As a sea of student tailgaters, clad in white from their face paint to their Keds, came pouring into MHS’s football stadium, Captains Kevin Tippit, Cayden Sparks, Cairon Wesley, and Jason Powers were meeting Ritenour’s Captains for the coin toss.

The Huskies, a team that went 7-3 last season and graduated a quarterback currently playing for Toledo in Devin Alexander, were ranked in the area’s top 20 at the end of last year.

After winning the toss, the Mustangs came out with Jordan Robertson and Demarco Johnson set to receive.

As Ritenour’s kick team prepared to start the season off, a resounding “I believe that we will win,” chant erupted from the MHS student section amidst a cloud of “baby powder” that only LeBron James could’ve matched.

After Robertson’s 17 yard return, the Mustangs couldn’t find their groove and sent junior Kellan Murray in to punt.

MHS’s defense started out with three huge stops including two tackles behind the line of scrimmage by seniors Caleb Howard and Jack Whitworth causing the Huskies to go for it on 4^th and 10.

And go for it, they did.

Using his quick feet, Ritenour’s junior quarterback, Ricky McCoy rolled out of the pocket and threw a long, arcing 26 yard pass into the MHS end zone.

McCoy’s pass found John Minner and with it, sucked the air out of MHS’s football stadium. The Huskies led MHS 6-0, a lead that would only grow.

Despite another couple of huge plays behind the line by Caleb Howard and Larrion Hamilton that seemed to give new life to the Mustangs, Ritenour’s dual threat McCoy was able to fool the MHS defense with his quick feet and strong arm. After pulling off a huge 30 yard run, McCoy threw for his second touchdown of the night, and the Mustangs found themselves trailing 12-0.

In the second quarter, the MHS defense seemed to be getting to McCoy after three consecutive sacks caused Ritenour to punt it away but the Mustang offense couldn’t amount to a successful drive.

At the half, the Huskies led the Mustangs 18-0. MHS junior Robbie Worzer stopped the team before they went into the locker room and told them not to worry about the first half and to get ready for the second.

The Mustangs seemed like a different team in the second half.

MHS junior quarterback Jason Powers’ pass was intercepted and returned for another Husky touchdown and a 24-0 lead for Ritenour.

But Powers and company came back marching the next drive. Senior running back Jacobi Boykin capped off a huge Mustang drive with a 25 yard touchdown run to put the Mustangs deficit to only 17.

But another drive by the Huskies was accented with another McCoy touchdown, this time with his feet.

Although a couple of big plays by the Mustangs would give the dwindling crowd some hope, including sophomore Xavier Jackson’s 46 yard breakaway, the Huskies would hold onto their 31-7 lead the rest of the game.

MHS senior lineman Kevin Tippit said that the Mustangs physically match their opponents, they just need to work on the mental aspect of the game.

“We can do it physically,” he said. “It’s just mentally we make too many penalties, too many mental mistakes.”

Senior tight end and kicker Charlie Kreh explained that he wants his team to play hard the entire game.

“We have to keep playing for four quarters,” he said. “The second half was a much different ball game, we played a lot better and we have to play better on special teams.”

Head coach Matt Klein explained that the Mustangs have the players and ability to turn this season and program around, it’s just about building the team’s confidence.

He echoed Kreh’s sentiment that special teams will be a big emphasis for the team during practice leading up to next week against Northwest, but overall they just have to improve.

“We’re playing a faceless opponent and we have to get better at what we do,” he said. “It’ll be a great task at hand to see how our leaders come together and see if we can make a big jump from week one to week two.”