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Friday
November 20, 2009 Since 1922 |
Titans clip fiesty Rangers
By Dave Rogers
The Sterling Rangers bounced back time after time against Port Arthur Memorial Friday night, scoring with a minute, 42 seconds left to get within a two points, then recovering an onsides kickoff.
But Memorial cornerback Desmond Gardner intercepted Jerrod Doucet’s pass intended for Terell Zeno at the 7-yard line and the Titans ran out the clock for a 44-42 win at Memorial Stadium.
With the win, Memorial improved to 4-5 on the season and, at 3-3 in District 21-5A, remained alive in the playoff hunt. Sterling, so close to its first win of the season, slipped to 0-9.
Doucet passed for 183 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 133 yards and three more scores in a game that took more than three and a half hours to complete and included a total of 128 scrimmage plays and 871 yards of total offense.
The quarterback set up Sterling’s final touchdown, his own one-yard sneak, with an 80-yard run on fourth-and-16.
With 4:36 left to play, he threw his second TD pass of the night to Zeno, a 10-yarder to get the Rangers within nine at 44-35. Then Manasah Davis tried to score a two-point conversion on an end around, but was stopped short as he leaped for the goal line.
Sterling’s onsides kickoff try then was unsuccessful, but the Rangers forced Memorial to punt for only the second time of the evening and got the ball back with 3:29 remaining.
After Israel Rodriguez’ extra point got Sterling within two points, Austin Angel covered the onsides kick for the Rangers.
Port Arthur was led by its alternating quarterbacks, Harry Brown and Jarael Alexander.
Brown completed 12 of 20 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns while Alexander rushed 30 times for 199 yards and one score.
Receiver Freddie King and running back Patterson Clay each scored twice for Memorial, which finished with 303 yards rushing and 163 passing.
Sterling had 405 total yards – 222 on the ground and 183 in the air.
Omar Zepeda’s 39-yard field goal as the clock showed all zeroes gave the Titans a 31-14 lead and their third score in the final 2:12 of the second quarter.
Actually, there were four scores in the final 2:12 as Sterling had a quick three-play 70-yard scoring drive to get within 28-14 with 1:22 left.
Manasah Davis scored from 45 yards out, catching a slant pass from Doucet 15 yards downfield, then making a quick left turn to outrun the defense to the pylon. Doucet, 4 for 9 for 115 yards in the first half, found a wide-open Andre Corley for the two-point play.
Memorial squeezed nine plays in the final 82 seconds, with the big play a 20-yard shovel pass from Brown to Patterson Clay.
Davis returned the opening kickoff 48 yards to the Titan 45, but offsetting penalties (offsides Memorial, holding Sterling) forced a re-kick and this time, the Rangers return only got to their 26-yard line.
A 48-yard punt by Keagan Kogut and a 15-yard late hit penalty on the Titans had Memorial starting its first drive from its 16-yard line.
Port Arthur went 84 yards in 10 plays to score with its first possession of the game. Quarterback Harry Brown was 4 for 4 for 47 yards passing on the opening drive, hitting Freddie King for the first of his two 13-yard touchdown passes in the half.
The Rangers answered right back, going 63 yards in five plays after Adrian Walker’s 28-yard kickoff return. Doucet hit Terell Zeno for a 29-yard pass and completed the drive with a 29-yard bootleg around right end after a couple of handoff fakes.
The PAT try by Israel Rodriguez doinked off the left upright and left Port Arthur ahead 7-6.
The Titans got a second-quarter boost from backup quarterback Jarael Alexander, and picked up 153 of their 205 first-half rushing yards. Alexander had 121 yards of them on eight carries.
His six-yard score with 8:28 left in the second quarter put Memorial up 14-6. The Titans’ second score of their 24-point period came after Zepeda’s punt backed Sterling up to its 1-yard line. A 24-yard return of Kogut’s ensuing punt by Port Arthur’s Solomon Jones left Memorial just 17 yards to go and the Titans needed only four plays to cover it with Brown running it in from the 1.
Zepeda chipped his next kickoff short and Sterling had its second kickoff nightmare in as many weeks. A short-hop attempt to field the ball by Cory Fox failed and Joshua Sam recovered for Port Arthur at the Sterling 30.
After a zigzag 17-yard run by Alexander, Brown came in and found King uncovered in the right corner of the end zone for his second 13-yard touchdown pass and a 28-14 Titan lead with 1:52 left in the second.
Port Arthur extended its lead to 37-14 after taking the second half kickoff and zipping 69 yards in four plays to score. Clay got the touchdown from 35 yards out on a screen pass from Brown.
Sterling countered with two third-quarter scores to get within 37-28. Zeno, who caught six passes for 126 yards, scored on a 24-yard pass to end a 12-play, 67-yard drive, then Doucet sneaked across from the 1-yard line to cap a 15-yard drive set up by Justin Neal’s interception of Brown.
The Titans then authored the most time-consuming drive of the night, a 14-play, 69-yard push to go ahead 44-28 on Clay’s three-yard run with 7:09 left in the game.
