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By Tommy Mann Jr.

Special to The Orange Leader

The West Orange-Stark Mustangs are heading to the playoffs as the No. 2 seed from District 9-4A D2 and will face the Sweeny Bulldogs, the No. 3 seed from District 10-4A D2. The game will be held at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 14 at Randall Reed Stadium in New Caney.

WO-S beat Class 3A D2, No. 7 state ranked Newton, 38-8, to start the season and Class 4A D2 No. 10 state ranked Waco La Vega, 35-27, in Week 3. The Mustangs lost to Hamshire-Fannett this past Friday in a thriller and its only other loss of the season was to a much improved Nederland Bulldogs on a last second touchdown.

The Mustangs offense has been firing on all cylinders under quarterback Marcus Turner Jr and running back Khelvy Jefferson all season and, in the process, the offense has averaged 37 points per game this season, while its defense has been dominant in several games and has limited opponents to an 18 points per game on average this year.

Sweeny has the potential to get the upset over the Mustangs as the Bulldogs defeated its district champions, Columbia, this season and lost a close one to runner-up Brookshire Royal. However, the Bulldogs lost to Wharton this past week which did not qualify for the playoffs.

Sweeny averages nearly 35 points per game on offense for the year, while the defense has been allowing 30 points per game this season.

The regular season of the 2024 high school football season has come to an end and now it is time for the playoffs. All five Orange County teams have qualified for the post-season and are set for the bi-district round.

An interesting note for this year’s playoff games featuring Bridge City, LC-M and Vidor is that its district, which is District 10-4A Division 1, made an agreement with District 9-4A D1 at the start of the season to allow first place and second place teams to host bi-district round playoff games, while the third and fourth place teams must travel. Class 6A and Class 5A teams already do this every year under UIL guidelines, but the majority of Class 4A and lower classifications play at neutral site locations.