I have always been around people that either like to talk about the weather or like to predict the weather, and there are always people that watch the weather in the same manner I watch sports. I see people all the time with apps on their phone about what the weather is looking like, and they love to share that information with others. There is terminology that meteorologists use when talking about the weather. When they talk about an impending storm of some kind, they either issue a watch or warning.
A watch simply means the conditions are favorable for an impending storm. A warning means that the storm is on its way and you need to prepare for it. I believe these two ways of predicting weather are also an accurate way of talking about the upcoming football season and, in particular, the Huntingdon Mustang football team.
The past two years have seen the Mustangs go 12-0 before losing to Cornersville in the third round of the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. They’ve had 24 wins and only two losses, and both losses were to the same team and at the same point in the TSSAA playoffs. Two remarkable seasons and the fan base is ready for more. And though its not fair, they expect more.
Simply put, when using the weather analogy, then you can say the forecast for the upcoming season is a storm watch because the conditions are favorable for a storm of Mustang football to wreck havoc for the 2019 season. The Mustangs return the majority of the past two teams that have won those 24 games and have gone undefeated the past two seasons.
A weather man would be warning all the teams across the state of Tennessee that the possibility of a Mustang storm is coming, and all the other teams in Class A better prepare for the possibility of some really bad weather. Truth is that a Mustangs storm watch has been issued the past two seasons, and maybe that’s why the Mustangs have seen their season end at the same point for the past two years.
The problem may be that Cornersville has heeded these warnings, prepared accordingly, and were ready for the storm when it came. No doubt the Bulldogs were well coached and well prepared the last two years, and that is a hump that the Mustangs must climb in order to get to a place they haven’t been to since 2012. That place is a state championship game.
Keeping with the weather theme, I will say this. The forecast is once again that a watch has been issued of an impending Mustang storm coming for the 2019 season, and sometimes no matter how well you prepare, the storm comes regardless of your preparation. Let’s hope that in the 2019 season the Mustangs turn a watch into a warning and the season ends with a title.