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September 7, 2008

Kick block saves PN-G, 28-27

By Steven Cohan

CROSBY — What a difference a year makes! Port Neches-Groves was 0-2 a year ago, held scoreless twice, and about to scrap its new offense.

Ryan McLin blocked a critical extra point with 31 seconds left Saturday as the Indians rallied from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit to register a 28-27 victory over Crosby.

“You’ve got to admit, this was one wonderful high school football game,” said PN-G head coach Matt Burnett, whose team began the season with a 2-0 mark and has won 10 of their last 12 games dating back to last year. “I take my hat off to Coach Flanigan. He’s got a fine team and they had a great plan.”

With the score tied, 21-21, Jerin Spikes jumped in front of a Dominic Merka pass at the Crosby 33. On the next play, Josh Wright scored on a 33-yard run, capping a 76-yard rushing night. Wright raced into the end zone with 5:44 left to give the Indians their first lead, 28-21. Crosby marched deep into PN-G territory but a fourth down run by Merka was stopped at the two yard line and the Indians were unable to run out the clock, so they punted to the Cougars with 0:44 left.

Merka passed to Forrest Tyler from 25 yards with 31 seconds left, but a high snap on the PAT caused the kick to be blocked.

“Ryan was in the gap between the center and guard,” Burnett said. “We had all-out block on, and usually we get in from the outside, but the snap was high and Ryan came up huge.”

With Crosby’s defense keeping its eye on Wright closely, the Indians benefitted from the emergence of another rising star in their ground game. Caleb Harmon led all rushers with 19 carries for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

The young Tribe defense made a couple of defensive stops early in the third quarter and senior quarterback Harrison Tatum directed a 75-yard drive that culminated with a 36 yard touchdown run by Harmon, who also added an eight-yard scoring run. Mason English added the extra point with 5:28 remaining in the third that trimmed the lead to 14-7.

“We are who we are,” Burnett added. “We’re a power running team, and I’m just proud of these kids who have bought into this system, and never think we’re out of a game.”

But just five plays later, Merka broke several tackles on a quarterback draw and raced 58 yards into the Indians end zone. Fowler’s PAT gave Crosby a 21-7 lead with 2:45 left in the third.

“He (Merka) is big and powerful, “Burnett added. “And he’s going to be a force for years to come.”

But the Indians weren’t finished. Wright, who finished with 76 yards on 12 carries scampered six yards for a touchdown with 9:43 left to culminate a 99-yard drive. English added the PAT to make the score 21-14.

The Indians took advantage of a Merka fumble that was recovered by Tyler Gizzi at the Crosby 22. Three plays later, Harmon scored from the eight. English’s PAT tied the game at 21 with 6:34 left in the game.

The Indians managed only 82 first half yards and Tatum’s receivers didn’t help much with three dropped passes. Josh Wright fumbled on the Crosby 40 on PN-G’s first possession and other than a couple of first down runs by Harmon, there really wasn’t much.

“I thought Tatum really threw the ball well,” Burnett said. “We didn’t give him a lot of help in the first half, but he threw well the entire game.”

Wright fumbled at the Cougars’ 40 on the opening drive and Matt Woods recovered. The Cougars had an 11-yard scoring run by Casey called back on an illegal block and a 42-yard field goal by Sam Fowler didn’t quite have enough distance.

The Cougars faced a third and ten from their own 20 when Merka connected with Xavier Frank on a short pass into the flat. The junior speedster navigated 80 yards to the end zone that broke the scoring ice. Fowler’s extra point gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead with 9:04 left in the half.

Crosby dominated most of the second quarter with a 15-play drive that ended with a five-yard scoring run into the end zone on fourth and inches to increase the Cougars’ lead to 14-0 with 36 seconds left in the half.

It actually could have been worse. An 11-yard run by Chance Casey was called back with an illegal block penalty and a 42-yard field goal was short.

The Cougars faced a third and ten from their own 20 when Merka connected with Frank on a short pass into the flat. The junior speedster navigated 80 yards to the end zone that broke the scoring ice. Fowler’s extra point gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead with 9:04 left in the half.

Crosby dominated most of the second quarter with a 15-play drive that ended with a five-yard scoring run into the end zone on fourth and inches to increase the Cougars’ lead to 14-0 with 36 seconds left in the half.



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