|
|
 |
Saturday
March 20, 2010 Since 1922 |
Eagles clip Sterling in overtime
By Dave Rogers
The Baytown Sun Published October 3, 2009 Homecoming didn’t have a happy ending for the Sterling Rangers Friday night, but if the second half of Friday’s game is any indication of what to expect from next week’s Battle of Baytown, football fans better show up.
Sterling’s first overtime game since the pivotal triple-overtime thriller against Kingwood in 2007 ended with a 28-21 New Caney win when a controversial Ranger fumble ended the home team’s only extra-period possession.
But the real story wasn’t what happened after regulation time expired but how the Rangers fought back from a 21-7 halftime deficit to tie the game.
Starting from its own 15-yard line with 4:50 remaining, coach Herb Minyard’s team rode the passing arm of quarterback Colton Kolaja 85 yards in 10 plays to knot up the game with 1:22 to go.
Make it 95 yards if you count where the Rangers were backed up to after a 16-yard intentional grounding call left them with third-and-19 at the 5.
That’s when Chance Nelson made a leaping 23-yard catch over the
middle. In all, Kolaja completed seven of nine passes on the drive for 99 yards including the unbelievable juggling 35-yard TD catch by Spencer Schoor that set up Bogar Garcia’s tying extra point.
Schoor was blanketed by two New Caney defensive backs that tipped the pass, but the Ranger junior was the one who came down with the ball at the 5 and trotted into the end zone as the defenders lay sprawled on the Stallworth Stadium turf.
But there was no storybook ending.
In fact, it was Schoor, as he strained for extra yards at the end of a five-yard pass, was ruled to have still been on his feet when he fumbled the ball away to New Caney’s Tyler Estes in the play that ended the game.
Not that Sterling coaches, players or fans saw it that way.
It took officials several minutes to huddle and make the ruling that crushed Ranger hopes.
“It is what it is,” Minyard said later. “Whether the kid was down, or the ball came out before he was down, it doesn’t matter.
“It’s a shame that it’s the same kid who made the great play to get us into overtime. But if we take care of our offensive and defensive responsibilities in the first half, that play doesn’t matter.”
Two long runs and one untimely fumble left the Rangers looking up from the wrong end of a 21-7 scoreboard at halftime, a half in which the Eagles averaged more than 10 yards per rushing play.
The third rushing touchdown of the night by New Caney running back Donel Towers, a 17-yard fourth-and-two run, was the overtime winner by the visitors, who improved to 2-3 on the season despite being shut out in the third and fourth quarters.
Sterling’s defense limited Towers to 35 of his 220 yards after halftime. And during that time, the Rangers began their comeback with an eight-play, 56-yard drive capped by Kolaja’s three-yard run.
That cut New Caney’s lead to 21-14 with 1:14 left in what had been a scoreless third quarter.
The drive started with a 24-yard punt return by Chance Nelson and included four completions for 37 yards by Kolaja. Big plays were a 14-yard pass to Nelson and a 22-yard run by Clitus Mixon.
“I felt we played well in the second half,” Minyard said. “We just relaxed. A lot of our problems early was were were uptight. We had kids defensively trying to do their job and somebody else’s and it doesn’t work that way.”
The game was tied 7-7 early in the second quarter. And just when it appeared they were getting ready to take their first lead, after a 27-yard pass from Kolaja to Schoor moved Sterling to the Eagle 12, disaster struck for the Rangers.
Mixon fumbled the ball away on a run to the 9-yard line.
Four plays later, on a third-and-19 play, Towers jetted around right end and outran the Ranger secondary for an 82-yard score.
It was the second score of the night for the former three-year starter at Atascocita and it put New Caney ahead 14-7 with 5:48 left in the half.
Towers had 156 yards on 11 first-half rushes, but the Rangers bottled him up on the next Eagle drive. Instead, it was quarterback Christian Perez who skirted left end and scored on a 41-yard dash with 46 seconds left in the half.
New Caney’s first touchdown drive, a nine-play, 60-yard march, was twice kept alive by Sterling offsides penalties on fourth-and-short.
Towers, who had four carries for 26 yards on the drive, scored from the 7-yard line with 6:26 left in the first quarter.
The Rangers used a 43-yard pass from Kolaja to Paul Batton to get on the board early in the second period. That scrambling pass set the quarterback up for a six-yard beeline to the end zone pylon.
Garcia’s PAT kick tied the game 7-7.
