There was no joy in Brooke-smith this past Friday night. The Mustangs had won only one game this year and had to close out their season at home against the the undefeated #1 ranked Mighty Coyotes of Richland Springs. The first 7 seconds of the game produced 8 points for the Coyotes via an onside kick return by Thomas Fowler. 8 points in 7 seconds, only an offsides penalty against the Coyotes kept it from being 16 points in 17 seconds. The Mustangs ran 35 plays from scrimmage and suffered a total of -17 yards on offense. With the score at 30-0, Head Coach Jerry Burkhart sidelined his starters before the end of the first quarter. Some might perceive this as an act of mercy and I know the Coach had good intentions...but to unleash the playing-time starved Coyote reserves on the Mustangs.... well, it was not a pretty thing to watch (if you’re a Mustang fan). Game over at halftime.... thank goodness for the mercy rule. Trevor Tinney acted like he was mad at ‘em, scoring on runs of 5 yards and 27 yards and recovering a fumble in the endzone for another 6 points. Tack on 5 PAT kicks for 10 points and a team-leading 5 solo tackles(2 for losses) and you would have to agree...Trevor had a real good night!! Jacob Cohn had 3 solo tackles and 2 assists and caused a fumble in the Mustangs endzone that resulted in a Coyote touchdown. Jonathan Patino, the often overlooked PAT snapper, scored a safety and simply annihilated a Mustang runner on a kickoff return. Stanley Buttler got some time in at quarterback and performed flawlessly, dispensing the pitchbacks and then racing downfield to find someone to block. Stanley had 2 solo tackles on defense. Corey Turner contributed with 2 assists and multiple blocks on offense. Oh yeah, the starters with their limited playing time weren’t too bad either. All-State spread-back Chance Bush had zero carries for zero yards, but nonchalantly threw three touchdown passes and added 2.5 tackles on defense. Thomas Fowler returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and posted another 6 points on a 5 yard pass reception. Thomas completed a PAT pass for another point and added 2 solo tackles on defense. Brian Salinas had 2.5 tackles and made a nice catch for a 39 yard completion. Gunner Mann had a touchdown catch and recovered a fumble in the endzone for another score. Chris Munoz had two catches for 42 yards, one for a touchdown. Ty Mann had one carry for 8 yards and was a total nightmare for the Brookesmith backs with his lightning quick speedrushes. All in all, it was a bad night for the Mustang fans, who took offense to even the music being played on the Coyote sidelines. The referee said it was intimidating the players....?? So the Coyotes finish another regular season with a perfect 10-0 record, their third in a row, and the winning streak is extended to 40 games over three seasons. The Coyotes have mercy ruled every opponent this year, with only the contest against Gordon reaching the fourth quarter. Richland Springs will open the playoffs with a bi-district match-up against the Oglesby Tigers in Evant this Friday night at 7:30 PM. Go Coyotes Go !!! Go Win State !!!