Mineral Wells Area News

By DAVID MAY / Special to Mineral Wells Area News

Five second half touchdowns, including two 50-yard scoring runs by Kayden Montalvo, led Mineral Wells to a 42-14 win Thursday over Fort Worth Eastern Hills on Homecoming Night at Ram Stadium.

The Rams erased an 8-7 halftime deficit to the visiting Highlanders (0-3), the result of a poorly played first half and near abysmal second quarter. A blistering talk from Head Coach Cody Worrell on the field and more words to his charges at halftime fueled the Rams to an explosive second half on both sides of the ball.

With the win, Mineral Wells improves to 3-0 for the first time under their second-year coach, and sets up next Thursday’s much-anticipated game at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington facing Quinlan Ford (3-0).

Behind a revamped offensive line, senior running backs Montalvo and PR Mendez have formed a formidable one-two ground punch with Montalvo’s speed and Mendez’ power. The Rams totaled 318 rushing yards (405 total on 47 plays), with Montalvo racking up 206 of those yards.

Worrell afterward discussed refocusing and resetting the team after a first half that saw two turnovers, a bad snap resulting in a safety, offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, a personal foul leading to a Highlanders’ touchdown and a Rams player ejected from the game. The second quarter was such that you were relieved if a play concluded without a penalty flag lying on the field.

“I will tell you what I told them at halftime – I have never been so embarrassed by a first-half performance in my life,” Worrell said. “I am just telling you it was embarrassing. Not just the fumbles and the turnovers, (but) the penalties. The stupid penalties. I was just flat-out embarrassed.”

While Worrell was very vocal with the team circled around him on the field, he said his halftime speech was more pointed than fiery.

“I tried to wake them up a little bit,” coach said. “The halftime, I didn’t yell or anything. It was embarrassing. They knew it. The kids knew it.”

Worrell said the only thing more concerning than the team’s first-half performance was how they were acting. He said he let the players know that was not going to be tolerated by him or the coaches.

“That’s just not who we are,” Worrell said.

He got their attention. Eastern Hills took the opening second-half kickoff and went backwards with two huge tackles for loss from a hard-charging and hard-hitting defense. Backed up on their end of the field, the FWEH punter shanked a punt that gave Mineral Wells the ball at the Highlanders’ 35.

The Rams turned to Mendez, who ran the ball three times to account for all 35 yards, including the last carry for 13, and Mineral Wells was quickly back on top for good, 14-8.

“The second half they did exactly what I asked them to,” Worrell said. “I said, guys it’s a new half and we have to go out in the second half and play our kind of football and that’s exactly what we did.”

Mineral Wells’ next possession began at the 50. A 17-yard pass from quarterback Owen Gadd to Preztynn Harrison was followed by a 9-yard Montalvo run. Mendez finished the seven-play drive with a 7-yard run for his second TD and a 21-8 Rams’ lead.

The Rams’ offense needed just one-play for its next score after Montalvo took the ball and exploded into the Highlander’s secondary, racing downfield for the first of his two 50-yard scores and a 28-8 lead.

Moving into the fourth quarter, FWEH moved the ball inside the Rams’ 5-yard line and scored from a yard out on fourth down after initially being stopped and stacked at the line. But the Highlanders’ linemen pushed the ball carrier across the goal line to make it 28-14.

It was all Mineral Wells from there. The Rams again took over at midfield and marched through Highlanders’ territory, with the first two plays going for 29 yards on a swing pass and a Jaidun Fisher sweep. Montalvo capped it off with a 7-yard run to put Mineral Wells on top, 35-14.

Montalvo finished the night with his second 50-yard run to the paint with 3 minutes left for the final 42-14 margin.

The Rams opened the game with a methodical 11-play, 68-yard drive, mixing in runs from Montalvo and Perez, with Perez accounting for 43 of the yards. Gadd and the offense punched it in from 1-yard out for the early 7-0 lead.

Rams kicker Gabriel Borjon converted all six point-after kicks. Gadd was 7-of-9 passing with no interceptions for 87 yards, including 61 receiving yards by Harrison, the longest a 31-yard haul.

The game started 15 minutes late after the Eastern Hills buses were slowed by traffic coming out of Fort Worth.

Worrell was pleased with the second half and win, but said the Rams have room to improve.

“We have to play a four-quarter game,” he said. “It was kind of a trap game this week. I told the guys (Thursday) morning at the coach’s breakfast that we came off a big home win last week and then next week they are looking forward to going to Choctaw and playing in the big atmosphere. Today was kind of a trap game.

“I take full responsibility for not having them ready. I told the kids at halftime it’s on me, just like it is you, and you have to get ready to play and we’re going to fix that.”

Thursday’s kickoff against Ford in the former Ballpark in Arlington and home of the Texas Rangers is set for 7 p.m. For fans planning to attend, the Rangers have a home game next door at Globe Life Field so plan for heavy traffic and the usual slowdowns on Interstate 30.