After Undefeated Season, Mustangs Going for Gold in Postseason

By Coach JP Roberts III

As a youth sports coach, when you start the season, you never quite knowwhat to expect. Will the players, parents, and coaches fit together well? Will the players stay interested enough in the sport to perform well at practices and on game days, or will every practice and game be a struggle?

During the 2010 football season, Coach Jerry Hudson's Reisterstown Mustangs 7-9 Federal team did its share of struggling, but in the end they fit great. Having lost only one game during the regular season, they came up literally half a yard short of a berth in the 2010 MMYFCL 7-9 Federal Super Bowl. In their semi-final game they lost to the Woodlawn Falcons in double overtime 6-0. Both coaches as well as the referees described that game as one of the best they had ever participated in. Coach Hudson's crew is once again in the semi-finals, and will face the Oakdale Bears on Saturday, Nov. 12, at .

For this team, the season started in early August. After the more competitive American team coaches picked the players they wanted from the 8-10 age group, what was left became the 8-10 Federals. Ten players from last season's 7-9 Federal team are on the 8-10 Federal roster, including two of the Mustangs' four female football players. Practicing four evenings each week for most of the month of August, the team quickly took shape.

Two weeks into practices, the team found out that they had won the right to play during halftime of the Baltimore Ravens' second preseason game at M&T Bank Stadium. It was an experience that players, coaches, and parents won't soon forget. It didn't come without a cost as one of the team's starting running backs was injured during the brief scrimmage, and has only been on the field for a couple plays during the entire season. With only two days before their first regular season game, both the offense and defense needed to be adjusted to compensate for the loss of a starter on both sides of the ball.

Hurricane Irene stepped in, causing the postponement of almost all of the league's first weekend of games and gave the team a few extra days to practice. The game was made up during the week and to everyone's surprise, they defeated their opponent, the Catonsville Stars, 33-12.

The Mustangs 8-10 Federal team went on to have a perfect 9-0 season, outscoring their opponents 212-65, including three shutouts. That record earned the team the 8-10 Federal Division title and a first-round bye in the playoffs. Their second-round opponent ended up being the Elkridge Hurricanes, the team that scored the most against them during their regular season matchup. This time the Mustangs defense was ready and shut out the Hurricanes 19-0.

From a player's perspective, Coach Hudson knows what it takes to win a championship. He was a player on the 11-13 Mustangs Pop Warner team that won the Maryland State Championship back in 1988. Although two Mustangs teams over the past four years have gotten as far as their championship game, no Mustang team has won it all since before the MMYFCL was formed five years ago. With four teams in the Federal division's semi-finals, 6-8, 7-9, 8-10, and 9-11, the Reisterstown Mustangs football program as a whole has a chance at having a fantastic finish to this season.

So has Coach Jerry's team found that fit again this season? Yes.

Are the players and parents ready for their season to continue? Absolutely.

Reisterstown Mustang football is a member program of the Reisterstown Recreation council, and affiliated with the Mid-Maryland Youth Football and Cheer League. For more information, go to www.reisterstownmustangs.org or www.reisterstownrec.com/football.htm