LSG’s 2011 Games Of The Year #9

2011 Texas High School Football Games of the Year

Once again, we went through more than 200 finalists when choosing our top 25 and once again, it was tough to decide. You’ll remember from our show that breaks down some of the “Games that Didn’t Make the Cut,” that there were many great games that didn’t make it into this Top 25.

• Games #21-25 - Games #16-20 - Games #11-15
• Game #10

#9 (Klein Oak -- 34, Klein Collins -- 28 3OT)

Ranked 11^th in the Powerade Texas Football Rankings on ESPNHS, the No. 1 Class 5A team in the Houston area according to the Houston Chronicle, and carrying along with them a 23 game regular season winning streak, the undefeated Klein Collins Tigers entered Klein Memorial Stadium with a lot on the line and a very large target hanging on their backs.  A 2-2 Klein Oak team looked to take dead aim at that target as underdogs in the District 13-5A opener.

If the Oak Panthers were going to pull off the upset, they were going to have to do it with backup QB Conner McQueen under center while normal starter, Nicky Baratti was injured.  However Baratti still contributed in this big game as a slot receiver, creating a decoy mechanism Collins’ defense constantly had to worry about.  Klien Oak used the Ej Fatu, Larenzo Stewart running back combo to take a 14-0 lead into the fourth quarter against the highly ranked Collins Tigers team.

Not only did the Panther defense stifle the Tigers for three quarters (Collins was held to less than 200 yards total offense at this point) but the Panther offense played keep away from the Tigers, running 62 plays from scrimmage to Collins’ 19.  Though the game seemed well controlled by Oak and the upset was imminent, the 4^th quarter was the Tigers’.  Two huge touchdown passes from Tyler Stehling to Shane Rhodes allowed the Tigers to knot the score all up at 14, including a 19-yard TD pass with only 28 seconds to go in regulation that sent the game into OT.

In the first overtime, Oak scored on a 1-yard EJ Fatu TD run. Collins answered with a Tyler Stehling 15-yard TD pass to Jordan Thomas.  The roles would be flipped in overtime number two, as the Tigers scored on the ground via a Tyler Stehling rush while the Panthers reached the endzone through the air on a 25 yard pass to Terrence Porter.  This marked back up QB Conner McQueen’s first TD pass of the night to send the game into yet another overtime period.

In OT number 3, Oak’s Cody Spiegelhauer picked off Tyler Stehling’s pass to end the Tigers’ possession. The Panthers finally had a chance to seal the upset victory with any type of score. They would achieve just that from one last stellar performance from “Lightning McQueen,” showing off his lightning speed on a 13-yard TD run to end the game in the third overtime.  In the aftermath, Klein Collins dropped to #25 in the ESPNHS Powerade Texas Football Rankings the following week.  This game would end up proving to be the nudge Oak needed in the district standings to finish with a 6-1 district record just above Collins at a 5-2 record.

by Taylor Brasher www.lonestargridiron.com