Chandler Day ran for two scores and passed for another while D.J. Miller’s pick-six highlighted a strong performance by the defense, as the Mustangs downed visiting Collierville High, 33-14, in a Class 6A state quarterfinal game Friday.
The Mustangs improve to 11-2 and will host undefeated Ravenwood High in next week’s state semifinals. A victory there would send them back to Chattanooga for the BlueCross Bowl, where they will attempt to win their second straight state title.
But, first things first.
“I’m happy for the program; happy for our kids,” said Thomas. “It’s funny; last year Tupelo was kind of the springboard. This year, we went to Tupelo and got our butts beat (35-13).
“We said (after) we had to reset and regroup and become that team that’s hungry again. They’ve done that ever since. That’s kind of when we flipped the switch.”
Running the ball was key on a chilly night at Landers Stadium.
With Celley Davis getting the tough yards inside and Ladeadrick James popping some big gains — and with solid support from Andre Allen on a couple of well-timed sweeps — Houston rolled up 211 yards on the ground and did a good job controlling the possession.
After holding Collierville on a three-and-out to open the game, Day scored on a 3-yard run to make it 7-0. The senior then capped a 12-play, 53-yard drive with a 1-yard run early in the second.
A 42-yard field goal by Jaden Gruszczynski extended the lead to 17-0. On Collierville’s next possession, Miller stepped in front of a Grant Troutman pass and took it in from 18 yards out.
Houston extended the lead to 30-0 just after halftime as Day tossed a little jump pass to tight end Jonas Jimerson, who made a nice play to reach behind him and bring in the 2-yard touchdown.
“I thought our athletes were little bit of a mismatch for them,” said Thomas. “I feel like they’re a hard group to stop when they’re fresh and ready to go. ... We kind of got that three-headed monster going (at running back) and Chandler Day was back to being Chandler Day.”
Houston’s defense is also looking similar to last year’s group that was so effective in the postseason.
Collierville didn’t score until there was about five minutes left in the third when Troutman floated a 33-yarder to Luke Roeder, who made a tremendous grab in the corner of the end zone. Those two then combined for an 8-yard touchdown in the fourth.
Senior linebacker Owen Waggener — who was selected this week to participate in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl High School All-Star Game — said pre-game predictions of a Collierville win from various media outlets had the defense rightly fired up.
“One hundred percent we took it personal,” he said. “There’s a bunch of sportswriters out there and they predicted us to lose. The coaches bring that up and as soon as we see that, we take it personally. We take it (personally) all week in practice.”
The Mustangs held Collierville to just 227 yards, only 60 of which came on the ground.
“Our defense played really dang well,” said Thomas. “The d-line did it. ... They had trouble running against us. There was a lot of talk about how Collierville’s defense was doing so well and our guys got a little mad.”
Collierville ends the year with an 11-2 mark, with both losses coming to Houston. The Mustangs won, 17-13, in the regular-season finale on Nov. 1, a victory which gave them the top seed in the region and home field advantage Friday.
And now — thanks to the TSSAA rotating which half of the bracket hosts games depending on whether it’s an odd- or even-numbered year — they’ll be home again the day after Thanksgiving. It’s only the second time in program history Houston will host a semifinal game and Thomas was a part of the other one; he was an offensive lineman on the 1998 team which fell to... Click here to read full article
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