One week into the season, Taylor has no choice but to adopt a big-picture mentality.

The Mustangs’ season-opening 69-7 setback to Atascocita at Legacy Stadium on Aug. 30 offered no other alternatives. It’s just one game. By 62 points or one point, a loss is a loss. Coaches and players spewed all those axioms afterward.

Now it’s a matter of seeing if they actually believe it.

“The only possible answer, the only choice, is to come back, correct what we need to, improve,” coach Chad Simmons said. “That will show what kind of character we have in bouncing back from a loss like that, when pretty much everything that could go wrong did. It snowballed on us. We won’t dwell on it, but we’ll learn everything we can from it.”

Taylor (0-1) struck first, with senior quarterback Dalton Burden finding wide-open receiver Griffin Dougherty for a 70-yard catch-and-run score against busted coverage a little more than halfway through the first quarter.

From there, it was all Atascocita (1-0), the No. 3-ranked team in the Greater Houston area entering the season. Senior quarterback Brice Matthews scored on a 16-yard run a little more than two minutes later, and the Eagles scored five touchdowns in a 13-minute span during the first and second quarters to take a 35-7 lead into halftime.

“We kind of slowed down,” Burden said. “We thought we had it in the bag, they hit us in the mouth and we just weren’t ready for it.”

Atascocita produced 60 plays in the first half alone. But the Eagles were gifted terrific field position time and time again with Taylor senior punter and team captain Patric Talbot unable to play, forcing Dougherty into spot punter action.

On its first three possessions—two punts and a touchdown—Atascocita started drives from its 10, 16 and 18 yard lines, respectively. But from there, the Eagles’ worst starting position over the next 11 possessions was their own 46-yard line.

Not coincidentally, the Eagles scored on eight of those 11 possessions, all touchdowns.

“We had bad field position pretty much all night. The punt game was not very good,” Simmons said. “We had issues moving the chains. The defense was on the field early a lot. If you pick one thing, it’s field position.”

It was a domino effect. With the offense going either three-and-out or turning the ball over most of the way after Dougherty’s score, the Taylor defense was on the field for most of the evening. Atascocita dominated time of possession, and it did so favoring a hurry-up offense.

The Mustangs’ defense was gashed during the second quarter and completely gassed not long into the third, and Atascocita took advantage with Matthews and a dominant receiving corps of Dylan Robinson (4 catches, 36 yards, TD), Darius Edmonds (5 catches, 40 yards, TD) and AJ Bobb (10 catches, 122 yards).

Atascocita scored six times via the run and thrice via the pass.

“It all has to work together,” Simmons said. “One side of the ball has to complement the other, and the kicking game has to serve its role, too.”

There were positives for the Mustangs, however.

Junior defensive back Cecil Ivey II was strong in coverage, picking off a pass and almost picking off another while breaking up a couple more passes in an impressive debut.

“I knew they were going to test me the whole game,” Ivey said. “I’m only 5-5, first year on varsity. I play with a chip on my shoulder.”

Simmons praised Ivey after the game.

“He made some real big plays, and just because of the height factor with the taller receivers, they picked on him. He responded,” Simmons said. “He had a pick that we got a penalty on early that could’ve been huge, and who knows what that would’ve done to momentum. He’s a great athlete. He competes.”

Offensively, Taylor’s run game struggled (2.9 yards per rush), but the Mustangs showed some potential in the passing game.

Burden completed 7 of 9 passes for 104 yards and a score with a pick. Backup J Jensen III came on in relief late in the third quarter and completed 3 of 6 passes for 50 yards.

“There’s competition,” Simmons said. “Dalton’s the No. 1 guy right now, but J does a good job and they’ll rotate. Each will play some.”

Burden said “69-7” doesn’t mean much. He chalked it up as a lesson learned. The Mustangs were ready for Atascocita, he said. They were prepared. Execution, though, failed.

Simmons said he liked how his leaders stood up in the locker room after the game and demanded that one loss won’t define the season. Talbot is expected to return for this week’s game against Cypress Springs on September 5, and his presence will be welcomed.

“Of course, we’ve got some work to do,” Ivey said. “This is only the first game. They haven’t seen the real Taylor Mustangs yet. We’ll be ready for next week.”