'Stangs try to recover

The focus of Overton High School head football coach Ty Robinson this week has been to have his players put a loss to Cayuga behind them and put their minds on the task at hand.

That's this week's District 20-1A game at Alto, the class of Texas Class 1A football the last two years, with the state championship hardware to prove it.

Overton (3-3) had its threegame winning streak stopped at home last week in a loss to a Cayuga team that very much looked like one of the state's best teams.

But the Mustangs are still a very respectable 1-1 in district play, and a win at Alto (4-2) on Friday night would be a big step toward a possible playoff berth.

The Yellowjackets lost this year for the first time since 2005 — they put together two straight 14- 0 seasons in 2006 and in 2007. But in spite of those two surprising losses, Robinson is still impressed with what he's seen on tape of Alto.

"They're pretty athletic," he said. "They do a lot of things right."

The Yellowjackets bring back running back Marcus Gasaway, a second-team All-State selection a year ago, and wide receiver/defensive back Brandon Thacker. Gasaway rushed for 1,700 yards last year and Thacker is a threat on both sides of the football.

The Mustangs will try to avoid a snowball-like effect against Alto, which is what happened against Cayuga.

Cayuga's much-heralded running back Traylon Shed scored four times and rushed for almost 210 yards against Overton, all in the first half.

Overton didn't score until the fourth quarter on a 28-yard pass from quarterback Telvin Darden to receiver Scott Osburn, Osburn's first varsity touchdown.

The Mustangs won't put all their eggs in one basket of calling Alto a must-win, but it would be huge. Overton still has three games left after this week's, with an open date on Oct. 31. And the Mustangs' final three opponents are Grapeland, Carlisle and Cross Roads.