that was the key. You get them on
their heels and finish your route and
good things happen. I have all the faith
in the world in those two. If youre
going to man us up like that, youre
taking a chance of getting beat.
Following Ducketts quick score, the
Steers had an indeterminable amount
of seconds to take a few last heaves at
the endzone. Heave Turner did, for
back-to-back first downs, but he
couldnt escape the grasp of Mineral
Wells backfield bulldog. Weiss climbed
Grm 14 7 0 6 27
MW 3 0 13 15 31
Scoring Summary
G Justin Escalon 2 run (Jesus
Hernandez kick)
M Tristan Perry 23 FG
G Landry Turner 7 pass to Jaxon
Brockway (Hernandez kick)
G Turner 7 pass to Callen Mills
(Hernandez kick)
M Trent Guinn 42 run (Perry kick)
M Perry 25 run (kick failed)
M Perry 7 pass to Douglas Stevens
(Perry 2 pt run)
G Turner 1 run (kick failed)
M Guinn 15 pass to Jordan Duckett
(Perry kick)
Grm
Team Stats
MW
26 First Downs 13
150 Rushing Yds 109
267 Passing Yds 250
33-52 Comp-Att 8-24
2 INT 2
1 Fumbles Lost 0
50 Penalty Yds 43
Individual Stats
yds, TD; Trent Guinn 3-11, 90 yds, TD, 2
INT. GHS Landry Turner 33-52, 267
yds, 2 TD, 2 INT.
Rushing: MW Trent Guinn 13-93, TD;
Johnny Morales 7-9; Tristan Perry 9-7,
TD. GHS Justin Escalon 24-88, TD;
Landry Turner 13-62, TD.
Receiving: MW Jordan Duckett 3-107,
TD; Douglas Stevens 3-83, TD; Cameron
Weiss 2-60. GHS Tucker Horn 7-74;
Callen Mills 9-67, TD; Jaxon Brockway
6-44, TD; Justin Escalon 6-36; Chance
Hornsey 2-20; Kody Perry 2-18; Adam
Groves 1-8.
Defensive Leaders
FR: Jerome Johnson (1)
the ladder for his second interception

and all there was left to do was take a
knee and celebrate.
Hobbs recalled the drama of the
final drive.
We had two second-team corners in
for the last 20 seconds of the game. We
were rolling people in and out with
people everywhere cramping up. Then
tiny kid makes a giant play again, he
said, referencing Weiss with a smile.
The kid played both sides of the ball

tonight dang near the whole game. Just
unbelievable. I cant put it into words.
For all the historical significance of
Fridays win, perhaps the most important element was it kept the Rams alive
in the District 4-4A-DI title hunt this
season. At 6-2 with a 2-1 district mark,
the Rams are all but guaranteed a playoff spot and if Graham (4-4, 2-1) beats
Decatur (7-1, 3-0) and Mineral Wells
wins out, the Eagles, Steers and Rams
will be tied for the district championship with point-differential likely
determining playoff seeding.
It would be an intriguing twist of
fate after a three-way tie kept the Rams
out of the playoffs last season. But the
first component in that scenario is the
Rams have to take care of business in
their final two games.
While it is a big win, were going to
enjoy the heck out of it for about 24
hours, Olson said of the Graham victory. Weve got bigger fish to fry down
the line. Hopefully this is just the
beginning of big-game wins for them

now that they know they can do it.
Weve got bigger things ahead of
us, Perry added. Weve just got to
keep building.
Keep building, keep working and,
most of all, keep believing.
NOTES
Super Bowl Champion and Mineral
Wells Hall of Famer Alvin Garrett joined
the game broadcast on 88.5 FM at halftime
and predicted a comeback victory when
the Rams were down 21-3. After learning
that Garretts prediction came true, coach
Perry said the former wide receiver might
need to be at Rams games more often.
He needs to start being here for every
game, Perry joked. Ill just start giving
him a ball and he can come out and present one every game.
Just seeing the Hall of Fame [inductees] and hearing his presentation, Perry
continued on a more serious note. There
have been great things in Mineral Wells.
Thats what were trying to bring back.
26
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 9 at BURKBURNETT
Rams escape Burk with hard-fought win

By CLINT FOSTER
BURKBURNETT For the first time

this year, the Mineral Wells Rams were
put on upset alert and did exactly what
they needed to secure a crucial win.
The 21st-ranked Rams escaped
Burkburnett Thursday with a hardfought 29-21 win over a drastically
improved and motivated Bulldogs
squad, officially clinching their first
playoff berth since 2011 and keeping
themselves in the thick of the District
4-4A-DI title hunt with Graham and
No. 19 Decatur.
It wasnt particularly pretty, but it
was a win. A win the Rams coaches
were most certainly glad to get on the
road in a situation in which so much
could have gone wrong playing on a
short week right after one of the big-
gest wins in school history.

We knew coming in they had a lot
of weapons and we were pretty worried about them, head coach Gerald
Perry said. They had a lot to play for,
just like us, so we knew it was going to
be a battle. That was the most speed at
the skill positions weve seen disciplined speed. It gave us fits. But thats
good. We need to see that.
We tell our kids that before you
become a champion, you have to learn
how to be a champion. Were getting
there. There were mistakes out there,
but most of the mistakes we made were
based on what they were doing.
Theyre good.
You could tell it was kind of a trap
game, offensive coordinator Chris
Olson added. We werent as crisp as I
want us to be. We got down to the red
zone quite a few times and didnt
PHOTO BY RICHARD CLEAVER
Rams running back Johnny Morales topped the century mark in rushing for
the sixth time this year against Burkburnett, after his string of four
straight 100-plus-yard performances was broken last week.
punch it in. At this point in the season,

we cant accept that. If were going to
be successful going forward, we have
to convert on those.
Im happy for the kids and the community. Were in the playoffs now. That
was a big hurdle. Weve got an extra day
to prepare for next week and we need to
look a lot better than we did tonight.
Things started out well enough for the
Rams. Junior quarterback Trent Guinn
engineered a 70-yard march on the games
opening drive and punched the ball into
the endzone on a 12-yard scramble to give
the Rams an early 6-0 lead.
For the first time in his varsity career,
Guinn took the reins of the offense all by
himself as fellow junior starter Tristan
Perry kicked and punted, but couldnt
play quarterback after breaking two fingers on his non-throwing hand in last
weeks win over Graham.
Olson said he thought Guinn who finished with the team lead in rushing with
137 yards on 23 carries and was 16-of-27
passing for 214 yards looked good overall with the added responsibility.
He did well. Theres always things
we can work on, Olson said. He has

