New Caney Porter Shocks Crosby in OT

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: September 16, 2016

photo: Glenn McCarthy

Big Overtime Win for Young Program

You just could not keep Coach Jim Holley away from the Texas high school football sidelines. One year ago today he was New Caney Independent School District’s Athletic Director. Thursday, he led the New Caney Porter Spartans to their biggest win in program history. With an amazing effort from the pitch and catch combination of Jacob Hall and Shane Carney Coach Holley and his Spartans beat LSG’s #6 in 5A rankings the Crosby Cougars, 37-34.

In a game that had a little of everything, Coach Holley could not be more happy with his ball club. Three ties in the 2^nd half, an overtime, and a huge interception to end the game showed that the Spartans just wanted it more than the higher ranked Cougars.

Coach Holley said this about the big win, “It’s a great win for our kids, I’m so proud of our kids, we came in in February, they’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. They worked hard, they put in the work, and we are gonna celebrate this, but we are gonna get focused for next week.”

Crosby and Coach Jeff Riordan without super quarterback Manny Netherly (ankle sprain, walking boot) and star junior tailback Craig Williams did not just fold and hand the game away. They continued to fight from behind to make this a game of catch up.

Crosby’s opening drive was perfect except for the PAT. Jaiden Howard, the sophomore Quarterback filling in for Netherly engineered a 69 yard, 7 play drive scoring drive. He found Terryl Wiley from 5 yards out. It was the first of three touchdowns for Wiley.

It took a quarter for the Spartans to announce their intentions. Both teams traded punts, then quarterback Jacob Hall went on a masterful 11 play, 58 yard drive. He targeted his cohort Shane Carney five times for all but 10 of the drive’s yards (11, 7, 10, 8 and 12) then found Reece Spencer for 16 yard touchdown and the lead 7-6.

The big play was a great 4^th and ten conversion from the Cougars 31. Whenever Coach Holley and Hall needed a bailout, the 6-3 Senior receiver (Carney) was there. This time he picked up 12 yards down to the 19. Coach Holley wisely had called a timeout before the big 4^th down to discuss their formation on the first play of the second quarter. It paid off.

It was the next Spartan drive when something seemed different in the air in Porter. After a 31 yard pass play to Spencer down to the 32. Hall then found Carney for an easy 32 yard touchdown as the Spartans had the Cougars on their heels, 14-6. Hall was 12-15 with 2 touchdowns and 195 yards all in the first half.

Wiley scored his 2^nd touchdown for Crosby on a reverse hand off from 7 yards out with 2 minutes 36 seconds left in the half. It was 14-13 Spartans.

The teams traded touchdowns in the 3^rd quarter when Coach Holley inexplicably went for 2 points allowing the Cougars to tie them, 20-20.

With 4:02 left in the 3^rd quarter the Spartan duo hooked up again. This time on a 43 yard post route. This gave Porter a 27-20 lead. Hall finished 21-29, for 375 yards and 3 touchdowns. Carney had a whopping 12 catches for 264 yards and two touchdowns. Incredible Indeed!

In the ultimate sign of respect, Crosby Defensive Coordinator Darrell Thompson moved his top defensive back, Tay’lor Perry to cover the red hot Carney. It worked for a short time.

Crosby responded when backup QB, Howard had two big pass plays of his own. First a big 40 yarder to 6-4 Jordan Hill down to the 11. Then he found Roony Woodard for pay dirt. Things were once again tied 27-27.

The seesaw continued when Porter went ahead 34-27 on a 2 yard Bradley Moore plunge. Crosby answered back with 3:37 left in the game when Howard scored from 1 yard out, 34-34

Both team’s had a full board of timeouts to use. But both teams squandered opportunities to win. Porter had massive confusion on 2 and 9 from their own 30. The confusion resulted in a 8 yard sack. That was followed by an incompletion that forced them to punt.

Crosby started at their own 36. Two quick pass plays down the left sideline and the Cougars were at the Porter 45. Howard then carried for 9 yards and it looked like a field goal try was soon to be had… or better yet a touchdown. Both were eliminated when Porter junior linebacker Jonathan Dullen had the defensive play of the night as he intercepted Howard in the middle of the field at his own 21 yard line.

Coach Holley said this about the interception, “It was a big play, huge play, gave us the momentum back.”

Holley elected to let the time run out and test his luck in overtime.

Porter went on offense first...

Once again the boys got at it. After a missed Hall to Carney pass, Coach Holley went right back to his senior stars. This time a big 16 yard catch to the 9. A penalty on 2^nd and goal pushed the Spartans back to the 16. Two plays later, Porter settled for three when Roosevelt Arizpe knocked in a 24 yard field goal. The Spartans now had to hold the Cougars to a field goal if they wanted to play more… or they could end it by stopping them and go home.

Crosby's Carlos Grace (UH commit with 104 yards rushing in game) gained 4 on first and 10 from the 25. Howard kept for 3 yards on 2^nd. And on 4^th down Coach Riordan decided against kicking it for the tie and instead go for the win. An incomplete pass on the final play ended their plans.

For New Caney Porter, this is the type of trademark win that can change a young program. The win was easily the biggest in Porter’s 7 year history. Also, this was not a bad way to start as it was only Coach Holley’s 2^nd game at his new school (he was the coach at Kingwood Park before accepting athletic directorship). Porter moves to 2-0 on the season while Crosby falls to 2-2.

Coach Riordan had this to say about the loss, “They executed well, they executed their game plan, and in high school football that’s what happens," when asked if that was Porter’s biggest win ever, Riordan deadpanned, “Yeah, I think so.”

Jake Hall said this about the victory, “It means everything to me, from being one of the worst teams in the state last year to battling back to beating a top ten team in state!!!”

The star of the game Shane Carney echoed what everyone else was saying, “This is amazing, we put in so much hard work over the past couple of months and in the off season.”

When asked about his connection with Jake he said this, “Since we have been in seventh grade there’s just been something, he knows where I’m at and I know where he’s at, and its fun out there.”

Next up for New Caney Porter is Coach Holley's old school, Kingwood Park. Crosby has a bye next week and will also face Kingwood Park, in two weeks.

Players of the Game

Offense-- Jacob Hall and Shane Carney

Defense—Jonathan Dullen

Scoring 1^st 2^nd 3^rd 4^th Overtime Total

Porter 0 14 13 7 3 37

Crosby 6 7 7 14 0 34