Mustangs tabbed as "surprise" team by Chron.com

Photo by Mike Woolley

As a way to give our readers even more basketball coverage across greater Houston, we’re teaming up with one of the best sources for just that very topic – Jim Hicks, the founder and editor of RCSsports.com.

Each week (normally Monday), we’ll look at topics and trends surrounding the basketball season. In addition, we’ll give you the top games of the week and the area’s top teams in each classification.

This week’s look is at six boys teams we call “pleasant surprises.” They were off the radar when the season started – at least in terms of preseason rankings and media attention. But each is currently sitting in first place in its respective district. They’re listed here in alphabetical order.....

4 Friendswood - Five area teams started the year ranked in the state top 25 and the Mustangs weren’t among that group. Since the preseason polls, however, Friendswood has simply kept churning along and picking up win after win. The Mustangs are 19-7 now, with two of those wins coming on consecutive days against San Antonio’s best in 4A (Brennan and Lanier).

But the real eye opener, at least in Houston, was when Friendswood went to Dawson and knocked off the Eagles by a point to force a three-team tie atop District 24-4A.

Key wins – vs. San Antonio Brennan (78-63), vs. San Antonio Lanier (67-60), at Dawson (46-45)

Chronicle/RCSsports.com rankingsClass 5A

Class 4A
1. Fort Bend Marshall 25-4
2. Beaumont Central 20-4
3. Wheatley 18-4
4. Brazosport 21-3
5. Humble 21-7
6. Montgomery 19-7
7. Friendswood 19-7
8. Terry 17-9
9. Crosby 21-6
10. Willowridge 15-8

Senior guard, Quinton Mertz (photo by Michael Woolley)

The Friendswood boys basketball program kicked off the 2012-13 campaign with an all-level sweep of neighboring Alvin High School.

·        Freshman ‘A’ (1-0) : Defeated the Yellowjackets 48-35 behind 10 points from Andre Ribeiro.

·        Freshman ‘B’ (1-0) : crushed Alvin 54-17 with Noah Briand leading all scorers with 12.

·        Sophomore (1-0) :  won 56-21 with the help of a balanced scoring effort.

·        JV (1-0) : Cruised to a 54-11 win behind 13 points from Trevor Mertel.

·        Varsity (1-0) :  Won 66-36 behind senior Quinton Mertz’s career high 26 points on 8 of 10 three-point shooting. Junior Lane Griffon added 12 points for the Mustangs who next face off against Klein High School in the opening round of the Magnolia High School “Dawg House Classic” tournament on Thursday morning.  

**All tournament information can be found at FriendswoodBasketball.com under the menu tab 'Tournaments'.*

FHS Volleyball Wins Region 3 Tournament; Qualifies for State

Photo by Kevin Cox

Mustangs ready to take on the best

By Jim Levesque

The Daily News

Published November 12, 2012

FRIENDSWOOD — The Friendswood volleyball team earned a berth to the state tournament Saturday. On Sunday, the Lady Mustangs found out who stands in their way of playing for the championship.

“It’s really just an incredible feeling,” Friendswood coach Kelly Beck said about reaching state. “Our hard work and long practices have finally paid off, and for these girls to get to go and experience what state is like, is just a dream come true.”

Friendswood (42-4) will face Aledo (40-5) in the Class 4A semifinals at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.

In the other semifinal match, Lucas Lovejoy (46-4) plays Cedar Park (40-7) at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The semifinal winners will meet back on the same court at 4:30 p.m. Saturday to play for the state championship.

“I think the seedings were perfect and exactly what we would have wanted,” Beck said. “We’ve known all season that it would come down to records as to who was seeded where. We are happy to have had a great season and only have four losses on our side. That made all the difference.”

The Class 4A final four includes some of the state’s elite programs, and all of the squads have at least 40 victories this season.

Lucas Lovejoy tops the Texas Girls Coaches Association Class 4A poll. Friendswood is ranked No. 2, Aledo is No. 3, and Cedar Park is No. 8.

Friendswood is the District 24 champion and beat Angleton, Ridge Point, Santa Fe, Magnolia and Barbers Hill in the playoffs.

Aledo won District 7 and downed Burleson Centennial, Denton, Byron Nelson, Amarillo and Dumas in the postseason.

The Lady Mustangs beat Aledo, 25-18, 23-25, 25-12, on Aug. 25 in the Byron Nelson Classic in Dallas.

“Aledo is a very good and very scrappy team,” Beck said. “We’ve had the luxury of playing them once already this season in a preseason tournament. While we won, it was still a highly contested match. They are a great team, and we are going to have to earn every single point.”

Friendswood will work out today and Tuesday before heading to Garland at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday with a special state tournament send-off at the high school.

“Our blocking and defense are the reasons we won the region,” Beck said. “We will continue to focus on those two areas in practice and improve our serve receive offense. If we can take care of business on our side, we are a hard team to beat.

“It’s important that (the players) don’t get caught up in all the hype. They have to remain even-keeled and focused on what’s in front of us. While this past weekend was very exciting, our jobs are not done. We have, hopefully, two hard games in front of us with teams that want it just as bad as we do, and we must execute.”

