Arlington opens football season with impressive win over Mansfield at Globe Life Park
Even though the start of the Class 6A football season was delayed nearly a month because of the pandemic, you could hardly tell considering the way the Arlington Colts played early in their game with Mansfield on Friday night.
Arlington used three big plays in the first quarter to get out to 20-0 lead on its way to a 37-7 non-district win over the Tigers at Globe Life Park.
It was the Colts (1-0) first game at the field - they’ll play there six more times - and it appeared to be a great fit. Arlington Lamar and Euless Trinity played the first high school football game at Globe Life Park on Thursday. .
Arlington, No. 24 in the Class 6A state rankings, finished the game with 384 yards of offense (211 rushing and 183 passing). The Colts did most of their damage in the first half as they built a 30-7 halftime lead.
Arlington’s senior backfield duo of running back B.J. Rogers and quarterback Kris Sims combined for 305 yards of offense on 29 plays (10.5 yards per play).
Rogers, who scored on runs of 49 and 47 yards finished with 109 yards rushing on six attempts. Sims completed 10 of 15 passes for 135 yards and a score. He also carried eight times for 61 yards.
Mansfield (0-1) was paced offensively by senior quarterback Hunt Young who threw for 114 yards and a score and rushed for 87 yards on 28 carries.
The Colts came out ready for the season as they scored one play from scrimmage when Rogers broke free for a 49-yard run and 6-0 lead, 50 seconds into the game.
After Arlington’s defense forced a three-and-out, the Colts’ offense needed just five plays to push their advantage to 13-0 when Sims hit Rogers for a 29-yard score at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter.
Mansfield moved the ball on its second drive of the game, but disaster struck at the Arlington 14 when Colts defensive back Anthony Crenshaw wrenched the ball away from Young and raced 86 yards for the score. The touchdown put Arlington up 20-0 with 1:53 left in the first quarter.
The Colts went up 23-0 midway through the second quarter on a 32-yard field goal by Cooper Hicks.
Mansfield’s first score of the season came on a 22-yard pass from Young to Cayden Cutler. The pass capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive and cut Arlington’s lead to 23-7 with 3:34 left before halftime
Arlington headed to the break leading 30-7 when Rogers got loose for a 47-yard score.
In the first half, Rogers carried six times of 107 yards, while Sims passed for 64 yards and ran for 48 yards on five attempts. Arlington’s offense had 226 yards on 17 plays at intermission.
Mansfield finished with 161 yards on 32 plays.
The Colts only score of the second half came on a 9-yard run by Rodney Talton.
The Tigers moved the ball to the Arlington 1 late in the game. Facing a third-and-goal, the Colts defense rose up and stopped Mansfield on consecutive plays to keep the Tigers from reaching double-digit scoring.
Arlington returns to Globe Life Park to host state-ranked Cedar Hill, 7 p.m. October 2.