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TEXAS CITY — State-ranked Port Neches-Groves withstood everything Texas City threw as the Indians left TCISD Stadium with a 38-23 win over the previously undefeated Stingarees on Friday night.

“That’s a great football team, and they showed it,” said Texas City coach Shone Evans of the Indians, who improved to 4-1 on the season and 2-0 in District 9-5A-II. “This was a good measuring stick of where we want to be. We’re not hanging our heads down. We’re going to learn from this and go back to work.”

The Stings had no answer for PNG running back Isaiah Nguyen, who plowed through the TC defense for 203 yards on 24 carries, including a 79-yard touchdown run on the second play of the third quarter that gave the Indians a 28-16 lead.

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Refusing to let the game turn into a blowout, Texas City held tough and finally broke through the Indians’ defense when Joey Duran (12 of 21, 173 yards) hit Xavier Skowron on a 36-yard touchdown that cut the deficit to 28-23 with 11:19 left.

However, the Indians put it away on a 12-play drive that consumed 5:58 off the clock, capping the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Connor Bailey to Landon English.

PNG added a 21-yard field goal from Giovanni Oceguera with 32 seconds left to close out the scoring.

After PNG opened the game with a 6-yard touchdown run from Chase Johnson, Maurice Bruton responded with a 104-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that tied the game at 7-7 with 10:25 left in the first quarter.

Johnson added a 7-yard scoring run, while Bailey and English combined on a 43-yard score to give PNG a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter.

Texas City forced a safety and then got a 59-yard touchdown run from Caleb Bell (13 carries, 100 yards) to make the score 21-16 at the half.

— Written by Brandon C. Williams of The Galveston County Daily News