BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS & VIRUS: North Shore Mustangs 38, Shadow Creek Sharks 21

First Score of the 2020 season was made on a 15 yard run by #24 Mustang running back senior Brannon Davis with the help of (photo right) Jhalyn Bailey #6 pushing Shark player away and (photo left) and #76 Tyler Edwards putting two Sharks on the turf. (Photos by Allan Jamail)
First Score of the 2020 season was made on a 15 yard run by #24 Mustang running back senior Brannon Davis with the help of (photo right) Jhalyn Bailey #6 pushing Shark player away and (photo left) and #76 Tyler Edwards putting two Sharks on the turf. (Photos by Allan Jamail)

By Allan Jamail

Friday, September 25, 2020 at the Galena Park ISD stadium, the 2019 defending 6A Region III District 21 state champion North Shore (NS) Mustangs (38) clashed with the 2019 defending state champion 5A Shadow Creek Sharks (21). Shadow Creek High School is located in Pearland, and in the Alvin school district. This year the Sharks moved up to 6A Region III District 23.

Due to the deadly Covid 19 virus and the need to social distance 6 feet apart, the game was played before a half capacity crowd. Spectators were required to wear face masks, which muffled their cheering; that took the crowd noise out of the game.

The officials of the two school districts decided not to allow cheerleaders and halftime bands to perform, so as to eliminate those students from passing the virus to one another. Many high schools have canceled their football season altogether due to the virus threat.

The U. S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention says COVID-19 can spread through the air. Texas is one of the leading states in the nation with contagious coronavirus cases.

In this most highly anticipated high school game of the season, the battle of champions was considered the nation’s high school highlight to kickoff the football season. It pitted the state’s number one rated Mustang quarterback, Demetrius Davis against the number two rated quarterback, Sharks’ Kyron Jones.

Auburn committed Mustang quarterback Dematrius Davis made two scores and junior cornerback Denver Harris made an impressive performance with two interceptions, and one was a 95 yard interception TD (pick-six).

The Sharks were riddled with 10 penalties for a near hundred yards which may have cost them the victory. NS had 5 penalties costing them 40 yards.

Mustang’s offense totaled 431 yards, Davis completes 70 percent of his passes for 200 yards. Running backs Rannon Davis and Daveon Ford split duties with each making a TD.

Kicker Andres Montes-Zamora kicked 5 extra points and a 30 yard field goal.

The Sharks came with the game plan all teams will use on the Mustangs this year and that’s targeting quarterback Davis. Numerous times Davis was bottled up and couldn’t get his normal high productive pass-run option running-game going. He did manage several first down runs and a 20 yard TD run in the final quarter.

Coach Kay said after the game, we all love football, it’s a game we enjoy, but this was more than that… this was an opportunity to bring out the community who needed to get out and have some enjoyment. Superintendent Dr. John Moore said, because of the virus we limited attendance and took all the necessary precautions needed to protect the players, fans and coaches. Posting of mandatory mask wearing signs were everywhere.

Mustangs host from Willis, Texas the 6A Region II District 13, Willis Wildcats Thursday, October 8th at 7 PM in another non-conference game.