such great desire to achieve and sometimes he tries to do a little too much. I
think when we get into film, well see
that and well just continue to get him
better. I think he was a little uncomfortable with the role tonight. It was a
little bit different for him. But he did
well. It could possibly be that same
situation next week. Weve just got to
make sure were on point from the
quarterback position.
Mineral Wells defense dialed up the
pressure and stymied Burks new spread
offense early on while the Rams offense
padded its lead with a 43-yard pass from
Guinn to Jordan Duckett who finished
the night with 135 yards and a score on
eight grabs and a 3-yard run by Johnny
Morales, who once again topped the century mark with 123 yards on 19 carries after
his string of four straight 100-plus-yard
games was broken last week.
Defensive coordinator Seth Hobbs
swarming 3-4 turned its aggressiveness
up a notch with noticeably more blitzes
that resulted in one of the units best
sack totals this season, in which six dif-
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 8 at BURKBURNETT

ferent player brought the
Burkburnett quarterback
Mitchell Jennings down at least
once.
A lot of times we did a good
job. It was just a matter of when
to time it up and when not to,
Hobbs said. I thought we didnt
take advantage of what they
were giving us blitz-wise. I
thought we could have gotten a
little bit more pressure to them.
But because of their quick
screens, we had to be a little careful with that and it made us a little apprehensive. It seemed like
every time we didnt [blitz] was
when they were sitting back
there patting the ball and chunking it down the field. We had just
as many blitzes where we did
come and they threw something
quick and it put us in a bad position on the edge. Every time that
happens, Im tapping the breaks.
But when we did do it and execute it, it was effective. Its a catand-mouse game and they do an
outstanding job.
Burk made the halftime
score 20-7 when Jennings
scrambled and found Darion
Chafin in broken coverage for
a 75-yard score. When Mineral
Wells couldnt capitalize on a
scoring opportunity before the
half, the Dogs managed to
ride that wave of momentum
into the third quarter.
Jennings scored on back-toback drives out of the gate
split up by a Perry field goal
to set up Guinns third

score of the night on a
2-yard rush to give Mineral
Wells a more comfortable
29-21 advantage.
A turnover on downs on
the ensuing Burk drive
ensured the Rams could run
out the clock and kneel their
way to victory.
In addition to feeling grateful to escape with a victory
and a ticket to the postseason,
Mineral Wells coaches came
away very impressed with
Burks turnaround.
That coaching staff deserves
an unbelievable amount of credit, Hobbs said. That team versus last year is night and day.
Great job by them on just a total
180 in their program.
Coaches were also pleased
with the fight the Rams
showed in what might have
been their most physical game
to date in addition to being
emotionally charged Burk
had five personal fouls in a
game with 19 total penalties.
Overall, I thought we hanPHOTO BY RICHARD CLEAVER
dled it well, Hobbs said. I
thought a couple times we
Jordan Duckett led Mineral Wells in receiving
could have tackled a little bit
against Burkburnett with eight catches for 135 yards
better. It was a good perforand a touchdown.
mance, not a great perforto make the score 23-21, Rams,
But the Rams dug deep
mance, but in the end, we did
and make even the most optiwithin themselves in the
what we had to do and had
mistic Mineral Wells fan worry fourth quarter and, with the
one point more than them.
that what happened to Graham help of multiple key drops by
Were going to have to
last week might happen to the
Burk receivers, managed to
clean up the penalties, Perry
Rams this week.
get the key stop they needed
said, specifically referencing
Mineral Wells 10 penalties for
85 yards. That was very disappointing. We havent had
that many penalties all year
and they hurt our drives.
Mineral Wells
For all the nit-picking, the
students
overall
feeling amongst the
showed up loud
Rams and their fans after
and proud to
Thursdays victory was overcheer on the
whelmingly positive. The
Rams in
Rams won, theyre going back
Burkburnett.
to the playoffs and with a win
PHOTO BY
at home against Gainesville
RICHARD CLEAVER
next week, they have a legitimate shot at a share of the
district title.
27
MW 6 14 3 6 29
Burk 0 7 7 7 21
Scoring Summary
M Trent Guinn 12 run (kick
failed)
M Guinn 43 pass to Jordan
Duckett (Tristan Perry kick)
M Johnny Morales 3 run (Perry
kick)
B Mitchell Jennings 75 pass to
Darion Chafin (Mason Everett
kick)
B Jennings 21 pass to Rizonn
Hendricks (Everett kick)
M Perry 25 field goal
B Jennings 5 pass to Brandon
Ingram (Everett kick)
M Guinn 2 run (kick failed)
MW
Team Stats Burk
24 First Downs 14
260 Rushing Yds 50
214 Passing Yds 297
16-27 Comp-Att 23-33
0 INT 0
0 Fumbles Lost 0
10-85 Penalties-Yds 9-85
Individual Stats
Passing: MW Trent Guinn
16-27, 214 yds, TD. BURK
Mitchell Jennings 23-33, 297 yds,
3 TD.
Rushing: MW Trent Guinn
23-137, 2 TD; Johnny Morales
19-123, TD. BURK Mitchell
Jennings 16-28; Kolby
Youngblood 3-16; Tristan Niles
1-6; Matt Askew 2-0; Rizonn
Hendricks 2-0.
8-135, TD; Domingo Tamez 1-38;
Douglas Stevens 2-21; Johnny
Morales 2-20. BURK Darion
Chafin 3-90, TD; Brandon Ingram
5-60, TD; Kolby Youngblood
3-56; Rizonn Hendricks 6-39, TD;
Alex Hirata 1-22; Blair Hawthorne
1-16; Tristan Niles 4-14.
Defensive Leaders
Sacks: Stefon Sandoval (2)
Five others with one
28
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 10 vs. GAINESVILLE
RAMS GASH GAINESVILLE
Guinn and Co. take down the Leopards, 44-6, in regular season
finale to lock up playoff date with Snyder thanks to Decatur win
By CLINT FOSTER
With the result on the field in front

of them a forgone conclusion during
the fourth quarter, the focus of virtually every one on the Mineral Wells
side of Ram Stadium late Friday night
was fixed firmly on a game 55 miles
to the northeast.
The moment Mineral Wells 44-6 victory over Gainesville went final, Rams
coaches and fans alike drew their smartphones quicker than an old sheriff could
draw his six-shooter at high noon to follow the final moments of Graham/
Decatur a game that would ultimately
decide Mineral Wells final district standing and seed heading into the Rams first
playoff appearance since 2011.
Graham led by two touchdowns most
of the game a scenario that would have
granted Mineral Wells both a share of the
District 4-4A-DI title as well as the second seed based on point differential
but as time wound down, Grahams lead
shrunk to a touchdown and the Rams
shifted their allegiance to Decatur. A
close Graham victory would mean a
shared district title, but a much-lessdesirable third seed for the playoffs,
whereas a Decatur win would put the
Rams all alone in second place the lesser of two evils.
Decatur scored to make it 42-41 and
sealed the victory with an interception,
met by a celebration by Mineral Wells
coaches.
Ive never been so happy to lose a
district championship, offensive coordinator Chris Olson joked after raising his
hands in triumph and hugging his family. Im feeling pretty good.
I dont know that Ive ever been in
that situation in my coaching career,
head coach Gerald Perry said after listening to the final moments of the Decatur
game on his phone. At times, Graham
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Junior quarterback Trent Guinn was practically perfect in Mineral Wells'

