Take away the penalty flags and a few incomplete passes, and Port Arthur Memorial more than likely would have played its first complete game of the season by 10 p.m. Friday.

Right around that time, a bank of lights on the northwest corner of Memorial Stadium, on the visitors’ side, went out, making visibility at field level a little more difficult. That stopped the game against Houston Westside with 2:57 left in the third quarter, Memorial leading 34-27 with Westside driving in the host Titans’ territory.

Officials ruled to suspend the game, and the coaches agreed to not resume or replay the game. The game was not a district contest; Memorial competes in 22-5A and Westside is 18-6A.

“It was not in their best interest to come back tomorrow,” Titans coach Kenny Harrison said of Westside. “We’d play it, but they didn’t feel it was best from a financial standpoint for those guys to travel back from Houston [Saturday] to play a non-district game.”

For Memorial (1-0), it’s the second straight unfinished game to start the season, following an 18-6 win over Panama City (Fla.) Bay last Saturday that was stopped just before halftime because of lightning. Bay coach Mike Watkins decided to end the game because of the long road trip home it faced.

“Just the luck of this year, huh?” Harrison said, his team off next weekend before hosting Central on Sept. 16. “I have never been a part of anything were we have not played a full game yet.”

Westside coach Jomaul Mason recalled a similar stoppage during a game against Houston Milby when he was an assistant for the Wolves. He, too, cited travel for not resuming the game.

“We got great work, great film from this game,” Mason said. “At the end of the day, my boys drove 2 hours down here. For us to jump on the bus, drive 2 hours back and come back and drive 2 hours in the morning and also to get officials, it’s just not what we’re going to do.”

The Wolves and Titans were tied at 27 at halftime, a sign of great progress for a Westside team that was thrashed 39-6 against Brenham a week earlier. They were down 27-17 after giving up a 72-yard Elijah Hines run, his second 70-plus scoring run of the night, before storming back with a Jaylyn Williams touchdown pass to Dee McCoy and Drake Champion-Bell field goal.

“Tonight is who we are,” Mason said. “I think coming out, executing our offense — we have playmakers like they do; we might not have as much speed as they do, but we have speed — we’re going to match them physically.”

Speed allowed the Titans to strike two plays into the game on De’Andre Angelle’s 80-yards catch-and-run off a zip from Kadon Harrison, and let Hines break for two long TD runs.

But the common concern for both teams were penalties. Memorial was flagged 13 times for 129 yards; Westside 14 times for 140.

“Not playing a full game and kids being anxious early in the season,” Harrison said. “All that plays into it, both sides of the ball.”

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews