CRESTVIEW — One day the eighth graders on the Shoal River Middle School football team will fully understand what they’ve accomplished for the Mustangs.
They will look back on their days at Shoal River and remember the tradition they helped establish. And no matter what other Mustang football teams accomplish, they can say they were the first to win back-to-back championships.
In Thursday night’s Okaloosa County championship game with Pryor, the Mustangs didn’t always look like the powerhouse that has run roughshod over opponents the last two seasons.
The Pirates ran 20 more plays, had 125 more yards in total offense and an almost 12-minute advantage in time of possession. The only place the Mustangs led was the one that counted the scoreboard.
As the final horn sounded ending the 2015 middle school football season in Okaloosa County the scoreboard showed Shoal River with a 16-6 win.
The win capped a two-year run that saw the Mustangs win 19 straight games and back-to-back undefeated seasons.
“They tell you the first title is always the sweetest,” Shoal River Coach Ryan Gillis told his team after the game, “but that isn’t so. This one is just as sweet.”
Rawson Mack was the difference maker for the Mustangs scoring both Shoal River touchdowns and one of the 2-point conversions.
A scrappy Pirate team did everything it could to corral the Mustangs.
Pryor’s defense stood tall in stopping Shoal River’s opening drive of the game. The Pirates then went 67 yards on eight plays for the first score of the game.
Pryor quarterback Jimmy Hart finished the game with 135 yards in passing. His biggest pass of the night came on a 17-yard pass to Reggie Fain to give Pryor (8-2) a 6-0 lead with a minute left in the first quarter. The Mustangs had a chance to defend the pass as it went off the hands of two Shoal River players before Fain hauled it in for the score.
The lead lasted less than 15 seconds as Mack returned the ensuing kickoff 70 yards for at touchdown. Chris Johns scored the 2-point conversion and Shoal River led 8-6. It was a lead that stood until the fourth quarter.
“They (the Pirates) made plays,” Gillis said. “I just told the guys you’ve been special all year and you are still special and don’t get your heads down.
“We work on kickoff return every day in practice, but obviously it got us right back in the game and it’s important.”
At one point in the third quarter the Pirates had run 37 plays to 12 for Shoal River. And while Pryor moved the ball down the field it was a late mistake that might have cost the Pirates the game.
Early in the fourth quarter Pryor fumbled at Mustang 30-yard line. Johns recovered the fumble for Shoal River with 8:08 left in the game.
The Mustangs moved the ball 70 yards and Mack capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. Mack scored the 2-point on a swing pass from Aaron Schlipp to put Shoal River up by 10 points with four minutes left in the game.
The 10 points was the final margin of victory and a few minutes later “We are the Champions” was played on the public address system as the Mustangs lifted the championship trophy for the second time in as many years.
Gillis doesn’t claim to have a magic formula for success, but success has followed him the last two years as he’s done things the old fashion way.
“I don’t coach any different now than I did 15 years ago,” he said. “I love the guys and I love the game. We just work hard.”
The hard work has paid off and the Mustangs have the trophies to prove it.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Shoal River's football team repeats as county champs (PHOTOS)