44-6 win over Gainesville, completing 23-of-24 passes for 253 yards and
four touchdowns each to a different receiver and rushing three times
for 44 yards.
was up 14 and Im rooting for Graham

which is hard to do. And then at the end,
I was rooting for Decatur. I guess you
give up a co-championship to get a better
seed and, in the end, we want bi-district
championships. Thats more important
than sharing a title. It looks like everythings going to work out for us with
what we wanted for the next round.
What the 20th-ranked Rams (8-2, 4-1)
wanted, and what they got, is a date with
the Snyder Tigers (5-5, 2-2) in the first
round of the playoffs a much more

favorable draw than No. 12 Brownwood.
But before the Rams could think about
Snyder or worry about one of their chief
district rivals giving them a helping hand
in the standings, they had to take care of
business against Gainesville (1-9, 1-4) on
senior night and take care of business
which they certainly did.
The Rams were simply outstanding on
both sides of the ball, overwhelming
Gainesvilles Wing T attack on defense
and scoring on every single drive until a

kneel down on the final possession on
offense.
The kids worked hard tonight,
Olson said. Everything was real crisp
tonight, which was our goal going into
the playoffs. We wanted to see consistency throughout the evening and we did
that. Im real pleased.
In his second game alone in the starting role, junior quarterback Trent Guinn
was dang near perfect, completing 23-of24 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns each to a different receiver
and rushing three times for 44 yards. He
did most of it with a badly bruised back
that tightened up periodically throughout the night.
He played great, Olson said. He
played within the offense this week. Last
week, he pushed a little too much. His
goal going into this week was just to
work the system and trust in what we
do. He was pretty dog-gone good.
Guinns bruise came on a 35-yard
scramble during the Rams nine-play
opening drive culminating in a 6-yard
Johnny Morales score. After the quarterback was slow to get up, Olson and
the offensive coaches decided to take a
cautious approach with Guinns legs,
particularly with fellow junior starter
Tristan Perry already sidelined the last
two games with broken fingers on his
left hand.
Some of what was open [all night]
was quarterback runs, but we decided
not to do that, Olson explained. There
was no reason at that point. We just
wanted to make sure were as healthy as
we can possibly be going into next week.
Were going to have to work [on
Guinn sliding], Olson continued with a
laugh. Its been a long time since hes
played baseball. We might have to take
him over to the base paths and teach him
how to do that.
Guinn tossed touchdowns to Douglas
29
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 10 vs. GAINESVILLE

Stevens, Jordan Duckett, Carlos Gray and
Brandon Hinojos before his night ended
in favor of getting sophomore slinger
Seth Slack some work. Slack also performed well, leading the Rams on an
11-play, fourth-quarter drive ending in a
field goal before taking two knees to run
out the clock on the next possession.
The 27-yard field goal came off the
foot of Gabriel Bonafacio, who was also a
perfect 3-for-3 on extra points in his first
varsity game. Equally impressive were
sophomore Brand Bryant and freshman
Bradley Aaron, who got starting nods on
an offensive line that manhandled
Gainesville up front.
They were just some of many Rams to
see the field Friday and make an impact,
as coach Perry said every single Mineral
Wells player got playing time in the final
home game.
On defense, the Rams were equally
stellar. When Gainesville wasnt shooting
itself in the foot with six false starts and
illegal motion penalties, the Rams were
living in the Leopards backfield. It
wasnt until Gainesvilles final possession
of the game that running back Calion
Baker broke loose against the Rams
backup defenders and took the ball 32
yards for a score on fourth down to end
Mineral Wells hopes of a shutout.
Even without the goose egg, defensive
coordinator Seth Hobbs couldnt feel bad
about his defenses performance which
also included two turnovers.
They did really well, he said of his
defense. Im very pleased with both the
execution and the adjustments to the
gameplan. We actually slid our defensive
linemen in tighter and that made them
block down, which freed up the linebackers and made it work out pretty well.
Before too long, we got them out of what
they wanted to do and that definitely
played into our hands.
Gainesville didnt register a first down
during the third quarter and didnt top
100 yards rushing as a team until the
fourth quarter.
Ultimately, Mineral Wells 44-6
pounding of the Leopards served not
only as revenge for last years 31-3 loss
which kept the Rams out of the postseason. It also served as a final prelude
for the most important part of Mineral
Wells football calendar and one that
Perry and all of Rams Nation hopes will
be very special.
Its been since 1985 that the Rams have
Gville 0 0 0 6 6
MW 14 13 14 3 44
Scoring Summary
M Johnny Morales 6 run (kick failed)
Stevens (Guinn to Jordan Duckett for 2)
M Guinn 4 pass to Duckett (kick
failed)
M Guinn 21 pass to Carlos Gray
(Gabriel Bonafacio kick)
M Guinn 1 pass to Brandon Hinojos
(Bonafacio kick)
M Hinojos 7 run (Bonafacio kick)
M Bonifacio 27 FG
G Calion Baker 32 run (kick failed)
Gville

9
183

28
2-5

1

1
TEAM STATS
First Downs
Rushing Yds
Passing Yds
Comp-Att
INT
Fumbles Lost
MW
26
196
273
25-29
0
0
Individual Stats
Passing: MW Trent Guinn 23-24, 253 yds,
4 TD; Seth Slack 2-5, 20 yds. GHS Redd
Harrison 1-3, 22 yds; Hunter Turbeville 1-2, 6
yds, INT.
Rushing: MW Johnny Morales 16-100,
TD; Trent Guinn 3-44; Brandon Hinojos
6-18, TD; Matthew Lawhon 1-17; Jordan
Duckett 1-14; Douglas Stevens 1-11;
Domingo Tamez 1-1; Seth Slack 2-(-19).
GHS Calion Baker 8-76, TD; Michael
Bradley 8-34; Reed Harrison 10-31; Hunter
Turbeville 5-29; Zukari Long 5-11; Spencer
Padgett 1-2; JaHaud Spencer 2-1; Luis
Huerta 1-(-1).
TD; Carlos Gray 6-61, TD; Jordan Duckett
6-47, TD; Domingo Tamez 3-42; Johnny
Morales 1-28; Danny White 1-12; Troy
Bradshaw 1-8; Brandon Hinojos 1-1, TD.
GHS Bryce Royal 1-22; Michael Bradley
1-6.
Defensive Leaders
Sack: Max Grider (1)
INT: Kaine Carraway (1)
FR: Jerome Johnson (1)
won a playoff game. But 30 years later,

coach Perry feels good about his 2015 squad
and knows from personal experience anything can happen in the postseason.
Were a good team. In my mind, we
could easily be 10-0 right now and weve
still not played our best. Im happy for
our team, our fans and our community.
Freshman
Brandon Hinojos
scored two touchdowns in the
Rams 44-6 win
over Gainesville at
Ram Stadium, to
close out the regular season 8-2.
DAVID MAY/INDEX
30
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 11 vs. SNYDER at SHOTWELL STADIUM, ABILENE
Rams end 30-year postseason losing

streak with 27-22 defeat of Snyder
By CLINT FOSTER
ABILENE For the first time since 1928, the

