By Chris Moore

Special to The News

HOUSTON — Port Neches-Groves (12-1) set the pace on the ground in their 24-17 win over Texas City (5-6) at NRG Stadium on Friday.

The Indians’ offense took a while to get warmed up, going three-and-out on their opening drive. The Stings answered with a drive that went down to the PNG one-yard line. The Indians’ defense held strong and forced a 20-yard field goal by Alex Paz to make the score 3-0 with 2:59 left in the first quarter.

The Indians’ offense caught fire on the second drive and quarterback Roschon Johnson capped it off with a 32-yard run for a touchdown. Johnson finished the game with 18 carries and 159 yards to go along with 67 passing yards.

Johnson could have had a couple of touchdown passes but the usually sure-handed receiving corps had a few wide-open drops.

“I was just telling them to stay positive. You have to have a short-term memory and just bounce back. That was the main thing. Just stay positive and move on to the next play.”

The PNG defense held tight, and forced a three-and-out before driving 70-yards to the Stings’ five-yard line and settling for a 20-yard field goal with 6 seconds left in the second quarter to make the score 10-3 at halftime.

PNG’s ground game dominated the second half led by Johnson and Gavin Deslatte. Both carried the ball for a combined 18 carries for 142 yards in the first half.

Both teams exchanged scores in the third quarter. PNG jumped out early with a 19-yard pass from Johnson to Preston Riggs for a touchdown to bring the score to 17-3 with 8:16 left in the third quarter.

The Stings answered back with an 82-yard run by Zion Davis with 5:52 left in the third. Texas City rushed for 256 yards on 35 carries.

“They have a great team,” Indian head coach Brandon Faircloth said. “They can run the ball at you and keep the ball. We knew that was going to be their plan. They did a good job of it. We were just able to score an extra touchdown at the end.

The Stings scored again in the fourth to tie the game at 17-17 with 9:04 left in the game. PNG’s running back Gavin Deslatte was appeared to injure his leg on the following drive. Jose Ceja picked up where Deslatte left off, taking the lead on an 18-yard run with 5:05 left in the game.

Texas City moved the ball down field with relative ease. With 3:00 left in the game and down 24-17, Texas City had the ball on the PNG 20. The Stings’ Jonathan Jones broke free on a 15-yard run before running into his own teammate and fumbling the ball into the end zone, which PNG recovered for a touchback.

“The fans are definitely getting their money’s worth,” Faircloth said. “Every week, you never know what it is going to be. I’m really proud of our defense for making a stop at the end and recovering a football in the end zone.”

Faircloth said his defense wanted to make a statement after giving up 69 points to Crosby last week.

“(The defense) had a great week of practice,” he said. “They knew they had to improve. They did and we made some personal changes tonight. We knew they had to make a play to win the game.”

The Indians will play the winner of Saturday’s 2 p.m. matchup between College Station and Georgetown.