Friendswood rides four game winning streak to the playoffs
November 10, 2025
The goal was to win the final four games of the season to finish 6-4 which would catapult them to the fourth-place position (4-3) in the district standings and the post-season.
Mission accomplished!
The Mustangs are set to travel to Austin to face the Austin Anderson Trojans on Saturday, November 15 at 3:00 p.m. at House Park Facility in Austin.
It was little surprise that Friendswood would close out the regular season with a 48-6 win over Fort Bend Kempner (4-6, 1-6) who finished near the district cellar.
The only surprise was how long it took for the Mustangs to get in rhythm offensively to take care of the Cougars.
“I think the only box we didn’t check was to start fast, and you only have one opportunity to do that,’’ said Johnson. “We started a little slow, maybe a little sleepy at first. But after that, I guess the box that we created to check was how we responded after a slow start.”
Both teams went scoreless in the first quarter, but Friendswood finally found their rhythm in the second frame to score 21 unanswered points for a 21-0 lead at intermission.
The Mustangs scored as quarterback Josh Brister tossing three touchdown passes. Brister found AJ Parker for 35 yards and Charlie Moore for 16.
Wide receiver Jensen Hackney scored the first touchdown of the game for Friendswood on a 12-yard scamper to the end zone. Hackney also scored a TD in the third quarter on a 12-yard scoring toss from Brister.
Early in the third period, Brister and Dax Berry hooked up from the 15, and after Kempner’s one TD — a 41-yard connection from Deuce DeGar to Ayo Afolabi — Friendswood answered seconds later as Berry scooped up a short Cougar kickoff and raced 54 yards to the pay station.
Backup QB Payton Lowe hit WR Jaxon Black on a 3-yard scoring toss in the fourth quarter to post the 48-6 final score.
“We got the train back on the tracks, started off efficiently on offense. We had 1:22 before the half and put together a 91-yard drive quickly with no timeouts,’’ said Johnson, whose club posted 20 first downs. “Then early in the second half, we came out and scored on the opening drive.
“Once we found a rhythm we settled into it, and the ability to find it when you don’t start with it, that’s a skill a team learns throughout the season.’’
Johnson also saw positive steps by Friendswood's special teams as they blocked a point-after kick and a punt, which set up the short Lowe TD pass to Black.
"The special team's game, we had a couple of boxes we wanted to check and one of them was we wanted to get a blocked punt,’’ Johnson said. “They were close all night and was proud we didn’t give up on it.’’
Brister was 14-of-24 passing for 246 yards and four TDs while Love was 4-of-6 passing for 50 yards and one TD and one INT.
Berry had eight carries for 34 yards rushing and two catches for 28 yards and one score.
RB Tripp Bateman had seven totes for 26 yards, Hackney had two carries for 22 yards and one TD and Moore had four totes for 13 yards and five catches for 63 yards and one score.
Hackney had four grabs for 79 yards and one TD and Parker had three catches for 49 yards and one score. Gianni Gerami had two catches for 36 yards.
