PORT NECHES — As the season goes on, Brandon Faircloth may have to draw up some more plays for Port Neches-Groves.

“I don’t know that we have any plays left,” the ninth-year PNG coach said Friday night after the Indians came from a 16-point halftime deficit to beat Port Arthur Memorial 44-36 on Friday. “That’s what it’s going to take when you play coach [Kenny] Harrison and Memorial. It’s going to take everything you have in the book. “I’m proud of my guys for executing those. We practice them every week, and to have a chance to run them in the game and be successful makes it really fun.”

Both Faircloth and Harrison acknowledged the first-place tilt in District 22-5A was a game of momentum. Memorial (4-1, 4-1 in 22-5A) jumped to a 17-0 lead and, after PNG crept to within 17-14, was up 30-14 at halftime.

“Going up at the half 30-14, of course our ultimate goal was to go up and get another score,” Harrison said. “Unfortunately that didn’t work. They did a good job scoring. I’d definitely say momentum [played a big part], but we took some momentum up [as well].”

The Indians (5-0, 4-0) threw in some trickery early in the second half after Roschon Johnson completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Preston Riggs on the opening drive. Riggs followed his own onside kick up the middle and recovered it at the Titans 48, and after he caught a 34-yard pass to the 1 on fourth-and-14, Johnson finished off the drive with a sneak.

PNG converted two-point conversions on those pivotal drives, Johnson rushing for one and throwing across his body under pressure to Preston Hughes for the 30-all tie.

Memorial went up 36-30 on Elijah Hines’ 2-yard run, but the pendulum swung back to PNG thanks in large part to Riggs. The senior receiver’s throwback to Johnson that went 43 yards for a go-ahead score and 47-yard TD catch fashioned the final score.

Johnson also gained 7 yards on a fourth-and-2 draw play to buoy the series.

“He’s a special talent,” Johnson said of Riggs, who threw for another TD pass in the first half. “He’s a freak of nature. It’s crazy what he can do.”

Riggs and Johnson each accounted for four touchdowns.

Aside from the trickery, Faircloth said the Indians didn’t make any adjustments in their gameplan.

“We continued to get the ball to Roschon and Riggs and Hughes and those guys, and I was really proud of our offensive line,” Faircloth said. “We had to keep some guys off of Roschon late.”

The Titans were hindered by 14 penalties for 130 yards, compared to three Indians flags for 15 yards, a point of contention for Memorial faithful. Four 10-yard penalties were called during Memorial’s go-ahead drive in the third quarter.

Harrison did not address those penalties, but he said mental mistakes earlier in the game kept the Titans from building a bigger lead.

The defeat overshadowed Elijah Hines’ season high of 210 yards on 26 carries. He ran for four touchdowns.

“They’re very fast and very physical, so it takes time to adjust,” Faircloth said. “They’re a great team and they’re going to have another great year. Absolutely, they took us by surprise. It’s hard to emulate Elijah Hines and Keitha Jones. With those two back there, they’re going to do some good things, and we were just able to pull it out late.”

In the end, Johnson and the Indians weren’t shocked and surprised over pulling out a classic victory from being down double digits twice.

“We didn’t care,” he said. “We kept playing and kept on fighting. That’s what we do. We’re a second-half team, and we knew that. We knew going into the second half, we were going to have to fight to get the win.”
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I.C. Murrell: 549-8541. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews