Big Finish to Big Game

THE RIG, Pearland - It was an absolutely perfect night for high school football in Texas on Friday.  Well... except for all the penalties. The Pearland Oilers remained undefeated (6-0 ) as they beat their hometown rivals the Pearland Dawson Eagles, 28-27. The loss moved Dawson to 4-2.

It was an absolutely electric night at The Rig.  An estimated 11,000 fans cheered on the team include Houston Texans:  JJ Watt, Kendall Lamm and Greg Mancz. There may have been a penalty on every other play, seriously. The totals; 28 penalties for 310 yards, Dawson had 8 personnel fouls alone.

It was a hard game to follow with so much laundry on the field. The big screen showed a lone yellow flag whenever penalties were called, it was the screen saver of the night. Pearland Coach Tony Heath said this in regards to getting in a rhythm on the night with all the flags, “It was very tough, lot of those penalties were ridiculous on our part. For us to be a great team and to move on, we have to eliminate that. Just too many yellow flags.”

After the opening Eagle drive stalled and a bad punt, the Oilers looked to be in business starting at the Dawson 35 yard line. That is when Oiler center, Joseph Williams went out with an ankle injury.  Pearland was plagued with bad snaps all night after that.

Dawson got the scoring started.  Things did not look promising at first when Emllye Jones had a crushing tackle on Eagle QB Zach Smith on first and ten at their own 20. On second down, Pearland's Chase Keasler made a tackle while almost laying on the ground when Smith ran straight into him.  Saevion Johnson, the MVP for the losing Eagles then ripped off a 41 yarder on third down all the way to the Oiler 43. A Zach Smith keeper was followed by two more Johnson runs (9 yards and 17 yards) to setup up first and goal at the 3. Smith then found Darrius Smith for his first TD reception of the night and third of the season giving the Eagles the 7-0 lead.

Next was a story of bad snaps and penalties for the Oilers. On 4th and 3 at the Pearland 46, the Oilers misfired once again and set the Eagles up at the 48. The Oiler defense stepped up when Andrew Blanchard intercepted Smith.  Unfortunately, a personnel foul negated the pick. Four plays later however, they did stop Zach Smith with a pick over the top on the coverage by safety Byrcen Drennon.

The Oilers got it together next with a 10 play drive lasting almost seven minutes and culminating in a 32 yard Davier Pinkston run for a score.  A short time later, a 35 yard Cody Bernstien field goal ended the half with the Oilers leading, 10-7.

After three alternating possessions and yet more penalties, Pearland Dawson had a 2 minute 28 second drive resulting in a beautiful Zach Smith fade pass to Brailon Mouton in the middle of the end zone for a 12 yard touchdown and a 13-10 lead.

Daniel Petty picked a Dawson shanked punt off the ground and raced 24 yards to the 14 yard line. The Eagles defense held tough and forced another Cody Bernstien kick, this time for 37 yards.  The Oilers again took the lead, 14-13.  It wouldn't last long though as with 6:09 left in regulation Saevion Johnson had the run of the night for 46 yards and a 21-13 Eagle lead.

After alternating quarterbacks in the first half Coach Heath settled in with Connor Blumrick. Blumrick completed his next three passes and they were big ones. A 30 yarder to Isaiah Chaney down to the Dawson 40 started things off. Then he scrambled and found a wide open Brady Basso standing at the 2 yards line as he backed into the end zone. The Oilers and Coach Heath were face with needing a 2-pt conversion to tie it up with only 59 seconds left. Coach Heath said this about the 2 point conversion, “We were in an unbalanced set, and I saw them bringing a lot of hard pressure off that edge, and said I heck, if we are ever gonna do it, let's do it now, and I knew they were gonna try and cut the dive off, the blast, and I just ran a naked boot out there, and was able to connect.” Blumrick found Cody Williams in the end zone for the 2 pt conversion and the tie 21-21.

Dawson elected to go on defense first in the overtime. Prospects looked dim at first for the Oilers when Dawson's Jordan Rodriguez had a monster sack on Blumrick pushing Pearland back to the 34 yard line. Blumrick was still throwing daggers though and hit Johnathon White for a 31 yard pickup. Blumrick later found Cody Williams on 2nd and goal giving the Oilers a 28-21 lead in OT.

The Eagles answered by driving down for a score of their own Saevion ( 31 carries for 163 yds & 2 TDs) punched it in from 7 yards out for his second TD of the night.  The PAT would force a second OT but the kick bounced off the right upright and crushed the hopes of the Eagle faithful.  Final score 28-27

by Glenn McCarthy
@GlennMcCarthy44

Player of the Night- Connor Blumrick

Connor Blumrick

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