by Gunnar Davis

The PCM Mustang football team took on the West Marshall Trojans on Homecoming on Oct. 2. The Mustangs were on a four game win streak, and just came off of a win against rival CMB. The Mustangs wasted no time, putting away the Trojans early and pitching a shutout, 38-0.
PCM Mustang Head Football Coach Greg Bonnett knew that with Homecoming on the week of Oct. 2 against the West Marshall Trojans, his team might be a little distracted. All week, he stressed to his players that the biggest part of Homecoming was the game. He repeatedly told his team that all the homecoming festivities meant nothing if they didn’t go out and perform.
“I told the guys all week that that was their main job,” Bonnett said. “I wanted them to have a good time, but I didn’t want them staying out too late, and lacking on their sleep and rest, so we could come out and start the game right.”
West Marshall opened up the game receiving the kickoff, but the Mustang defense held them to an early three-and-out. PCM capitalized off of their defense, using only four plays to drive down the field and score with a 20-yard senior Logan Littrell touchdown run.
Again the Mustang defense held the Trojan offense to a three-and-out, and again they capitalized. This time it was a senior Logan Gilman one-yard touchdown pass to senior Tyler Dredge, making the score 14-0 with just over eight minutes still to go in the first quarter.
Another three-and-out forced by the Mustang defense gave the Mustang offense good field position. PCM drove down the field and scored, this time off a Gilman seven-yard pass to junior Luke Greiner. The score was 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, it was more of the same. PCM scored on a touchdown pass from Gilman to junior Noah Clark, and senior Chase Wilkie booted in a 34-yard field goal. The score was 31-0 heading into halftime.
The only other score of the night was a 76-yard touchdown pass from Gilman to Greiner in the third quarter.
“We had good practices all week,” Jenkins said. “Everybody stayed out of trouble and got enough sleep for the game. We were reading our keys well on defense.”
The Mustang defense shut out a team for the second time this year, this time forcing two turnovers and racking up 10 sacks. Junior Clayton Welch had five sacks, while senior Reid Jenkins had nine tackles.
“Right now I’m very pleased with my defense, but I’m not satisfied,” Bonnett said. “I still think that this defense is going to get better.”
The Mustangs move to 5-1 on the season and take on a winless Clarke team in their next district matchup at Osceola on Friday, Oct. 9 and follow up on that when they travel to Albia to take on the number-one ranked Blue Demons. The Mustangs are now ranked eighth in Class 2A in the Des Moines Register.
“With Clarke, we have to do the same thing we did with West Marshall,” Jenkins said. “Albia, though, we’re going to have to have a good week of practice, like a great week of practice. Were going to have to be ready to fly around and make plays.”