Midland hopes dream turnaround season results in 8-man state gridiron title
BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON
Midland won just one football game during the 2023 8-man football season, but head coach T.J. Pugh could still see something special coming in the future.
That success arrived earlier than Pugh expected as the Mustangs roared through the 2024 regular season unbeaten and snatched the North’s top state playoff seed.
Midland (9-0, 5-0) will begin its state playoff title quest Friday night by hosting Marvell-Elaine (3-5, 2-3) in a 7 p.m. quarterfinal round match up of two teams whose mascots are Mustangs.
“It’s been kind of a massive change for us and a big deal and we have been handling it well,” Pugh said. “I had been kind of concern weekly about how we might handle success, but we are handling it, continuing to address it and they have bought in.
“I thought it might happen a year from now, but it’s happened sooner and it has been a lot of fun, the older players and fans have really got behind our guys and winning has been a lot of fun for everybody. Winning helps a lot of things.”
Pugh is stressing to his team to not look at this as a new season, but the same one.
“I know a lot of coaches talk about the playoffs being a new season and wanting to go 1-0, but I have told our team to look at it as a continuation of this season, continuing what we have been doing and let’s try to be 10-0 instead of 1-0.”
Marvell-Elaine comes into the contest off a 66-26 loss to Woodlawn that came a week after it had routed Dermott 42-14.
There were 12 schools that fielded 8-man programs this season with 8 of those advancing into the playoff bracket.
The other quarterfinal contests find South top-seed Strong (5-0, 5-0) hosting Southside Bee Branch (4-3, 0-2), Woodlawn (6-3, 3-2) visiting Cedar Ridge (8-1, 3-1) and defending champ Rector traveling to Brinkley (7-2, 4-1).
“Everything has exceeded my expectations,” Pugh said. “To be honest, we really have not had a bad game this season. We have had moments where we’ve had games that have gotten tight, but we have responded to adversity.
“That has been a huge thing for these kids. They half worked hard and always had the desire to win – just like our baseball and softball teams, which have been so good over the years. We just had to learn how to win and they’ve done that.”
Midland passed a test by downing rival Cedar Ridge on Oct. 18 and followed that up with a 74-44 victory over Rector in a game that was tight until the final quarter.
It reminded Pugh of a grandfather of one of the players, who built the field for the football program after it played every game on the road during its first season of football.
“We had had so many chances to win against Cedar before,” Pugh said. “Some games they were just better than us, but we had multiple opportunities and that was such a big rival, that is was just such a hard a game to get through.
“But when we won that thing, it was such a breakthrough that that man came up and hugged me and did not let me go.”
Th win over Rector came in a game that Midland was deadlocked 36-36 entering the fourth quarter.
“Our kids are walking off the field at halftime and we’re up 36-30 and they are acting like we are down 20,” Pugh said. “I told them that you knew Rector was going to be physical and we are matching that. You knew it was going to be like this.
“…In the fourth quarter we explode and get 38 points and they only get one more (touchdown) out of it. It ends up 74-44, just crazy what happened in that quarter.”
Pugh admits that making the switch to 8-man football was a tough choice for Midland, but has proven to the right call for the school.
“Right now we have 22 kids and being a small school the number fluctuates,” Pugh said. “I thought we were going to have 30 out, but lost a few to grades, a few more away, things like this.
“I can remember the first year we played 8-man – and we were going through Covid and all that stuff, too, and I know we went over to Rector with just 9 people. And we played two snaps with seven people on the field before we got back to eight.
“That was a rough year for the kids in a lot of ways.”
But it has all come together for this season.
“We have had some seniors step in and took some leadership roles and some sophomores that are playing great for us, so to be honest with you there,” Pugh said. “Everybody talks about that junior class, which was so good in junior high and won it (a conference title). So to be honest with you it’s not been just one class, but all of them.”
Maturity of his youngest player has helped Pugh’s team take a big step forward.
“I knew it as going to be tough when they were sophomores last season,” Pugh said. “That’s just the way it is in high school, but they have matured, become leaders, too, and that’s been great thing for us.”
Picture courtesy of KAIT-TV
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