New Caney outgained Sterling 231 yards to 192 in the first half, with 227 of those yards coming on 20 rushes.
The Baytown Sun Published October 3, 2009 Homecoming didn’t have a happy ending for the Sterling Rangers Friday night, but if the second half of Friday’s game is any indication of what to expect from next week’s Battle of Baytown, football fans better show up.
Sterling’s first overtime game since the pivotal triple-overtime thriller against Kingwood in 2007 ended with a 28-21 New Caney win when a controversial Ranger fumble ended the home team’s only extra-period possession.
But the real story wasn’t what happened after regulation time expired but how the Rangers fought back from a 21-7 halftime deficit to tie the game.
Starting from its own 15-yard line with 4:50 remaining, coach Herb Minyard’s team rode the passing arm of quarterback Colton Kolaja 85 yards in 10 plays to knot up the game with 1:22 to go.
Make it 95 yards if you count where the Rangers were backed up to after a 16-yard intentional grounding call left them with third-and-19 at the 5.
That’s when Chance Nelson made a leaping 23-yard catch over the
middle. In all, Kolaja completed seven of nine passes on the drive for 99 yards including the unbelievable juggling 35-yard TD catch by Spencer Schoor that set up Bogar Garcia’s tying extra point.
Schoor was blanketed by two New Caney defensive backs that tipped the pass, but the Ranger junior was the one who came down with the ball at the 5 and trotted into the end zone as the defenders lay sprawled on the Stallworth Stadium turf.
But there was no storybook ending.
In fact, it was Schoor, as he strained for extra yards at the end of a five-yard pass, was ruled to have still been on his feet when he fumbled the ball away to New Caney’s Tyler Estes in the play that ended the game.
Not that Sterling coaches, players or fans saw it that way.
It took officials several minutes to huddle and make the ruling that crushed Ranger hopes.
“It is what it is,” Minyard said later. “Whether the kid was down, or the ball came out before he was down, it doesn’t matter.
“It’s a shame that it’s the same kid who made the great play to get us into overtime. But if we take care of our offensive and defensive responsibilities in the first half, that play doesn’t matter.”
Two long runs and one untimely fumble left the Rangers looking up from the wrong end of a 21-7 scoreboard at halftime, a half in which the Eagles averaged more than 10 yards per rushing play.
The third rushing touchdown of the night by New Caney running back Donel Towers, a 17-yard fourth-and-two run, was the overtime winner by the visitors, who improved to 2-3 on the season despite being shut out in the third and fourth quarters.
Sterling’s defense limited Towers to 35 of his 220 yards after halftime. And during that time, the Rangers began their comeback with an eight-play, 56-yard drive capped by Kolaja’s three-yard run.
That cut New Caney’s lead to 21-14 with 1:14 left in what had been a scoreless third quarter.
The drive started with a 24-yard punt return by Chance Nelson and included four completions for 37 yards by Kolaja. Big plays were a 14-yard pass to Nelson and a 22-yard run by Clitus Mixon.
“I felt we played well in the second half,” Minyard said. “We just relaxed. A lot of our problems early was were were uptight. We had kids defensively trying to do their job and somebody else’s and it doesn’t work that way.”
The game was tied 7-7 early in the second quarter. And just when it appeared they were getting ready to take their first lead, after a 27-yard pass from Kolaja to Schoor moved Sterling to the Eagle 12, disaster struck for the Rangers.
Mixon fumbled the ball away on a run to the 9-yard line.
Four plays later, on a third-and-19 play, Towers jetted around right end and outran the Ranger secondary for an 82-yard score.
It was the second score of the night for the former three-year starter at Atascocita and it put New Caney ahead 14-7 with 5:48 left in the half.
Towers had 156 yards on 11 first-half rushes, but the Rangers bottled him up on the next Eagle drive. Instead, it was quarterback Christian Perez who skirted left end and scored on a 41-yard dash with 46 seconds left in the half.
New Caney’s first touchdown drive, a nine-play, 60-yard march, was twice kept alive by Sterling offsides penalties on fourth-and-short.
Towers, who had four carries for 26 yards on the drive, scored from the 7-yard line with 6:26 left in the first quarter.
The Rangers used a 43-yard pass from Kolaja to Paul Batton to get on the board early in the second period. That scrambling pass set the quarterback up for a six-yard beeline to the end zone pylon.
Garcia’s PAT kick tied the game 7-7.
New Caney outgained Sterling 231 yards to 192 in the first half, with 227 of those yards coming on 20 rushes.