Mineral Wells Rams are bi-district champions.
After 30 long years of waiting, the Rams exorcised
their postseason demons with a gritty 27-22 victory
over the Snyder Tigers on a chilly Friday night at
Abilenes Shotwell Stadium.
Before Friday, the Rams had only two playoff wins
in school history: 1928s bi-district championship and
a zone playoff win in 1985.
Three now, Mineral Wells head coach Gerald
Perry said with a grin. Im just happy for our community and our team. Its been a long time coming
and its taken a whole lot of work.
One year ago today, our kids were at a playoff
game at Ram Stadium. We turned our pads in and
were watching playoff games at our place just thinking, This is what we want to do. One year later,
were here. It wasnt a pretty game, but at this point
youre not worried about anything but getting that
W. Im proud of our kids for finding a way to win.
Appropriately, Brett Stagner an offensive lineman
for the 85 Rams spoke to the current team before
they took the field against Snyder. His speech was
simple: a reminder of just how proud the Mineral
Wells community is of this team a team that Stagner
said reminds him a great deal of the 11-1 squad he
played on.
That community support was palpable on Friday
and the Rams fed off of it. A large and vocal crowd
made the trip west, outnumbering Snyders fans
significantly, after the entire city of Mineral Wells
had already offered a tremendous outpouring of
support as the Rams buses rolled out of town.
Perry was almost speechless as he recalled the
droves of Rams fans of all ages lining the streets of
Mineral Wells to wish their team well as they set
off to make school history.
The send off today was incredible. Ive been in
state championship games and seen some really cool
things, but I almost got a little emotional because that
was amazing, Perry said.
Even when we got out of town, there were people
pulled over and waving. These kids are blessed.
As it should have been, Fridays victory was the
epitome of a team win for the 9-2 Rams. After Snyder
(5-6) punched the ball in on the first drive, Rams
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Junior linebacker Stefon Sandoval delivers one of many bone-jarring hits against the Snyder Tigers in the
Rams bi-district win.
junior quarterback Trent Guinn engineered a string of

21 unanswered points in the first half on three touchdown passes to three different receivers.
While fellow junior starter Tristan Perry struggled
to shake off the rust after missing two starts with broken fingers, Guinn made the most of his possessions
and gave the Rams some cushion it turned they
would desperately need as Snyder began a secondhalf push.
Trent continued to keep it rolling from last week
and that was good, offensive coordinator Chris
Olson said, referencing Guinns career-game in the
regular season finale against Gainesville. [Tristan]
needs game time to get the rust knocked off. But he
did fine, he did exactly what I wanted him to do.
The tide began to turn in Snyders favor in the
final two minutes of the first half. Snyder quarterback
Logan Tate found Dralon Jackson for 44 yards to put
the Tigers deep in Rams territory.

At first, it seemed as though the Rams defense
would hold, stopping the Tigers on two runs inside
the 5-yard line before a holding call backed Snyder
up 10 yards on first and goal. But the Tigers clawed
back and, on fourth down, Tate hit Abram Smith on a
4-yard slant for a touchdown to cut Mineral Wells
lead to 21-12 going into halftime.
The Rams padded their lead on the first possession
of the second half when Domingo Tamez capped off a
long drive with a 17-yard jet sweep his second
touchdown of the game. Tamezs play earned him
high praise from coach Olson.
You cant say enough about Domingo Tamez,
Olson said. Out of all the wide receivers, he gets the
least attention and hes the biggest grunt on the team.
He does all the dirty work and, tonight, made some
huge plays for us.
31
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 11 vs. SNYDER at SHOTWELL STADIUM, ABILENE

Snyder answered with a
23-yard field goal by Jarrett
Reneau to cut Mineral Wells lead
to 27-15 and launch a Tigers rally.
Snyders defense stepped up,
forcing two turnovers on
downs and bailing out the
offense after a David Howeth
interception, to set up the offensive drive that made the score a
bit too close for comfort. Tate
heaved a 30-yard touchdown
pass to Jackson and Snyder,
now down just five, was breathing down Mineral Wells neck.
But the Rams stepped up to the
challenge, first with a little help
from outstanding junior running
back Johnny Morales.
The game plan kind of
changed in the second half. We
wanted to control the ball a little bit more and take time off,
Olson said. We leaned heavily
on the run game. We thought
their big guys up front were
getting a little tired.
Morales more than answered
the bell, finishing with 23 carries for 116 yards to put him
well over 1,000 for the season.
Johnnys special, he truly is.
I cant say enough about the
O-line either, particularly the
two young cats up there now,
Olson added, referencing sophomore Brand Bryant and freshman Bradley Aaron. We have a
motto when games get to that
point and its time to kill their
will. They were begging for it. I
dont know how much time we
marched off in the second half,
but it seemed like we had it for
a good majority.
The Rams took a whopping
4:38 off the clock before they
were forced to punt, when
Perry became the next Ram to
step up, delivering arguably the
most important kick of his life
a high boot that hung in the air
for eight seconds before finally
bouncing into the endzone for a
touch back.
With eight seconds showing
on the clock, it would be up to
Mineral Wells defense to preserve the history-making win.
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Mineral Wells Rams head coach Gerald Perry hoists the bidistrict trophy as players around him celebrate following the
Rams 27-22 win over Snyder in Abilene.
On Snyders first play, junior

linebacker Stefon Sandoval tore
through the Tigers over-sized
line like a missile and nearly
broke Tate in half as he let go of
a pass that fell incomplete. Time
was left for one left Hail Mary
down field.
We were trying to keep at
least four guys back to keep
everybody contained and get a
little bit of pressure from linebacker and widen out our
ends, defensive coordinator
Seth Hobbs recalled of the prevent play call. We told them,
be ready for the hitch and
pitch. We just told them to
hang and not chase anything.
Tate looked to Smith for a
miracle, but when the receiver
tossed the ball up to keep the
play alive as he fell toward the
turf, Mineral Wells senior nose
guard David Garcia was the one
to dive on the pigskin as time
expired and the entire Black and
Red side of Shotwell Stadium
erupted, having taken the first
big step into a bright future.
Its awesome, Olson said
of the feeling after the win.

