Millers top Broncos for the first time since 2013

By Hayden Frampton

Sports Editor

YUKON- History was averted Friday night at Miller Stadium.

The Broncos saw their hopes of a record fifth straight win over rival Yukon shattered in a 19-14 loss.

The Broncos gave up a lot in the stat column but avoided letting the Millers run rampant on the scoreboard. Yukon finished the game with 431 total yards of offense with most coming on the ground.

Yukon delivered the first blow of the game marching down the field on the initial possession for a two-yard touchdown run. Yukon led 7-0 early in the game, but it didn’t get much more out-of-hand than that.

With the offense struggling, Mustang’s defense provided their first points of the game.

In the second quarter, the Broncos sacked quarterback Jackson Young and knocked the ball loose. Senior linbebacker Elricko Anderson scooped up the ball and took it to the house for a touchdown. The Broncos tied the game at 7-7 with the defensive TD

The score would stay there through the halftime break. And it’s a wonder Mustang was able to keep it that way after giving up 258 total yards of offense in the first half. The Broncos finished with just 46 yards in the opening half.

Mustang took the lead early in the third quarter after Yukon fumbled in a scoring position. Senior Dominik Venegas was able to get in the middle of a Miller handoff and run it back to the end zone for an 82-yard run. Mustang led 14-7.

Mustang took the lead early in the third quarter after another defensive score. Yukon fumbled in scoring position (or the red zone and senior Dominik Venegas ran it back to the end zone for an 82-yard score. Mustang led 14-7.

The Millers answered in the third quarter, scoring on a three-yard run. Yukon had a chance to tie the game, but a missed PAT made the score 14-13.

The score sat there for a bulk of the fourth until Yukon broke the silence on a short run with 1:51 left in the game. They failed on the two-point conversion and led 19-14.

Mustang, who couldn’t get much from their offense all night, stalled out in their next drive and the game ended.

Yukon finished with big leads on the stat sheet. The home team had 431 total yards of offense to Mustang’s 116. Most of the Millers’ yards came on the ground, they led the Broncos in that regard 354 to 37.

Mustang had 79 passing yards, that’s two more yards than the Millers had at 77.

Defensively, the Broncos forced four fumbles and were able to recover three. The Mustang defense scored the only two touchdowns in the game.

Though the Broncos only gave up three touchdowns, they believe they can play better.

“We just didn’t execute, we allowed the emotion of the game to take over,” defensive coordinator Adam Gaylor said. “Our eyes got out of place and we got two very disappointing penalties that, as a coach, showed total lack of not having discipline and that’s disappointing to me.”

One of those penalties came in the second quarter when the defense picked up a fumble and ran it for a touchdown, but it was called back due to an illegal block in the back call. This would have put Mustang up two scores to Yukon’s one at halftime and could have kept them in the lead all game.

This was a play that Mustang can look back on as a missed opportunity.

“You never know when the play is going to be,” Gaylor said. “But if you look at it, we score, it’s 21-19. I’m not saying what if, and’s or but’s or anything. We work on that, as a defense we practice on intercept score or fumble score and we work on not blocking behind the ball.

“We work those things so it’s not like those things just happen. You work those things in practice. When you do that, it’s another sign of not being focused and not being disciplined.”

Quarterback Hayden Conrad got his first start of the game and went 5 of 14 passing for 50 yards. He believes if they work to convert on offense, that will lead to winning.

“Just offensive execution,” he said of what they’ll need to do better. “We execute better, defense holds them, our defense is doing really great right now, they’re doing great things. If our offensive execution gets better we’re going to win a lot of games, I think.”

Mustang looks to get their first win of the season this Friday on the road against Edmond Santa Fe.