More and more, Taylor’s offense is starting to perform as expected.

The Mustangs are still without starting quarterback Dalton Burden and running back/receiver Marcus Grant because of injuries, but they got a big boost during a 45-7 rout of Seven Lakes on Friday, Oct. 4, at Legacy Stadium when senior receiver Tanner Isola returned to the field for the first time this season.

“I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Isola, who missed almost two months with a broken collarbone. “Seven weeks is way too long.”

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Isola provides a big, athletic target on the opposite side of the field from 6-2, 185-pound senior wideout Griffin Dougherty, among the leaders in District 19-6A in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns.

Taylor (4-2, 2-0 19-6A) has always been able to run the ball well—as was the case against the Spartans, as Casey Shorter and CJ Tolbert combined for 251 yards and two touchdowns on the ground—but the difference this season is the passing game.

“It’s a relief being able to pass the ball more,” Shorter said. “Even this win, it was mostly because of our passing. It’s a collaboration, and it’s great when everybody does their job. We can only get better. Practice will make perfect.”

In Burden’s place, junior J. Jensen III has been remarkable. After setting a single-game program record with 361 passing yards in a win over Morton Ranch on Sept. 27, Jensen completed 8 of 12 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns against Seven Lakes.

“They were putting five (defenders) in the box, so we ran, ran, ran,” Jensen said after his second varsity start. “Then we hit them deep with play action. We took what they gave us.”

That used to not always be the case. If an opponent took away Taylor’s running game, it was game over, pretty much.

These days, however, with Dougherty and Isola in tow, the Mustangs are a more balanced unit. Dougherty caught four passes for 90 yards and a touchdown. Isola caught two passes for 47 yards and a touchdown.

In the last two games, both district wins, the Mustangs are averaging 256 passing yards per game, 434 total yards per game.

“We’ve really hit a rhythm and opened the passing game a lot, largely because of the run game and vice versa,” coach Chad Simmons said. “That’s what you want. No doubt, we’ve really picked it up a notch on offense.”

Isola scored on an 11-yard pass to the right corner of the end zone with 11:22 left in the game. It pushed Taylor’s lead to 31-7, but felt like a game-winner.

“I felt great,” Isola gushed. “That first touchdown, I felt like, ‘I’m back.’ I was so nervous before this game, but now I feel really good and ready to roll. Finally.”

Indeed. Finally.

“We’ve been waiting to see this all come together,” Simmons said. “We’ll go back and see what we did well, and we’ll show them what kind of game we can have when it does hit on all cylinders. When you have success, you have to continue to progress. We’re going to play better teams as we go on. This was big.”

The win pushed the Mustangs to 2-0 in District 19-6A, a more comfortable standing than 1-1 at this point last season when they lost to Seven Lakes. Burden and Grant, each of whom are probably out another week or so, await.

“We have to build from this. We still have stuff to work on,” Dougherty said. “Getting everybody back takes a lot of pressure off everybody else. It helps the whole offense. We’ve got to look at what we did great and what we did wrong and just keep this going.”