The kids have worked so
hard. To see the look on their
faces holding up the trophy is
what you do it for. The community support is awesome.
The crowd was into it. The
parade out of town was awesome. This whole time of
year is just special and to get
the win tonight, it leaves
you speechless.
I really am happy, Hobbs
added. Defensively, I thought
we played pretty well. We still
have a lot of stuff to clean up,
but thats a tough football
team. Give credit to Snyder.
They did a lot of things we
didnt prepare for. I was really
pleased our kids were able to
react and play as well as they
did in the end. For as much
nonsense as was going on back
there, the secondary did a really good job.
Next week, Mineral Wells
will look to conquer previously
uncharted waters as they face
the District 1 Pampa Harvesters
(8-3) in the area round on the
big stage of Texas Techs AT&T

Jones Stadium in Lubbock.
The last time Mineral Wells
was officially in the second
round of the playoffs in 1928,
they were called regionals and
the Rams fell to Post, 21-20. But
a lot has changed in 87 years
and these Rams are ready and
able to do something no Rams
have ever done before.
The kids believed this
wasnt their last night to play
football, Hobbs said. These
are the same kids that have
been in the locker room forever.
Its just a matter of they finally
believe they can do it. Im very
happy for our kids. Theyre the
ones that do it all. Were just
pointing them in the right direction. All credit goes to them,
because theyre awesome.
NOTES
Mineral Wells quarterbacks
Guinn and Perry sported bleach
blond hair reminiscent of
Southlake Carroll in the early
2000s for the Rams first playoff
game since 2011. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Olson laughed at the mention of
his quarterbacks style choice.
I knew that a lot of the
players were doing special
things with their hair, he
said. My quarterbacks have
a tendency to be a bit more
conservative. I had no idea
they were doing it until they
showed up this morning and
they were platinum blond.
Its a testament to the fact
that, as many issues as people
think weve had, those two
boys are about as tight as you
could possibly ask for. Its
been a real luxury.
After just one round of
the playoffs, the Rams are
already the last team standing from District 4-4A-DI.
Burkburnett fell to Abilene
Wylie, 56-7, on Thursday and
on Friday Stephenville
crushed Decatur, 49-28, and
Brownwood rallied past
Graham, 29-26.
Snyder 6 6 3 7 22
M. Wells 7 14 6 0 27
Scoring Summary
S Logan Tate 2 run (kick
failed)
M Trent Guinn 20 pass to
Domingo Tamez (Gabriel
Bonafacio kick)
M Guinn 4 pass to Jordan
Duckett (Bonafacio kick)
M Guinn 33 pass to Douglas
Stevens (Bonafacio kick)
S Tate 4 pass to Abram Smith
(2-pt failed)
M Tamez 17 run (kick failed)
S Jarrett Reneau 23 FG
S Tate 30 pass to Dralon
Jackson (Reneau kick)
SNY Team Stats MW
22
First Downs
13
88
Rushing Yds 131
293
Passing Yds 252
19-29
Comp-Att 22-30

1
INT
0
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
6-55 Penalties-Yds 6-45
Individual Stats
Passing: MW Trent Guinn
12-17, 151 yds, 3 TD; Tristan
Perry 10-13, 101 yds. SNY
Logan Tate 19-29, 293 yds, 2
TD, 2 INT.
23-116; Domingo Tamez 2-15,
TD; Douglas Stevens 2-1; Trent
Guinn 5-(-1). SNY Jaden
Zamora 6-51; Logan Tate 16-37,
TD.
8-126, TD; Douglas Stevens 4-57,
TD; Domingo Tamez 5-48, TD;
Carlos Gray 4-26; Johnny Morales
1-(-5). SNY Dralon Jackson
5-104, TD; Jarrett Reneau 4-77;
Taylor Munkres 5-69; Abram Smith
5-45, TD; Jaden Zamora 1-(-2).
Defensive Leaders
INT: David Howeth (1)
FF: David Howeth (1)
FR: Ezequiel Morquecho, David
Garcia (1)
Up Next: AREA ROUND
Vs. Pampa (8-3) 7 p.m. Friday,
Nov. 20, at Texas Techs AT&T
Jones Stadium
32
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 12 vs. PAMPA at AT&T JONES STADIUM, LUBBOCK
HISTORY ON THE PLAINS

Rams grab first-ever area title with 41-20 win over Pampa
By CLINT FOSTER
LUBBOCK The Mineral Wells

Rams have never been better in
November than they are right now.
Looking right at home in Jones
AT&T Stadium on the campus of
Texas Tech University Friday
night, the black-and-red-clad
Rams and the sizable contingent
of Rams Nation that made the
four-hour trip to Lubbock with
them could revel in history
before their eyes.
Mineral Wells (10-2) was dominant in every phase of the game,
smothering the District 1 champion Pampa Harvesters (8-4) 41-20
to earn the first-ever area championship and deepest playoff run in
Rams football history.
Im excited. Im happy for this
community more than anything,
second-year head coach Gerald
Perry said on the field at Texas
Tech, surrounded by players, students, fans and family. I was a
little worried about the kids letting all this go to their head. But
we scored on the first possession
and it just kept going from there.
Its just a testament to our kids.
They fight. Whether were up or
down, were going to keep getting
after you. We made plays when
we had to. Im just happy for
every body.
Just over a month after these
same Rams appeared out of their
element in a trip to play Decatur
with first place in District 4-4A-DI
on the line, Mineral Wells was
immensely more mature and comfortable in the moment and
refused to shrink from the opportunity to cement their place in
Rams lore.
Im just happy that it was a
big stage, a big game, a big team