The Sterling Rangers bounced back time after time against Port Arthur Memorial Friday night, scoring with a minute, 42 seconds left to get within a two points, then recovering an onsides kickoff.
But Memorial cornerback Desmond Gardner intercepted Jerrod Doucet’s pass intended for Terell Zeno at the 7-yard line and the Titans ran out the clock for a 44-42 win at Memorial Stadium.
With the win, Memorial improved to 4-5 on the season and, at 3-3 in District 21-5A, remained alive in the playoff hunt. Sterling, so close to its first win of the season, slipped to 0-9.
Doucet passed for 183 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 133 yards and three more scores in a game that took more than three and a half hours to complete and included a total of 128 scrimmage plays and 871 yards of total offense.
The quarterback set up Sterling’s final touchdown, his own one-yard sneak, with an 80-yard run on fourth-and-16.
With 4:36 left to play, he threw his second TD pass of the night to Zeno, a 10-yarder to get the Rangers within nine at 44-35. Then Manasah Davis tried to score a two-point conversion on an end around, but was stopped short as he leaped for the goal line.
Sterling’s onsides kickoff try then was unsuccessful, but the Rangers forced Memorial to punt for only the second time of the evening and got the ball back with 3:29 remaining.
After Israel Rodriguez’ extra point got Sterling within two points, Austin Angel covered the onsides kick for the Rangers.
Port Arthur was led by its alternating quarterbacks, Harry Brown and Jarael Alexander.
Brown completed 12 of 20 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns while Alexander rushed 30 times for 199 yards and one score.
Receiver Freddie King and running back Patterson Clay each scored twice for Memorial, which finished with 303 yards rushing and 163 passing.
Sterling had 405 total yards – 222 on the ground and 183 in the air.
Omar Zepeda’s 39-yard field goal as the clock showed all zeroes gave the Titans a 31-14 lead and their third score in the final 2:12 of the second quarter.
Actually, there were four scores in the final 2:12 as Sterling had a quick three-play 70-yard scoring drive to get within 28-14 with 1:22 left.
Manasah Davis scored from 45 yards out, catching a slant pass from Doucet 15 yards downfield, then making a quick left turn to outrun the defense to the pylon. Doucet, 4 for 9 for 115 yards in the first half, found a wide-open Andre Corley for the two-point play.
Memorial squeezed nine plays in the final 82 seconds, with the big play a 20-yard shovel pass from Brown to Patterson Clay.
Davis returned the opening kickoff 48 yards to the Titan 45, but offsetting penalties (offsides Memorial, holding Sterling) forced a re-kick and this time, the Rangers return only got to their 26-yard line.
A 48-yard punt by Keagan Kogut and a 15-yard late hit penalty on the Titans had Memorial starting its first drive from its 16-yard line.
Port Arthur went 84 yards in 10 plays to score with its first possession of the game. Quarterback Harry Brown was 4 for 4 for 47 yards passing on the opening drive, hitting Freddie King for the first of his two 13-yard touchdown passes in the half.
The Rangers answered right back, going 63 yards in five plays after Adrian Walker’s 28-yard kickoff return. Doucet hit Terell Zeno for a 29-yard pass and completed the drive with a 29-yard bootleg around right end after a couple of handoff fakes.
The PAT try by Israel Rodriguez doinked off the left upright and left Port Arthur ahead 7-6.
The Titans got a second-quarter boost from backup quarterback Jarael Alexander, and picked up 153 of their 205 first-half rushing yards. Alexander had 121 yards of them on eight carries.
His six-yard score with 8:28 left in the second quarter put Memorial up 14-6. The Titans’ second score of their 24-point period came after Zepeda’s punt backed Sterling up to its 1-yard line. A 24-yard return of Kogut’s ensuing punt by Port Arthur’s Solomon Jones left Memorial just 17 yards to go and the Titans needed only four plays to cover it with Brown running it in from the 1.
Zepeda chipped his next kickoff short and Sterling had its second kickoff nightmare in as many weeks. A short-hop attempt to field the ball by Cory Fox failed and Joshua Sam recovered for Port Arthur at the Sterling 30.
After a zigzag 17-yard run by Alexander, Brown came in and found King uncovered in the right corner of the end zone for his second 13-yard touchdown pass and a 28-14 Titan lead with 1:52 left in the second.
Port Arthur extended its lead to 37-14 after taking the second half kickoff and zipping 69 yards in four plays to score. Clay got the touchdown from 35 yards out on a screen pass from Brown.
Sterling countered with two third-quarter scores to get within 37-28. Zeno, who caught six passes for 126 yards, scored on a 24-yard pass to end a 12-play, 67-yard drive, then Doucet sneaked across from the 1-yard line to cap a 15-yard drive set up by Justin Neal’s interception of Brown.
The Titans then authored the most time-consuming drive of the night, a 14-play, 69-yard push to go ahead 44-28 on Clay’s three-yard run with 7:09 left in the game.