WEST ORANGE — “How sweet it is.”

The West Orange-Stark Mustangs now own the best winning percentage in the state of Texas’ history and they accomplished it in dramatic fashion Friday night as sophomore kicker Angel Ibarra drilled a 30-yard field goal with six seconds remaining to propel the Mustangs to a 24-21 victory over the Silsbee Tigers to start District 10-4A Division II play.

The Mustangs (3-4, 1-0) took over from their own 44 with 0:35 remaining. On the first play, WO-S quarterback Tyrone Wilson hit big-play receiver Brettlin Wiley for a huge 35-yard pass play down the right sideline that got to the Tiger 21. Three plays later the Mustangs called a timeout and then Ibarra was “clutch” as he sent the 30-yard game-winner right through the uprights. It was his third field goal of the night.

The win was the 400^th in school history as the Mustangs stand at 400-97-3 overall for a .803 winning percentage.

It’s also a good start in district play as the program is seeking its 28^th district title this season.

The Tigers (3-4, 0-1) put forth a tremendous fight but the Mustangs simply were not going to be denied on this night of celebration.

Both teams finished with exactly 269 yards.

Wilson completed 10-of-16 passes for 109 yards with Wiley hauling in four of them for 74 yards. Senior tailback Kavyn Cooper finished with 93 tough yards on 21 carries.

Tiger tailback Dralyn Cooper dashed for 133 yards on 23 carries and fellow back Antonius Arline had 75 yards on eight totes. Tiger quarterback Raymond Foster was just 2-of-7 for 17 yards.

Trailing 21-13 with 10:20 remaining the Mustangs put together a huge 13-play, 77-yard scoring drive to knot things up.

Wilson had two runs that netted 27 yards, including a big 17-yard gain to the Tiger 7. Two plays later Cooper bruised his way up the middle for a seven-yard touchdown. Wilson promptly dashed in to tie it with the two-point conversion run to make it 21-21 with 4:01 left.

The Tigers struck quick to open the second half when on the second play from scrimmage Taylor broke loose for a 54-yard touchdown gallop as Silsbee snared a 14-10 edge with 11:10 in the third.

The Mustangs put together a nice 15-play drive and marched from their own 15 all the way to the Tiger 15 where they bogged down and settled for a 32-yard field goal by Ibarra that trimmed it to 14-13 with 3:44 in the third. Cooper ran five times for 27 yards on the drive and Wilson hit receiver Wiley for a big 24-yard gain over the middle that got to the Tiger 18.

Silsbee countered though on their next possession when Arline broke several tackles on fourth-and-1 and sailed into the end zone from 48 yards out to push the Tigers up by eight at 21-13 with 10:37 left.

The Mustangs used a big special teams play and a big interception to grab a 10-7 edge going into halftime.

The Tigers tried a pooch kick on the opening kickoff and it failed miserably as Mustang receiver Jay’zn Robinson hauled it in and found a gap down the right sideline as he cruised 69 yards for the score. Ibarra drilled the extra-point as the Mustangs found themselves ahead 7-0 with 11:49 in the first quarter.

The Tigers had the ball and ate up a lot of time with their running game the rest of the half.

The Tigers put together a 10-play, 53-yard scoring march to get even with 7:55 in the half. Arline had four rushes for 23 yards on the series and Foster connected with receiver Cameron White on two passes for 17 yards, including a big nine-yarder on third-and-7 that got to the Mustang 11. Two plays later Taylor bolted up the middle for a nine-yard score. Kicker Diego Gonzalez booted the extra-point to tie the game up at 7-7 with 7:55 in the half.

Mustang defensive back Renaldo Rose made the Tigers pay when he picked off a Foster pass at the Mustang 49 and returned it all the way back to the Tiger 9 with 1:57 in the half. However, the Tiger defense rose up and stuffed the Mustang offense as WO-S settled for a Ibarra 23-yard field to make it 10-7 with 0:54 in the half.

On Silsbee’s first series of the night, Mustang Teshaun Teel forced Martin to fumble as WO-S’ Jalen Thompson fell on the ball at the Tiger 45 with 10:58 in the first quarter but the Tiger defense held firm.

The Tigers, on the next possession, chewed off nearly five minutes of the clock moving 50 yards to the Mustang 20 but the Mustangs stuffed Taylor on fourth-and-4 with 2:32 in the first.

The Tigers had 118 yards in the half while the Mustangs had 75.

Wilson was 5-for-5 and passed for 35 yards while Cooper had nine rushes for 31 yards.

Taylor had 54 yards on 13 carries for the Tigers while Arline had 27 on five carries. Foster was 2-for-5 for 17 yards.

The Mustangs will head into their bye week next week and will travel to Hardin-Jefferson Oct. 26. The Tigers will host Hardin-Jefferson next Friday.