and we didnt let it be too big for
us, defensive coordinator Seth
Hobbs observed. We played the
same game were capable of playing all year long. Hats off to those
guys for stepping up and executing the game plan. They just did
what they were supposed to do.
The Rams started hot out of the
gate. Junior quarterback Trent
Guinn led Mineral Wells on a
nine-play scoring drive after the
opening kickoff, culminating in a
5-yard touchdown pass to senior
slot receiver Domingo Tamez.
It would be just one of many
big plays for Tamez on the night,
as he carried the passing game
particularly in the first half with
eight catches for 85 yards on the
night, both team highs.
Sophomore slot Carlos Gray was
the second leading receiver on the
team with three grabs for 62 yards
and two touchdowns.
Offensive coordinator Chris
Olson knew he would need a big
night from his slots against
Pampas Cover 3 and it was exactly what he got.
They bracketed Jordan
[Duckett] all night long, did some
different things with Dougie
[Stevens] and kept six in the box
all night long, so the slots had to
make a lot of plays tonight. Im
real pleased with the production,
Olson said. [Tamez] showed the
last two weeks you cant judge
somebody by their size. Hes got a
real big heart and the offense tends
to rally around him. He does a lot
of the dirty work and now its paying off for him.
After the Rams defense forced a
turnover on downs at the Mineral
Wells 35-yard line, junior quarterback Tristan Perry got the offense
DERRICK SPENCER/FOR THE INDEX
Mineral Wells junior safety Kaine Carraway makes one of two huge second half
endzone interceptions that thwarted Pampa comeback attempts and helped the
Rams secure its first-ever area football championship in Lubbock.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 12 vs. PAMPA at AT&T JONES STADIUM, LUBBOCK
right back to work and connected with
Gray for the first of his touchdowns from
45-yards out.
An interception by senior linebacker
Tristan Seargeant on the ensuing Pampa
drive and a 31-yard touchdown pass
from Perry to Douglas Stevens three possessions later gave Mineral Wells a commanding 21-0 lead that Pampa could
ultimately never recover from.
But it wasnt as though the Harvesters
didnt try.
On Pampas first offensive play after
the Stevens score, the Harvesters came
out in a heavy package in the shadow of
their own goal post and power running
back Colten Thompson broke through the
line for a 94-yard score.
After the second touchdown connection from Perry to Gray made the score
28-7, Pampa cut Mineral Wells lead to a
tenuous 14 points going into halftime
when Thompson punched the ball in for a
second score from 1-yard out with 19 seconds left.
Pampa and their fast-paced air raid
offense were due to receive the opening
second half kickoff and could have made
things interesting, had it not been for the
Mineral Wells defense supplying what
Hobbs thought was the stand of the game.
Pampa marched all the way down to
the Mineral Wells 35, but the defense held
firm on fourth-and-1 to get the ball back
and slow Pampas momentum.
To me, that was the biggest drive of
the game, Hobbs said. I thought that
was unbelievable. Even though we didnt
score, the possible momentum shift didnt
occur and I was pleased with that.
Pampa did manage to score two possessions later when running back Bryce
Parker got loose for a 15-yard score, but
Mineral Wells answered with Perrys
fourth touchdown pass of the night, 17
yards to Cameron Weiss, and the Rams
could breath a bit easier up 34-20.
Heading into the fourth quarter, it was
time to close out the game and for the
second straight week Mineral Wells
turned to the only group that made sense,
the offensive line and junior running back
Johnny Morales.
After gaining just 34 yards on nine carries against Pampas run-focused 3-3 stack
in the first half, Morales took control in
the second, adding 105 yards on 11 second-half carries including a 45-yard
touchdown run with 3:21 left to ice the
ball game.
DERRICK SPENCER/FOR THE INDEX
Mineral Wells receiver Douglas

Stevens takes off for 30 yards on a
sweep handoff. Stevens also scored
on a 31-yard reception for the
Rams third touchdown in the win
over Pampa.
The last couple weeks weve gotten

down to points where we needed to
knock time off the board. Being able to do
that is huge and its going to help us
going forward, Olson said of the Rams
late rushing success. Were going to go
against tougher competition and being
able to run time off is going to be crucial.
The execution down the stretch is what
we needed to see.
On Pampas final two possessions
immediately before and after Morales
touchdowns junior safety Kaine Carraway
ended lengthy Harvester drives with two
interceptions in the endzone to preserve the
Rams lead. It was just one aspect of a night
against Pampas pass-happy offense for
Mineral Wells veteran secondary that
Hobbs called unbelievable.
All those guys in the secondary really
played great, Hobbs said. Angel
Garcia, whos been a backup for most of
the year, was unbelievable. Everybody
just stepped up and did their job. Great
job by the secondary.
After Perrys final kneel down, the
Rams could relish having made Mineral

Wells history, hoisting a shiny new area
championship trophy for the case high
above their collective heads. But it wasnt
long before attention began to shift to the
next round and word spread of the
upcoming opponent.
Brownwood (10-2) had outlasted
Andrews (10-2) in their area championship bout in San Angelo and, just like
that, the Lions whom the Rams were so
excited to avoid in the first round were
now on next weeks schedule.
But that was just fine by the Rams. A
date with the Lions simply meant another
goal had been met, with the ultimate goal
now one step closer.
Our team goals of a state championship and practicing on Thanksgiving are
still in our grasp. Weve got one now,
coach Perry said, referencing a practice
now scheduled for this Thursday. That
practice will be open to the public at 9
a.m. Come on out. We wont have any
helicopters landing that day, but just come
out and well have a good time this week
and celebrate with family.
Theres no other way Id rather
spend Thanksgiving than with these
boys, Olson added. Its just been one
of those years where, if theres a time to
be thankful, its with these kids. With
everything weve been through, were
going to celebrate it.
The first third-round game in Mineral
Wells football history against Brownwood
is set for 1 p.m. Friday in Abilenes
Shotwell Stadium the site of Mineral
Wells first postseason victory in 30 years
last week. If the stars remain aligned, the
Rams hope an even bigger Shotwell celebration could be in the works.
NOTES
Trent Guinns day ended in the
beginning of the second quarter with an
apparent minor ankle injury. Olson said
Guinn rolled the ankle and implied it
didnt seem too serious.
Hes able to walk on it, but it is pretty
big, so well get some ice on it, Olson said.
The coach added it was a luxury to
have a second quarterback like Tristan
Perry who could take the reins after
Guinns injury and drive the bus by
himself to victory.
Tristan, for having a couple weeks off
there, he was pretty right on the money
tonight, he said. I was real pleased with
both of them.
33
GAME SUMMARY
Pampa
0 14 6 0 20
M. Wells 14 14 6 7 41
SCORING SUMMARY
MW Trent Guinn 5 pass to Domingo
Tamez (Gabriel Bonifacio kick)
MW Tristan Perry 45 pass to Carlos
Gray (Bonifacio kick)
MW Perry 31 pass to Douglas
Stevens (Bonifacio kick)
P Colten Thompson 94 run (Trevor
Turner kick)
MW Perry 7 pass to Gray (Bonifacio
kick)
P Thompson 1 run (Turner kick)
P Bryce Parker 15 run (2-pt. failed)
MW Perry 17 pass to Cameron
Weiss (2-pt. failed)
MW Johnny Morales 45 run
(Bonifacio kick)
Pampa TEAM STATS

