To be successful in District 19-6A play this season, Taylor will have to put the final result of its out-of-district schedule behind it and take the advice of coach Chad Simmons.

The Mustangs finished non-district play with a 2-2 record and start District 19-6A play against Morton Ranch on Sept. 27.

“Everybody in district is 0-0, and we’ve got to learn from what happened here, flush it and move on,” Simmons said after the Mustangs’ 49-6 loss to Dickinson in their non-district finale Sept. 20.

Almost nothing went according to plan in the loss, which was a drastic turnaround from an uplifting 65-34 win over Deer Park the previous week. Junior J. Jensen III threw four interceptions, part of a six turnover night for the Mustangs. Starting senior quarterback Dalton Burden threw one as well, and the Mustangs also lost a fumble in the first half.

On defense, the Mustangs faced all-state quarterback Mike Welch as he was having a career night. Welch finished 12-for-17 passing for 171 yards and two touchdowns and ran for three touchdowns. He combined with three other quarterbacks to throw for 337 yards.

The damage done went beyond the scoreboard, though. Mustangs running back and senior playmaker Marcus Grant went out in the second quarter after a 20-yard catch. Also, Simmons said an injury to Burden limited him to only a portion of the first quarter.

“He has an injury, so it’ll be a weekly thing,” Simmons said, adding that they’ll evaluate where both quarterbacks are after a week of practice. “Those two kids were going to rotate anyway, but he had an injury that kept him out.”

The lone bright spots for the Mustangs were on offense. While the interceptions halted drives, Taylor was able to move the ball thanks to tough running from junior Casey Shorter, who finished with 25 carries for 132 yards. While Jensen struggled with his accuracy, he did have an 18-yard completion to Michael Trainer for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Dickinson led at halftime, 42-6. The Gators played an uptempo style, hustling to the line of scrimmage to prevent substitutions, and consistently fought for extra yards on runs and short passes.

“The big thing is that we have to tackle better, and to minimize or eliminate those turnovers,” Simmons said. “We’ve been talking to the kids, and we’ve been getting better as we’ve gone along, but we’ve got to understand the tempo that we need to operate at.”

Simmons added the team didn’t come out with the energy the coaching staff was hoping for.

“We got ourselves in a hole the first half,” he said. “I thought we didn’t compete like we needed to, and at halftime we addressed that.”

Dickinson played backups for portions of the second half but kept their starters in for several series. The Mustangs played them to a 7-0 score in the final two quarters, which Simmons noted was a welcome improvement and more reflective of what he hoped would be the level of play in district games.

“I thought we competed much better in the second half, and I told the kids, to me, that’s the most important thing,” he said. “We got down in that hole, but there’s no quit in anybody. They came out and fought and finished the game like we needed to.”