By Daucy Crizer

Special to The News

BAYTOWN – Sophomore Brandon Chaney rushed for over 200 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead Port Arthur Memorial to a 50-2 rout of Goose Creek Memorial in District 9-5A-I action Thursday night at Stallworth Stadium.

Chaney led all rushers with 208 yards on 21 carries and had touchdown runs of 39, 53 and 25 yards. Combined with a stifling defense that allowed just 52 yards of total offense to the Patriots that proved to be more than enough for the relatively easy win for the Titans. PA Memorial improved to 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in district play.

“I thought we improved and we played for four quarters, which we hadn’t done yet this season,” said PA Memorial coach Brian Morgan, who capped a busy week that saw the birth of his daughter Madison on Monday. “We took care of the football, which was good to see, because we didn’t do that the last couple of weeks. It was important for us to take care of business.

“I thought we found some things in the run game that we could take advantage of. We were able to stay with that and keep a good pace throughout the game.”

Already leading 28-2, the Titans received the kickoff to start the third quarter and put together a methodical drive with a nice mix of run and pass. Kameron Ladia hit Taejawon Mack for a 34-yard completion to put the ball at the Patriots 19. A few players later, those same two hooked up on a 2-yard scoring strike to extend the Titans lead to 35-2 with 5:53 left in the third quarter.

PA Memorial’s defense came up big on the ensuing Patriots possession. The Titans sacked quarterback Reggie Branch twice and forced to punt from their own 2, the Patriots punter stepped out of the back of the end zone for a safety to make the score 37-2.

The Titans wasted little time in scoring on their ensuing possession. Ladia completed a 15-yard pass to Kenneth Washington to get the drive started. Another 7-yard completion to Terrance Lee put the ball at 26. Consecutive runs by Chaney, the last of which went for 25 yards and a touchdown, pushed the lead to 43-2 with 1:36 remaining in the third quarter.

After forcing another GC Memorial punt, the Titans added to their lead early in the fourth quarter. Ladia hit Lee for 24 yards to the Patriots 19. Ladia connected with Tavion Gipson for 13 yards to the Patriots 6. Jatavian Neal scored on a 6-yard TD run to extend the lead to 50-2 with 8:36 left in the game.

Ladia completed 18 of 30 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown. Neal added 43 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. Mack caught six passes for 61 yards and Lee had four catches for 96 yards.

“They’ve done a great job of that the first five games,” Morgan said of the stifling Titans defense. “We expect that out of them every week. They come to play every week and did so again tonight. We see what our defense is capable of every day in practice and it’s tough to move the ball against them. I feel what the other offenses are going through.”

GC Memorial (1-4, 0-2) struck first, taking advantage of a Titans miscue. Forced to punt from their own 24, the snap sailed over punter Kenny Pham’s head and into the end zone for a safety to give the Patriots a 2-0 lead with 7:44 left in the first quarter.

Finally, on its fourth offensive possession of the game, Memorial found some rhythm on offense. Chaney carried the ball three straight times, the last was for 39 yards and a touchdown. That gave the Titans the lead at 7-2 with 1:51 left in the opening quarter.

It was the Titans special teams that came up big on the Patriots ensuing possession. Forced to punt from their own 2, the Titans blocked the punt and Jaylen LaPoint recovered the ball in the end zone to give Memorial a 14-2 lead with just 0:09 left in the first quarter.

Chaney struck again for the Titans early in the second quarter. On the drive’s first play from scrimmage, Chaney raced 53 yards for a touchdown to make the score 21-2 with 9:00 left in the second quarter.

The score remained the same until the final play of the first half. GC Memorial put together its best offensive drive, moving the ball all the way down to the Titans 20. The Patriots started that drive with just one first and had a minus-4 yards of total offense to that point in the game.

The Patriots drive totaled four first downs and moved the ball 53 yards down field. With just 0:15 left in the first half, Quarterback Reggie Branch’s throw into the end zone was intercepted by JaVontae Hopkins, who returned it 100 yards as time expired to give the Titans a 28-2 halftime lead.

Branch completed 10 of 21 passes for 70 yards. He was intercepted twice. He also rushed 18 times for minus-28 yards. Jalen Davis hauled in four passes for 30 yards and Luis Acosta had two catches for 18 yards.

Titans 50, Patriots 2
PA Memorial 14 14 15 7 — 50
GC Memorial 2 0 0 0 — 2

First quarter
GCM – Safety (snap out of the end zone), 7:44
PAM – Brandon Chaney 39 run (Kenny Pham kick), 1:51
PAM – Blocked punt recovered in end zone (Pham kick), :09
Second quarter
PAM – Chaney 53 run (Pham kick), 9:00
PAM – Javontae Hopkins 100-yard interception return (Pham kick), 0:00
Third quarter
PAM – Teajawon Mack 2 pass from Kameron Ladia (Pham kick), 5:53
PAM – Safety (punter stepped out of the end zone), 3:13
PAM – Chaney 25 run (kick failed), 1:36
Fourth Quarter
PAM – Jatavian Neal 6 run (Pham kick), 8:36

PAM GCM
First downs 21 5
Rushes-yards 36-203 25-(-18)
Passing yards 239 70
Total yards 442 52
Comp-Att-Int 20-32-0 10-27-2
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties-yards 13-128 14-118
Punts-avg. 3-24.0 10-36.0

Individual statistics
RUSHING — PAM:Brandon Chaney 21-208, Jatavian Neal 9-43; GCM,Brice Lane 4-6, Reggie Branch 18-(-28).
PASSING — PAM: Kameron Ladia 18-30-0—174; GCM,Reggie Branch 10-21-2—70, Emerson Haywood 0-6-0—0.
RECEIVING — PAM: Teajawon Mack 6-61, Terrance Lee 4-96, Alex Ned 3-31; GCM, Jalen Davis 4-30, Luis Acosta 2-18.