MW

18
First Downs
20
162
Rushing Yds
203
169
Passing Yds
214
22-35
Comp-Att
17-27

2
INT
0

1-0
Fumbles-Lost
0-0
4-43
Penalties-Yds
8-85
2-33.5
Punts-Avg
4-37.5
20:38
Time of Poss. 24:01
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Passing: MW Tristan Perry 8-16,
130 yds, 4 TD; Trent Guinn 9-11, 84
yds, TD. PAM Erik Vizcaino 22-34,
169 yds, 2 INT; Brendon Woelfle 0-1.
20-139, TD; Douglas Stevens 1-30;
Trent Guinn 4-23; Jordan Duckett 1-4;
Tristan Perry 2-4; Domingo Tamez 1-3;
Carlos Gray 1-1. PAM Colten
Thompson 10-106, 2 TD; Erik Vizcaino
9-42; Bryce Parker 4-15, TD; Brendon
Woelfle 2-(-1).
Receiving: MW Domingo Tamez
8-85, TD; Carlos Gray 3-62, 2 TD;
Douglas Stevens 1-31, TD; Cameron
Weiss 1-17, TD; Johnny Morales 2-15;
Troy Bradshaw 1-4; Jordan Duckett
1-0. PAM Jason Thomas 4-43;
Brendon Woelfle 4-39; Jordan Baker
3-35; Alec McLendon 3-22; Darrell
Fields 2-16; Bryce Parker 5-8; Cy
Wood 1-6.
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Tackles: Tristan Seargeant, Cameron
Weiss (8)
INT: Kaine Carraway (2)
34
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 13 vs. BROWNWOOD at SHOTWELL STADIUM, ABILENE
BLACK FRIDAY BUMMER
Rams rally falls short as No. 9 Brownwood ends historic season, 23-13
By CLINT FOSTER
ABILENE The Mineral Wells

Rams historic 2015 campaign came to
an end on a wet, frozen Black Friday
afternoon under the same Shotwell
Stadium lights in Abilene, where the
Rams began to make history just two
weeks before.
Up against a traditional power in
the ninth-ranked Brownwood Lions,
the Rams couldnt stretch the deepest
playoff run in school history past the
third round, as a valiant second-half
rally fell short and Brownwood
advanced with a 23-13 victory.
For the Rams and the outstanding
Mineral Wells crowd that braved the
miserable elements to cheer them
on, it was a somber ending to a
magical 10-3 season easily one of
the best in over a century of Mineral
Wells football.
Its been incredible, second-year
head coach Gerald Perry said of the
season that was, as he warmed himself
inside the coaches locker room.
Being here two years now and just
seeing the change in our kids and how
they fight, Im as proud as I could be.
Its just been a complete turnaround in
this community. Its more than just a
football team; its the cheerleaders, the
band, the dancers, the trainers, our
filmers, everyone involved in Friday
night football. They all have a big part
of this and Im just proud of everybody. I wish we could keep playing.
The game started out well enough
for the Rams. Mineral Wells forced
Brownwood to punt on the games
opening drive after Stefon Sandoval,
Tristan Seargeant and Richard Muoz
converged on Brownwood quarterback
Grant Lewis for a sack. But the Rams
rush of momentum disappeared when
a diving Crystan Wright intercepted
junior quarterback Trent Guinn to set
up a 37-yard touchdown pass from
Lewis to Rylee Gregory.
DAVID MAY/INDEX
Brownwood holds Mineral Wells running back Johnny Morales out of the
endzone as the Lions ended the Rams' historic season in a 23-13 thirdround defeat at Abilene's Shotwell Stadium.
Junior receiver Jordan Duckett

muffed the ensuing kickoff, but
Mineral Wells got another breath of
life when Muoz recovered a fumble
on the first play of the next
Brownwood drive. The Rams marched
into the red zone but couldnt capitalize on the opportunity to score and
turned the ball over on downs.
The first half was downhill from
there. Behind its physical running
attack, Brownwood began to take control, building a 20-0 lead by halftime
and forcing Mineral Wells to punt
twice and turn the ball over on downs
a second time in the red zone before
the half.
Disappointing, offensive coordinator Chris Olson said of the first-half
performance. We were able to move
the ball in the first half and, for whatever reason, werent able to put it in.
That really was the difference. We kept
the defense out there longer than they
needed to be on a day like this and
you cant have that.

I wouldnt say we necessarily
played a bad first half defensively,
but we did have a couple blown
assignments that led to big plays,
defensive coordinator Seth Hobbs
added. Theyre a good football team,
so if you give them that many opportunities, theyre going to put the ball
in the endzone.
Hobbs said that Brownwoods rushing success the Lions finished with
353 rushing yards on the day was
due less to a size disadvantage for the
Rams and more to Brownwood simply
executing their run plays to perfection.
It was just them doing their jobs
and getting up to linebackers, Hobbs
said. They did a lot of single blocking on our defensive line. It was just
them executing.
Even down three scores, the Rams
refused to quit. After all, the Rams had
already rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit once this year to earn their
first win over Graham in 27 years.

Junior quarterback Tristan Perry led
the Rams on a 16-play march down
the field to open the second half
before punching the ball into the endzone himself on a 1-yard dive. When
junior safety Kaine Carraway stripped
the ball away from Brownwood running back Harley Price on the ensuing
possession, it felt like a totally different ball game for a moment. But,
again, the Rams were forced to punt,
ending a promising third quarter
down 20-7.
Perry again took the Rams into the
endzone on his next possession, connecting with sophomore receiver
Carlos Gray on a 14-yard scoring pass
to give the Rams hope and a 20-13 deficit. Brownwood did exactly what it
needed to, however, milking the clock
on an authoritative 12-play drive to set
up a 26-yard field goal by Aaron
Jimenez and push the total to a twoscore game at 23-13.
With time running out as it was, a
turnover on downs on the next Rams
drive simply sealed Mineral Wells fate
as the Rams could only watch as
Brownwood kneeled to kill the clock.
Although the rally fell short,
Mineral Wells coaches couldnt help
but be impressed with the tenacity
that the Rams have continually shown
throughout the year.
I cant tell you how proud I am of
the boys, Olson said. Down 20-0 at
halftime, they very easily could have
laid down. But thats not the type of
team we are. They refused to quit.
They showed great heart, great determination.
Both [quarterbacks], all season
long, have had to play their role and
really step up at different times. I
dont know if we had done it any
other way other than alternating the
two if we would have had as much
success. Im very proud of both of
them. I cant say enough about either
one of them. We just needed about five
UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 13 vs. BROWNWOOD at SHOTWELL STADIUM, ABILENE

more minutes today.
With two playoff wins to their credit
this year, the 2015 Rams have officially
accounted for half of the postseason
wins in the entirety of Mineral Wells
football history. Perry and his staff
hope that this year is only the beginning of a new era, as Mineral Wells
hopes to one day attain the traditional power status that Brownwood
enjoys.
This is what were trying to
build, coach Perry said. The expectation is to be here every year now.
The first week I got here, I laid out
our goals for this team. One of them
was to practice on Thanksgiving Day
and we did it. Theres just one goal
left. Were going to work our tails off
to get to that. Its tough to lose when
you go this far, but we played a dang
good football team. We fought and
clawed and their kids knew it was a
fight. Im proud of our staff and
everyone involved.
The great thing is were young.
Weve got a lot of juniors coming back.
I told our guys, Were going to be
back. You guys know what its like
and know how bad it feels to lose that
last one. Weve just got to get started
to get back here.
Any road has to have a starting
point and 10-3 will undoubtedly serve
as a tremendous launchpad for a
future that looks brighter with every
passing day for the group of juniors,
sophomores and freshmen that will
carry the torch after the departure of
an outstanding senior class.
But no matter what the future holds,
Hobbs and Olson said 2015 will always
hold a special place in their hearts.
Its meant a lot to me and to the
town as well, Hobbs said. I was
very happy to see this many people
here and with the crappy weather. Its
been phenomenal. Im very pleased
with how everybody came together
and everyone knowing their role as
well. To a man, everybody knows
their role and has done a great job. I
know this is going to be something
that will carry them now in the
future. Weve set a standard that is
going to proliferate.
Its been one of the best times of my
life not just because of the wins, but
because of the kind of kids we have
here and it means so much to them,
M. Wells 0 0 7 6 13
Bwood 7 13 0 3 23
Scoring Summary
B Grant Lewis 37 pass to Rylee
Gregory (Aaron Jimenez kick)
B Lewis 5 run (Jimenez kick)
B Brandon Diaz 1 run (2-pt. failed)
M Tristan Perry 1 run (Gabriel
Bonifacio kick)
M Perry 14 pass to Carlos Gray (kick
failed)
B Jimenez 26 FG
MW
22
163
132
13-32

1

1
TEAM STATS
First Downs
Rushing Yds
Passing Yds
Comp-Att
INT
Fumbles Lost
BHS
20
353
42
2-6
0
2
Individual Stats
yds, TD; Trent Guinn 5-12, 41 yds, INT.
BHS Grant Lewis 2-6, 42 yds, TD.
Rushing: MW Johnny Morales 22-93;
Tristan Perry 9-51, TD; Trent Guinn 3-11;
Jordan Duckett 1-8; Brandon Hinojos 1-1.
BHS Grant Lewis 30-153, TD; Harley Price
10-78; Connor Howard 7-74; Brandon Diaz
14-48, TD.
Receiving: MW Cameron Weiss 2-40;
Douglas Stevens 2-37; Jordan Duckett
6-32; Carlos Gray 3-26, TD; Johnny
Morales 1-(-3). BHS Rylee Gregory
1-37, TD; Connor Howard 1-5.
Defensive Leaders
FR: Richard Muoz, Kaine Carraway (1)
Sacks: Stefon Sandoval, Tristan Seageant,
Richard Muoz (1)
Olson said, with a bit of emotion in his

voice. That kind of kid makes it easy
to come to work and it resulted in the
kind of season we had.
Two years ago, when Perry and his
staff rolled into Mineral Wells, they
introduced a mantra that the Rams have
eaten, slept and breathed: We will
win. The Rams have done just that.
Now it seems the mantra is
evolving.
Well be back, Perry said with
confidence to conclude his postgame
interview.
Let the countdown begin.
35
Rams junior
signal caller
Tristan Perry
had a strong
second half in
trying to rally
the Rams
against
Brownwood.
While the
Rams outscored the
Lions, 13-3, in
the last two
quarters, it
would not be
enough on a
cold, blustery
day in Abilene.
DAVID MAY/INDEX
36
Season Stats
A Season to Remember in Photos
37
See the 2015 game galleries at photos.mineralwellsindex.com/events
38
A Season to Remember in Photos
See the 2015 game galleries at photos.mineralwellsindex.com/events
LET NOTHING STOP YOU
For Pain
For Anxiety
For Insomnia
For Depression
Alpha-Stim
HELP FOR YOU IS HERE

To get started, visit www.Alpha-Stim.com
or call (940) 328-0788
Electromedical Products International, Inc.
2201 Garrett Morris Parkway Mineral Wells, TX 76067
Phone: (940) 328-0788 Email: info@epii.com
www.alpha-stim.com

Football Keepsake 2015

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A supplement of the Mineral Wells Index

Mineral Wells Index A Season To Remember Sunday, December 20, 2015

Mineral Wells Rams 2015 District 4-4A-DI

Team pride, town pride

Look for photos from the season in our SmugMug galleries at

A season for the

Week 1 vs. Bridgeport....................................... 8

Sunday, December 20, 2015 A Season To Remember Mineral Wells Index

Sports Editor and Voice of the Rams Clint Foster remembers...

A season for the history books

The 2015 season was one for the ages

IT WAS THE BEST OF

Charles Dickens famous words have

dous junior class,

FINDING THEIR FEET

The perks to the two-quarterback

Mineral Wells Index A Season To Remember Sunday, December 20, 2015

Sports Editor and Voice of the Rams Clint Foster remembers...

onto the field as the Rams' 11th man.

The non-district schedule culminated

ly impressive in the loss, holding firm

team would be ready to handle highpressure games. He wouldnt have to

Sunday, December 20, 2015 A Season To Remember Mineral Wells Index

Sports Editor and Voice of the Rams Clint Foster remembers...

Mineral Wells legend and Super Bowl

After all, if youre reading this, you

the starting role after Perry broke two

Mineral Wells Index A Season To Remember Sunday, December 20, 2015

Sports Editor and Voice of the Rams Clint Foster remembers...

RAMS, MEET HISTORY

first bi-district championship since

Even when Mineral Wells season

important person to each kid was their

Sunday, December 20, 2015 A Season To Remember Mineral Wells Index

UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 1 vs. BRIDGEPORT

Rams lose opener in shootout, 42-41

Shock. Stunned silence. Heartbreak.

lined up for the extra-point, having gone

Mineral Wells running back Johnny

Mineral Wells Index A Season To Remember Sunday, December 20, 2015

UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 1 vs. BRIDGEPORT

Sophomore receiver Carlos Gray seeks yards after hauling in a catch

Perry the most were the little mistakes.

Wells proved Friday night it has the

Sunday, December 20, 2015 A Season To Remember Mineral Wells Index

UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 2 vs. JOSHUA

Rams get first win in 35-17 defeat of Joshua

The Mineral Wells Rams shirked

tale of two QBs continued against

34-yarder in which Morales bulldozed every defender in his path.

Mineral Wells Index A Season To Remember Sunday, December 20, 2015

UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 2 vs. JOSHUA

much better. Weve still got

Junior safety Kaine Carraway skies for an interception of

the exclamation point in the

threat of a quarterback run

Team Stats Josh

Sunday, December 20, 2015 A Season To Remember Mineral Wells Index

UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 3 at JOSHUA

Rams race past Glen Rose, 41-26

GLEN ROSE Mineral Wells marched into the

Mineral Wells Index A Season To Remember Sunday, December 20, 2015

UPON FURTHER REVIEW : WEEK 3 at JOSHUA