By Chris Moore
Special to The News

VIDOR — The Port Neches-Groves Indians set the tone early in their 42-14 win against Vidor at Pirate Stadium on Friday.

After the Pirates’ drive stalled after one first down, the Indians used 17 plays to drive 89 yards. The drive was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run for quarter back Roschon Johnson, who finished the game with completing 17 of his 20 passes for 250 yards and added 112 yards on the ground. Johnson also accounted for all six of PNG’s touchdowns with four on the ground and two through the air.

“It really set the tone for us,” Johnson said. “We just picked apart what they gave us and we were able to drive down the field.”

With 1:36 left in the first half, the Indians faced a fourth and one on their own 45-yard line. As they usually do in short-yardage situations, they ran Johnson up the middle, but this time he ran for 55 yards to make the score 21-0 at halftime.

“[Vidor was] really run heavy on their defense,” Johnson said. “After I saw their linebackers crash in and my backs and linemen get their blocks, I just cut up field and took it to the house.”

PNG head coach Brandon Faircloth said he likes his chances on fourth down and believes in his offense.

“We talk to them all of the time in practice,” he said. “We tell them that fourth down doesn’t matter to us. We’re going to go for it. We trust you guys. We know you’re going to get the job done. As we come up to these circumstances in the game, it shows the kids we trust them and we’re going to go for it, and we don’t care where we are. Our kids have been able to make plays the last few weeks.”

Johnson said realizes how important his defense is to the offense’s success and trusts them to come up with big stops.

“It means a lot,” he said. “We know we can really trust our defense to get stuff done and make some stops. They showed that tonight with as many stops as they had. They get us the ball and, as an offense, we just do what we do.”

Indian linebacker Alec LeBouef said the respect for the offense is mutual and they want to get the ball in Johnson’s hands as much as possible.

“Roschon is a great guy,” LeBouef said. “He’s a great guy in the locker room. Obviously, he is talented on the football field — Incredible. We love having him around.”

LeBouef said his unit’s discipline lead to their success against the run-heavy Pirates.

“We know Vidor is a respectable team,” he said. “We know that if you do what you’re taught to do, everything will work out. We were able to hold them in check and it ended up being a good night.”

The Indians maintain first place in 22-5A district with a 6-0 record.

The loss gives Vidor their second in district this season and drops the Pirates to fourth with a Nederland win over Ozen.

Next on the schedule for the Indians is a road game at Beaumont Central. The Pirates will take on the Lions in Livingston. Both games are set for 7 p.m. next Friday.