No one ever likes to lose. There’s not much more an athlete hates than losing. Except maybe losing when a playoff birth is on the line.
That’s exactly what happened last Friday night when the Austin Wranglers visited the Rio Grande Valley Dorados. Not only did the Wranglers lose, but they only put up 17 points. The point total was less than half of their worst output all season. It’s one of those defeats where coaches say, “I don’t know what that was. Let’s just put it behind us and get back to work.”
The Wranglers couldn’t seem to do anything right on the night until the third quarter when Andy Hall punched it in from 1 yard out, making the score 21-10 in favor of the Dorados. Life didn’t get much better for Austin after that as Rio Grande Valley running back Robert May scored on a 4-yard run to put the game away. Bad time for Austin to play their worst game of the season.
With one game left, the Wranglers need a win to secure a playoff spot. On July 26, 7pm, at the Frank Erwin Center they will take on the Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings. Win, and the Wranglers are playoff bound. It’s as simple as that.
Score 17 points again, and the Wranglers will be watching the playoffs on TV.
This article appears in July 18 • 2008.