2018 in the books
Little depth, injuries hindered Mustangs.
Year I is in the books, albeit early, for head football coach Vincent White and Mullen.
The Mustangs ended 4-7 after last week’s 33-24 loss at home to Legacy in the Class 5A playoffs, a first-rounder in the new 24-team bracket. Mullen was seeded 12th and Legacy 21st.
The coach and 1979 Mustangs graduate ran into a fair gamut of situations, including the very good to the very bad, and assessed his program’s status through a season.
“I thought we got better as the year went on,” White said. “I thought we understood what we can and cannot do offensively, defensively and on special teams.”
Developing depth and avoiding the top tier of his team’s players seeing significant time on both sides of the ball had to be addressed.
“Guys going both ways, it becomes difficult during the week,” White said. “You have to build depth every day. It becomes important in practice when you’re trying to put something in. When you go 3 days (in between games) and you’re just practicing on defense (as opposed to doubling on offense), you become a better football team. It’s hard going both ways.”
Fortunately, he added, “during the year, we got it down to only a few guys going both ways.”
Other problem areas included turnovers and penalties.
“We have to eliminate them,” White said. “You can’t win with them, you can’t give away the ball.”
Touted lineman Aidan Keanaaina and two-way backs Damien Cearns and Isaac White will head next year’s senior class. The Mustangs will lose only a dozen 12th-graders from this year’s team and a developing cast that frequently had to play out of necessity this year will return more seasoned.
One obstacle for White, whose career has been based coaching in college, was “here (in high schools) you don’t have a lot of time to put in systems … but it’s not much different if you run a good program with the students and so forth.”
Taking some lumps at 4-7 that included a five-game losing streak and 0-5 record in the new Metro West League, and an early exit from the playoffs was challenging, White said, “but our kids never quit, they kept playing …
“We’re a young football team that played lot of young guys, which bodes well for the future. The future’s bright here at Mullen. We want to continue to grow on and off the field.
“I’m encouraged. We’ve got some good, young players and we have put in a system on offense, defense and special teams. We’re getting used to all of it. And we’re looking forward to it.”
FINAL 2018 STATISTICS
OFFENSE (11 games, 4-7 record)
TEAM
Mullen Opp.
Total yards 2,978 3,758
Passing yards 2,127 2,017
Passing yds. per game 193.36 183.36
Passes Comp.-Att. 144-278 146-254
Comp. Pct. 51.8% 57.48%
Comp. Pct. 51.8% 57.48%
Passing TDs 16 18
Rushing yards 851 1,741
Rushing yds. per game 77.36 158.27
Rushing plays/Avg. 319-2.67 377-4.62
Rushing TDs 14 31
3rd-down conversions 24.46% 34.09%
4th-down conversions 30% 45.83%
First downs 139 181
Turnovers 23 21
Sacks 25 41
INDIVIDUAL
PASSING
DePizzol 121-217 1,719 yards 80 long 12 TDs 10 Int.
Remington 20-53 369 yards 90 long 4 TDs 4 Int.
Moore 1-2 12 yards 12 long 0 TDs 0 Int.
White 0-1 0 yards 0 TDs 1 Int.
Totals 144-278 2,127 yards 16 TDs 14 Int.
RUSHING
Cearns 149-762 85 long 10 TDs
Smith 22-80 18 long 1 TD
Hoskins-Mitchell 23-30 14 long 0 TDs
Hearty 4-17 11 long 1 TD
White 11-12 10 long 0 TDs
Marcoux 2-9 12 long 0 TDs
Moore 2-minus-11 7 long 0 TDs
DePizzol 80-minus-25 12 long 2 TDs
Remington 20-minus-28 8 long 9 TDs
Totals 315-851 2.67 average 14 TDs
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RECEIVING
White 43-706 69 long 4 TDs
Henderson 34-579 80 long 5 TDs
Marcoux 17-243 38 long 3 TDs
Cearns 15-218 90 1 TD
Rogers 6-115 38 long 0 TDs
Stitt 6-72 22 long 1 TD
Hearty 4-19 10 long 0 TDs
Hoskins-Mitchell 4-19 17 1 TD
Smith 3-13 5 long 0 TDs
Nepple 1-5 5 long 0
Totals 138-2,039 15 TDs
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KICKING
Lehman 12-14 PATS 2-2 FGs Long 53 18 points
Yee 13-14 PATs 1-1 FGs 35 Long 16 points
TURNOVERS
15 Int., 8 fumbles lost
Total 22
FUMBLES LOST
Cearns 5, Remington 2, DePizzol 1
DEFENSE (Tackles--Solo-Assists)
Bialecki 102—44-58
Keanaaina 77—40-37
Mitchell 56—30-26
Apodaca 43—33-10
Silva 43—21-22
Kirking 38—18-20
White 35—23-12
Daffin 31—15-16
Stitt 31—19-12
Hearty 29—10-19
Riley-Combs 27—21-6
Difeo 24—14-10
Naha 24—16-8
DePizzol 23—6-17
Nolte 20—7-13
DeNezza 17—2-15
Villanueba 10—7-3
Rogers 9—5-4
Hoskins-Mitchell 8—6-2
Henderson 7—6-1
Stanford 6—5-1
Cearns 5—4-1
Martinez 4—1-3
Thompson 4—2-2
Damian 4—3-1
Marcouz 4—4-0
Smith 3—3-0
Ells 3—2-1
Malone 3—0-3
Nepple 2—2-0
Gaudet 2—1-1
Lacey 2—1-1
Robbins 1—1-0
Barden 1—0-1
Bowen 1—0-1
Lehman 1—0-1
Peters 1—0-1
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SACKS
Daffin 4, Keanaaina 4, Bialecki 3, Kirking 3, Nolte 2, Apodaca 1, Damian 1, DeNezza 1, Hearty 1, Mitchell 1, Silva 1
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TACKLES FOR LOSS
Keanaaina 11, Bialecki 7, Mitchell 4, Daffin 3, Hearty 3, Kirking 3, Riley-Combs 3, DeNezza 2, Nolte 2, Silva 2, White 2, Apodaca 1, Damian 1, Difeo 1, Ells 1, Hearty 1, Martinez 1, Rogers 1, Smith 1, Stitt 1, Villanueba 1.
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INTERCEPTIONS
Mitchell 2, Apodaca 1, Barden 1, Cearns 1, Difeo 1, Keanaaina 1, Naha 1, Stitt 1, White 1
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FUMBLE RECOVERIES
Bialecki 2, Riley-Combs 2, Keanaaina 1, Kirking 1, Stitt 1, Thompson 1
DEFENSIVE TDS
Keanaaina, Apodaca
PUNTS
Lehman 22-911 76 Long 44.41 avg.
Moore 17-569 61 Long 33.47 avg.
White 4-136 Long 40 34.0
Yee 22-436 48 Long 19.82 avg.
KICKOFF RETURN
Cearns 23-328 Long 39 14.26 avg.
Heil 7-103 Long 28 14.71 avg.
Hoskins-Mitchell 2-40 Long 22 20.0 avg.
Smith 1-13 13 Long 13.0 avg.
Barden 1-8 8 Lon 8.0 avg.
PUNT RETURN
White 9-44 24 Long 4.89 avg.
Marcoux 1-34 34 Long 34.0 avg.
Heil 1-19 19 Long 19.0 avg.
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