'Attitude Adjustment' Propels Bears Past Midland, 42-32

WOODLAWN - With his Bears trailing last year's state finalist, the Midland Mustangs, by three scores at halftime, Woodlawn Coach Doug Means said the only thing his team really needed during the break was a little attitude adjustment.And whatever he and the other coaches told the team at halftime apparently got through because the Bears' rode a dominating second-half performance from quarterback Ethan Saeler to turn a 26-8 halftime deficit into a 4232 victory."Basically, what we did in the first half was get into our own feelings - pointing at each other, complaining about things, not liking the way things were going because we got down," Means said."And all we did in the locker room was point out that it didn't matter what happened in the second half, we needed to play to our ability, quit pointing fingers, quit being mad at each other - be mad at the other team and play Woodlawn football and things would come out good on our side," he said. "They just came out and played like they can play, and stopped moaning on each other." And the momentum swing started with the second half kickoff. Midland had attempted several onside kicks going toward their sideline in the first half, and the Mustangs intended to start the third quarter the same way. This time, however, Saeler was waiting for it and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown with just 11 seconds gone off the clock. The twopoint conversion was stopped, however, leaving Midland with a 26-14 lead.With a large home crowd sparked back to life with the kick return, it went up another notch when the Bears recovered the ensuing onside kick at midfield. Two plays later, Saeler broke free for a 33-yard run down to the Midland 17, but Woodlawn fumbled it away on the next snap.On the next play, however, the Mustangs coughed it up and the Bears' Matthew Green recovered it at the Midland 8. Griffin Manes picked up three yards on the next play before Saeler ran it in from five yards out. The ...

To access content, please login or purchase a subscription.