The Titan tempo was set early as Memorial Titans downed the Porter Spartans 48-20 at Memorial Stadium on Friday.

The Titans (6-1, 3-1 in District 9-5A Division I) jumped out early capping off a 12-play, 66-yard drive with a 24-yard field goal by Kenny Pham. Coming into the game, Porter (5-2, 2-2) brought in the district’s top ranked passing offense. The Titans defense held their own, forcing two consecutive three-and-outs to start the game.

The Titans gave up 225 yards of penalties in last week’s loss to the New Caney Eagles. Memorial head coach Brian Morgan said he wanted to see his team do two things this week.

“I wanted them to play relentless every snap and to correct the penalties,” he said. “We didn’t have any extracurricular penalties or unsportsmanlike stuff, so that was a big deal.”

After the Spartans’ first three-and-out, a high snap forced Porter’s punter to take the ball out of bounds, giving the Titans the ball on the Porter 6-yard line.

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On the next play, Jatavian Neal ran into the end zone to give the Titans a 10-0 lead with 6:10 left in the first quarter.

After the second three-and-out, Memorial special teams came up big with a block and recovery that gave the Titans the ball on the Porter 11-yard line. Memorial was unable to move the ball and turned ball on downs inside the Porter 15.

 

The game changed when …

With 3:33 left in the half, Memorial punctuated a drive with a 1-yard run Neal. After allowing only one first down, the Titans got the ball back looking to score.

The Titans covered 80 yards in two plays, with the latter being a 34 yard pass from Kameron Ladia to Teajawon Mack to make the score 24-0 at halftime.

On the kickoff to start the second half, the Titans ripped the ball away from the Spartans and recovered on the Porter 20-yard line. Three plays later JaVontae’ Hopkins, who served a first-half suspension for being ejected in last week’s loss, scored to make the score 30-0, 1:01 into the second half.

With 1:53 left in the third quarter and down 36-0, the Spartans got on the board with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Zane Russell to Aaron Soriano to make the score 36-7.

The game ball goes to …

The Titans defense held one of the district’s best offenses to 13 points and right at 200 yards passing. The Spartan passing attack averaged 296 yards passing per game heading into this matchup.

In the fourth quarter, Hopkins got on the board again, but this time, by way of a 100-yard pick-six to make the score 48-7 with 5:50 left in the game.

“JB (Hopkins) is an explosive athlete,” Morgan said. “He’s an explosive player. It’s key for JB to be with us every snap. He can’t do dumb stuff. He had a really good week in the building. When he does that Monday through Friday, he shows up on Friday night.”

Next up …

The Titans travel to Humble to take on the Kingwood Park Panthers (4-3, 3-1) at 6 p.m. Oct. 27. The Panthers are coming off a 33-10 loss to the New Caney Eagles.

Porter will take on Wisdom in Houston at 7 p.m. next Friday.

 

Titans 48, Spartans 20

Porter 0 0 7 13 — 20

Memorial 10 14 12 12 — 48

First quarter

Memorial — Kenny Pham 24 field goal, 6:43

Memorial — Jatavian Neal 6 run (Pham kick), 6:10

  

Second quarter

Memorial — Neal 1 run (Pham kick), 3:33

Memorial — Teajuwon Mack 34 pass from Kameron Ladia (Pham kick), :07

 

Third quarter

Memorial — Javontae Hopkins 2 run (kick fail), 10:59

Memorial — Alex Ned 15 pass from Ladia (kick fail), 3:36

Porter — Aaron Soriano 45 pass from Zane Russell (Tyler McNutt Kick), 1:53

 

Fourth quarter

Memorial — Jacob Washington 2 run (kick fail), 8:10

Memorial — Hopkins 100 interception return (kick fail) 5:50

Porter — Baron Bradley 10 run (kick fail), 3:37

Porter — Sevonne Rhae 5 run (McNutt Kick), :14

 

Por   Mem

Rushes-yards   18-92   38-144

Passing yards   211   257

Total yards   303   401

Comp-Att-Int   17-29-2   12-23-1

Fumbles-lost   3-1   0-0

Penalties-yards   5-30   9-90

 

Individual leaders

RUSHING — Memorial: Neal 18-79, Washington 7-42, Hopkins 9-29, Mack 5-3, Ladia 1-(-11). Porter: Russell 9-59, Caleb Pickens 5-17, Bradley 1-10, Rhea 1-5, JB Briley 2-1.

PASSING — Memorial: Ladia 12-23-1, 127. Porter: Russell 16-28-2, 196, Jack Reilly 1-1-0, 15.

RECEIVING —Memorial: Mack 4-127, Alex Ned 5-98, Tavion Gipson 2-17. Porter: Soriano 3-95, Tayler Baker 3-40, Bradley 4-33, Rhea 5-30, Pickens 1-10, Colton Walker 1-9.