Arlington Seguin football trounces North Mesquite, kickoffs season with shutout victory

It didn’t take long for Arlington Seguin’s Malachi Meche to look at home playing running back.

The senior, who was an all-district wide receiver last year for the Seguin cougars, made an impact nearly right away in a 50-0 win over North Mesquite Thursday night at Choctaw Stadium.

Not long after the dulcet tones of Chuck Morgan said it was “Football Time in Texas,” Meche made noise.

Meche’s first carry netted zero yards, tackled by the Stallions’ defensive front. The next play, he got the handoff, cut inside and then was off to the races for a 75-yard touchdown.

A mere 1 minute and 1 second into the game, the Cougars took a lead they would not relinquish.

By early in the second quarter, Meche had a trio of touchdowns, two on the ground and also a punt return for a score.

He plays a variety of roles for the Cougars, but the key is to get the ball in his hands.

“We just happen to understand how explosive and how dynamic he can be,” Seguin coach Joe Gordon said. “We can put him in the backfield. E can put him outside. We can put him at X or Z because he has unbelievable hands. It doesn’t matter where we put him.”

Seguin, 5-4 last year, rolled up 29 points in the first quarter and dominated in all facets of the game.

After forcing North Mesquite to punt on its first drive, the junior Chevy Andrews came up with a big play for Seguin. Facing a 4th-and-13 from their own 43, the Cougars signal caller got the call and rambled 36 yards for a first down.

Seguin got into that situation thanks to two straight illegal motion calls and then an illegal shift.

On the next play, Andrews handed off to Isaac Bly, who ran in for a 20-yard touchdown.

North Mesquite changed quarterbacks but another three-and-out followed.

It didn’t take long for Seguin to capitalize.

A lateral pass led to an 8-yard loss on first down, so the Cougars faced a 2nd-and-18 from the 24.

Meche got the handoff on second down and dashed 76 yards for a touchdown with 2:33 to play. That expanded the lead to 22-0.

Andrews connected with Carterrious Brown, a Star-Telegram top 100 player, for a 16-yard touchdown late in the first quarter.

Meche’s 55-yard punt return score came with a little less than 10 minutes to play in the second quarter. He fielded the punt, cut to his right and ran up the North Mesquite sideline untouched.

In the spring, he was the first leg on the team’s 4x100-meter state qualifying team.

During the summer, he attended a camp at Henderson State in Arkansas and was clocked as having a 4.46 40-yard dash.

He showed every bit of that speed on that play.

“I looked up and saw the defenders coming and they were running too slow,” Meche said. “I took a stutter step and ran right and it was over after that.”

He said as he was dashing up the sidelines he looked at the North Mesquite sideline and saw one of the coaches shaking his head from side to side in disbelief.

That made it 35-0 and score that stood until halftime.

Seguin added a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 2, G’Mani Smith scored. Earlier in the game, he had a 75-yard punt return called back due to a block in the back.

With a little more than 6 minutes left, senior running back Leontay Bowman-Hunt took a handoff 69 yards for a touchdown.

North Mesquite, 1-9 last year, saw its losing streak hit 10 in a row.

The Stallions didn’t cross midfield until the 8:54 mark in the third quarter. The shutout was the first for Seguin since a Week 3 win against Waco University on Oct. 23, 2020.

Next week, Seguin will face Red Oak at 7 p.m. on Friday at Goodloe Stadium.