After a High School Quarterback Was Injured, Coaches Were Forced to Make an Unprecedented Move

It was a Monday night football game like no other.

Last week, in the small city of Brandon, Mississippi, the Northwest Rankin Cougars faced off with the Brandon Bulldog's. Things started off normal, but certainly ended on a different note.

Bulldog's quarterback Mason Mathieu led his team to an early 21-0 lead when the Cougars quarterback was hurt and couldn't continue playing.

"They tried to play some other kids at quarterback, and any other position would have been fine because you got other linemen, receivers, runningbacks, but you only a lot of times have one quarterback," Bulldog's coach Brad Peterson told WLBT-TV.

That's when the coach made an unprecedented move. The Bulldog's had an extra quarterback, so Peterson approached Mathieu and asked him if he'd be willing to play for the other team.

"They called me up during halftime, I met with the coach, of course he made a joke, 'You do bad for us I'll send you back over there'," Mathieu recalled to WLBT.

Mason Mathieu. (Image source: Screen grab via WLBT-TV)

Wearing the only red jersey on his line of scrimmage, the young quarterback did his best for the Cougars – even leading their team to two touchdowns.

"When I went over there, I guess (my team) really didn't know what to think, but I told them I was planning on going there and we were going to score a couple times," Mathieu said. "(The Cougars are) a great group of guys, I mean I loved it. It was great."

Image source: WLBT-TV

The Bulldogs ultimately won 46 to 14, but coach Peterson said he was proud of how Mathieu handled the unprecedented scenario.

"Obviously it's a pressure situation, I was glad to see him perform well under the pressure," he told WLBT.

Note: This story has been amended to properly attribute the information to WLBT-TV, instead of their affiliate KAIT-TV.

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