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HUMBLE – Senior Davion Wilson turned in another stellar game, and Caleb Goodie hauled in a pair of touchdown passes in leading Memorial to a 34-22 win over Kingwood Park Thursday night to close out District 8-5A play at Turner Stadium.

With the win, the Titans complete the regular season with a 9-1 record and a 7-1 mark in district. Memorial also captured its third straight district championship. The Titans host a playoff game next week. The opponent, day and time are yet to be determined.

“Obviously, the first goal of the season is to win the district championship,” said Memorial coach Brian Morgan. “We had a slip up (loss at Baytown Lee) that set us back a little mentally and probably helped us re-focus a bit. The guys are consistently doing what we ask them to do. All offseason too. I just told the guys after the game that these last nine games were won in the offseason. They worked their butt off and it showed tonight. It’s the culmination of everything.”

Wilson completed 17 of 21 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 91 yards on 14 carries and had 1 TD. Goodie caught three passes for 100 yards, which include touchdowns grabs of 24 and 70 yards. Jelani Chevalier added 114 yards rushing on 14 carries with a touchdown.

“We thought athletically that we would be better in space then them,” said Morgan. “Outside of the two turnovers we had, there was no stopping us. If they weren’t going to go toe-to-toe with us scoring, then then weren’t going to be able to beat us.”

Trailing 17-10 to open the second half, Kingwood Park put together a scoring drive early in the third quarter. The Panthers took over at the Memorial 19 following a fumble by Chevalier. Quarterback Patrick Overmyer scored on a 6-yard run. The extra point was no good to leave Memorial in the lead at 17-16.

Memorial responded with a 13-play scoring drive. The drive was aided by a pass interference penalty on third down. That was followed by a 12-yard completion from Wilson to Ja’Quan Holmes. Wilson hit Holmes for 17 yards and Goodie for 6 to the KP 22.

Wilson had a 14-yard run down to the KP 1 and capped the drive with a 1-yard TD run to push the lead to 24-16 with 2:22 left in the third quarter.

After KP was forced to punt, Wilson and Goodie connected on a 70-yard scoring play. Goodie took a swing pass on the right sideline and raced through a few would-be tacklers to the end zone. That put the Titans up 31-16 with 11:48 left in the fourth quarter.

Jacori Smith-Jackson intercepted Overmyer on the Panthers’ next possession. Memorial put together another scoring drive. Ja’coryn Baker started the drive with a 46-yard run to the KP 9. The Titans had to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Luis Blanco to make the score 34-16.

Kingwood Park closed out the scoring on a 10-yard pass from Overmyer to Aiden Troost with :09 left in the game. The Panthers two-point try failed to make the final score 34-22.

“The kids responded well on the sideline, there was no falter in them,” said Morgan after KP cut the lead to 1 early in the third quarter. “We told the kids at halftime that they never really stopped us all night. So as long as we didn’t give them the ball, we were going to be fine. We just had to handle the momentum since it was their home game.”

Memorial received the opening kickoff and drove right down the field for the game’s first score. A 27-yard completion from Wilson to Ja’Quan Holmes set up the Titans at the Panthers 30.

Jelani Chevalier scored two plays later on a 27-yard touchdown run for a quick 7-0 lead with 8:46 left in the first quarter. Wilson’s 5-yard run on fourth-and-one from the Titans own 37 kept the drive alive.

Kingwood Park (7-3, 6-2) put together a scoring drive on its second possession. The big play was a 22-yard pass from Overmyer to Brady Jones to the Memorial 25. The Panthers had to settle for a 42-yard Wyatt May field goal to make the score 7-3 with 1:49 left in the first quarter.

The Titans answered with a scoring drive of their own. Chevalier started the drive with a 23-yard run and had a 3-yard run on third-and-three to keep the drive going. Wilson hit Caleb Goodie on a 24-yard scoring strike as Memorial extended its lead to 14-3 with 10:28 left in the second quarter.

After the Titans defense forced a quick three-and-out, Memorial’s offense went back to work. The Titans had a methodical drive going, mostly picking up yards on the ground.

On second-and-11, Wilson threw a swing pass out to the left flat that the side judge ruled a backward pass and a live ball. The ball was picked up at the Titans 32 and returned 68 yards for a touchdown by Rylee Bush to cut the lead to 14-10 with 3:18 left in the second quarter.

Once again, the Titans responded with a scoring drive. Wilson had a 16-yard run and Chevalier added a 23-yard run to the Panthers 12. The drive stalled and Memorial had to settle for a 33-yard Luis Blanco field goal to make the score 17-10. That’s how it remained as the teams went into the locker room at halftime.

The play of the game was… After Kingwood Park cut the lead to 17-16, Memorial went on a 13-play drive to extend the lead to 24-16 with 2:26 left in the third quarter. That drive seemed to take the wind out of the sails of Kingwood Park.

The game ball goes to… Memorial quarterback Davion Wilson who accounted for three touchdowns. He completed 17 of 21 passes for 218 yards and 2 TDs. He also ran 14 times for 91 yards and 1 TD.

Key stats… Memorial’s Jelani Chevalier led all rushers with 114 yards on 14 carries and 1 TD. Ja’Quan Holmes caught 9 passes for 101 yards. Ja’coryn Baker rushed for 57 yards on seven carries. KP’s Patrick Overmyer completed 13 of 23 passes for 139 yards and 1 TD. He rushed for 38 yards on 14 carries and 1 TD.

Up next… Memorial and Kingwood Park have qualified for the playoffs from District 8-5A Division I. They will be matched up with teams from District 7-5A Division I. Game dates and times will be announced once the matchups are set.

— Written by Daucy Crizer