Looking to capitalize off a week two win against Cleveland High School, the Sandies attempted to keep the momentum going and topple the Midland Bulldogs. Sept. 8 ending with the Bulldogs winning 32-27 at Dick Bivins Stadium. 

The Bulldogs stifled the Sandies offense in the first half, causing them to carry out two interceptions and a fumble, giving Midland’s offense more opportunities to make plays and take the lead going into the second half. 

“I felt like we came in the game really late, I felt like we didn’t execute any plays,” wide receiver coach Noah Mason said. “But we got JQ Erving going in the second half and once he gets going he is a great player.” 

Starting the second half down by 12 points, the Sandies needed big plays to fire back against the Bulldogs. The team found their answer in Erving, who had just gotten cleared from injury just in time for the game. 

“I was coming off injury, so I was not sure if I was going to play until the second half when coach Alexander told me to be ready to play,” Erving said. “I went into the second half knowing what I had to do.” 

The Sandies made a comeback later in the fourth quarter with help from Erving and sophomore quarterback Jett Lopez. However, they could not overcome the setbacks from the first quarter. 

“The offense started off slow, I threw two interceptions in the first half but coming out of the locker room the game felt better,” Lopez said. “We came back in the fourth quarter but we still lost by one touchdown.”

The team plans to learn from this loss and go against Odessa High on Sept. 15 to even out their record at 2-2 before district games start. 

“Losing by one touchdown is hard,” Lopez said. “We will come back next week even stronger.”