Jason Fochtman (AP)

From Chron.com's Pat Turner: 

ROUND ROCK - Ryan Teel experienced the thrill of winning a Class 4A individual cross country gold medal a year ago.

On Saturday, the Friendswood senior had a chance to see what it felt like to be a two-time champion.

Teel sped to a winning time of 15:42.42 to outlast Lockhart's Robert Uhr and lead the Mustangs to a third-place finish behind defending champion Boerne Champion and Cedar Park at Old Settlers Park.

"This feels amazing," Teel said. "Last year, I was a little bit numb after it happened. This year, I came in and knew I had a little bit of pressure on my back.

"I kind of had dreams about this. I'm glad they came true. I had a game plan and stuck with it."

Finding a way to win

Although winning a title and appearing at the state meet on two other occasions helped Teel become familiar with the atmosphere, getting the victory had its challenges.

Teel battled illness throughout the week and when it came time to race, he and the other runners had to battle the wind and dust on the course. Then, there was the competition, especially Uhr, who pushed Teel to the end with a time of 15:44.67.

Teel, however, found a way to overcome the obstacles.

"I was trying to get separation, but I couldn't lose the guys," Teel said. "I led the whole race, but I had to improvise. When I crossed the finish line, I was relieved. It worked out."

Photo by Jennifer Reynolds

From the Galveston Daily News' Jim Levesque:

Teel, Mustangs chasing cross-country conquest

FRIENDSWOOD — Ryan Teel is the defending Class 4A champion in cross country, but he has a bigger goal in mind for this Saturday’s state meet.

“Our goal is, as a team, to win a medal at the state cross-country meet,” the Friendswood senior said.

The Mustangs made a giant stride toward achieving that goal last week by winning the Region III-4A meet. Teel won the boys title with a time of 15 minutes, 39.9 seconds and hot on his heels was teammate Levi Kessler.

“Crossing the finish line in first place felt good, but when I got to see (Kessler,) one of my best friends, finish second, that was emotional,” Teel said. “It was exciting because it was something we had talked about, but we weren’t sure if we would be able to do it. Now, our goal is to win a medal at the state meet.”

In all, the Mustangs placed four runners in the top 18. Along with Teel and Kessler, Friendswood will send Troy Richardson, Ryan Oliver, Michael Otto, Robert Anselmo and Austin Cline to the state meet.

“We were excited to win it and get our chance to go for a medal” Friendswood coach Steve Haffelder said. “It’s been our goal for a long time. We’ve been really close and we’ve never gotten it.”

Though Friendswood has been a local cross-country powerhouse, winning 10 region titles in 17 years, the Mustangs haven’t won a medal at the state meet since the early ’80s.

“If we run as good as we did last week, we’ve got a shot at a medal,” Haffelder said. “If we can run the same at the top and middle and get the guys on the bottom to go a little faster, we can do it.”

Teel will be leading the charge, and though he is the defending state champion and also holds state track titles in the 1,600-meters and 3,200-meters, he said, like last year, he is not the odds-on favorite to win.

But, that doesn’t bother him at all.

“I kind of like being the underdog,” he said. “It gives me something to motivate myself.”

The state meet will be held at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

“It’s fairly hilly, especially compared to the courses where we get to run here,” Teel said.

The hills themselves are not an issue, he said.

“Hills are all mental, because everybody has to do them,” he said. “If you just treat the hill like something you have to attack, the faster you go up it, the quicker it is out of the way. Then you get to go downhill, which is something I enjoy.”

Cross country will likely be in Teel’s future. He has drawn attention from many schools and Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M are the front-runners at the moment.

Teel said he hopes to study chemical engineering and that will figure largely in his choice of college.

“Academics are equally important, if not more important, than running,” he said.

Teel has several qualities that could help him continue his running success after high school.

“He takes good care of himself,” Haffelder said. “He eats right and he sleeps more than any high school kid I know. He does the right things and he is a fierce competitor. He doesn’t like losing, no matter what it is. The combination of those two things makes for a very good runner.” 

Mustang Hoops Kicks Off Preseason Practice

From chron.com:

Wood leading Mustangs

There's a new Johnny Manziel (current Texas A&M and former Kerrville Tivy quarterback) on the state high school football scene, and it's Friendswood senior signal caller Jordan Wood.

Wood led the Mustangs to a 4-0 start with 523 total yards and eight touchdowns in a 79-63 victory in a District 24-4A opener last week at Galena Park.

He scored six touchdowns while rushing for 401 yards on only 20 carries (20 yards per carry), and threw for 122 yards and two touchdowns on 7-of-11 passing as Friendswood tallied a school record 79 points.

Yes, this was football.

The teams combined for 139 points and 1391 total yards (Friendswood had 710, Galena Park 681), and next up for the Mustangs is winless Santa Fe (0-4) at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5 at home at Henry Winston Stadium.

Friendswood blanked Santa Fe 35-0 last year.