AUSTIN, Texas (KBTX) – A&M Consolidated used a big second half to pull away from Austin Anderson Friday night at Nelson Stadium. The Tigers won 56-28, improving to 5-0 on the season and 3-0 in 5A-Division I Region III District 12 play.

The teams were tied at 21 at halftime, but two quick scores in the third quarter by Consol proved to be the difference.

The Tigers opened the scoring on a long touchdown pass from Will Hargett to Darius Roberts.

Consol would take a 21-7 lead with just less than three minutes to play in the first half thanks to a fourth-down trick play. A double-reverse pass saw Hargett open in the end zone for the score.

However, the Trojans would even things up before halftime with a pair of touchdowns from Ed Small. The first coming on a highlight-reel, one-handed catch to make it 21-14. His second interception came as time expired in the half on a interception returned for a touchdown.

Consol pounced in the second half and was able to keep the Trojans at bay, only allowing 7 points.

The Tigers have an open week before hosting Lehman on Oct. 11.

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Real Salt Lake (14-7-9, second in the Western Conference) vs. Austin FC (9-13-8, 11th in the Western Conference)

Austin, Texas; Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Austin FC +129, Real Salt Lake +183, Draw +255; over/under is 2.5 goals

BOTTOM LINE: Austin and Real Salt Lake square off in conference action.

Austin is 8-11-6 in Western Conference play. Austin is ninth in the league allowing 42 goals.

RSL is 10-6-7 against Western Conference opponents. RSL has a 6-3 record in one-goal matches.

Saturday’s game is the second meeting between these teams this season. RSL won the last meeting 5-1.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jader Obrian has six goals and two assists for Austin. Gyasi Zardes has three goals over the past 10 games.

Christian Arango has scored 17 goals with six assists for RSL. Anderson Julio has three goals and two assists over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Austin: 2-6-2, averaging 0.9 goals, 3.5 shots on goal and 5.2 corner kicks per game while allowing 1.4 goals per game.

RSL: 4-4-2, averaging 2.0 goals, 5.4 shots on goal and 4.7 corner kicks per game while allowing 2.2 goals per game.

NOT EXPECTED TO PLAY: Austin: Mikkel Desler (injured), Matt Hedges (injured).

RSL: Jose Kevin Bonilla (injured), Nelson Palacio (injured), Pablo Ruiz (injured).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Austin’s disappointing dating scene seems to be an ongoing joke on social media.

Countless videos of users sharing their disastrous dating experiences have been posted on TikTok in the past three months alone.

The city is partly known for its indie, eccentric, and fragmentedly spread wealthy population. It attracts a mix of people with its scenic trails, music festivals, and tech startups, so what’s going on? Is Austin cursed? Is it the same in other Texas cities?

A video circulated on social media of someone claiming Austin as one of the “Top five worst cities for dating entering 2024.” Newly moved-in Austin resident Julia Mazur vowed to make it her life’s mission to change that narrative around the city’s dating scene. She recently moved to Austin after 10 years of living in Los Angeles.

“I am about to plan an event that is going to take Austin off of this list,” she said in a stitch response to the original video. “And I believe in myself to do it because I worked at Tinder for six years, I have a dating and relationships podcast called ‘Pretty Much Done’; I know a thing or two about dating.”

However, the task hasn’t been without its challenges, as Mazur shared in a video last month that the city didn’t meet her expectations.

“I was incredibly hopeful,” Mazur said in the video. “I was like, ‘I’m moving to the South, the guys are going to be so great.’ But what happened is that I was humbled extremely quickly.”

It led Mazur to understand that it wasn’t Austin–specifically that was the issue.

“I realized that dating is just bad in every city,” Mazur said in the video.

Whether that’s because of increased social media use, a yearslong pandemic, or the price of dating thanks to inflation, no one knows for sure. But she’s not alone in her thinking.

Data from Pew Research Center cites that even before the pandemic, “nearly half of U.S. adults — and a majority of women — say that dating has become harder in the last 10 years.” Then, in another study conducted by them two years later, 32% of U.S. adults said they found dating got even harder during the pandemic.

To ease the challenge of modern dating in her corner of the country, Mazur has begun hosting an event called Hot Takes Hot Dates in Austin with Joel Monteleone, a tech life coach.

The event launched in mid-August and is meant to “prove that our differences can actually bring us together.”

“It’s not like a cheesy speed dating event. We talk about our dating icks, we debate hot takes; it’s a group event. It’s super fun, it’s super low pressure,” Mazur said in a video.

This week, residents have a chance to come to their own conclusions on whether there’s hope for Austin’s dating scene.

The next event is on Sept. 27 at the Wiggle Room, located at 612 Nueces St. Tickets are available at https://tickets.vulcanpresents.com/e/hot-takes-hot-dates-2.