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Saturday
March 20, 2010 Since 1922 |
Crosby claims turnovers, district championship
By Dave Rogers
The Baytown Sun Published October 24, 2009 MONT BELVIEU – When Barbers Hill’s defense and maybe some bad karma kept Crosby’s offense from firing on all cylinders, the Cougar defense had a tip.
Two actually.
Twice Cougar defenders intercepted passes that were tipped by Barbers Hill receivers. M.J. Mathis returned one for a 56-yard first-half touchdown and that proved to be the difference in Crosby’s 21-16 win.
The win gives the Cougars at least a share of the District 19-4A championship. They are 6-0 in district and 6-2 overall and finish league play next week at home against 1-7 Galena Park.
Dayton, 5-1 in district, is the only team with a chance to catch Crosby.
Barbers Hill, 4-5 overall, dropped into a fourth-place tie with C.E. King at 3-3 but only needs to win its final league game against 0-8 North Forest next week to make the playoffs as it holds the head-to-head tiebreaker edge over C.E. King.
A tipped interception by cornerback Cameron Trench with a little more than a minute to go stopped Barbers Hill’s last chance at the Cougar 15-yard line and preserved the win.
It was the second interception by Crosby in the game’s final three minutes.
“It was ugly, but it’s a win and we won’t give it back,” Crosby coach Kevin Flanigan said after the game, in which Barbers Hill outgained the Cougars 454 yards to 300.
“Those guys (the Eagles) played well. I think our guys played hard, but I don’t think we executed well. I think those guys (the Eagles) are sick over there (in their locker room), because they outplayed us.”
Four interceptions and five total BH turnovers made the difference.
“It was just mistakes,” Eagles coach Don Price said. “If we could learn to play without them. I know they’re not trying to make them.”
Crosby led 14-9 at halftime and scored on its first second-half possession with Ja’Kacy Evans going two yards for his second touchdown of the night and a 21-9 Cougar lead.
Evans led Crosby rushers with 127 yards on 25 carries and quarterback Dominic Merka rushed for 88 yards and passed for 74 more.
Barbers Hill made it a one-score game late in the fourth quarter when Matthew Viverette hit a streaking Carter Smith for a 54-yard score with 4:42 remaining.
Viverette passed for 240 yards on 22-of-38 accuracy, but suffered the four interceptions. rushed 22 times for 131 yards, to finish with 371 total yards. Logan Stubbs added 92 BH yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Smith caught nine passes for 130 yards.
Barbers Hill ran twice as many plays as Crosby (40-20) in the first half, but trailed after two big misses and one large turnover.
A Viverette screen pass tipped by the receiver right to Crosby defender M.J. Mathis and Mathis’ 56-yard sprint gave the Cougars their 14-9 lead with 5:29 left in the first quarter.
Before that, the Eagles opened the game with an eight-play, 75-yard march with the opening kickoff to a five-yard Stubbs TD run.
Stubbs, carried 11 times for 66 yards in the first half.
Viverette rushed 15 times for 97 yards and passed for 88 more in the first half on 8-of-14 accuracy, with the one costly interception.
Crosby appeared headed to a 7-7 tie when its quarterback, Merka, ripped off a 28-yard gain on the first Cougar play. But after the Cougars reached the BH 34, Eagle defenders stood up ballcarrier Evans and DB Stuart Hamlin succeeded in ripping the ball away from him.
In turn, the Eagles marched from their 28 to the Cougar 4-yard line before Crosby’s blitzing Marchael Bryant batted away Viverette’s third-down pass. BH settled for Chris Frazier’s 22-yard field goal and a 9-0 lead.
Crosby’s next drive started with a 28-yards kickoff return by Cameron Trench. Evans carried five times for 39 yards on the drive, including a seven-yard score to cut the Eagle lead to 9-7 with 9 seconds left in the first quarter.
After Mathis’ “pick six” put Crosby ahead 14-9, the Eagles moved 60 yards in 11 plays to a fourth-and-2 at the Cougar 7. They lined up to go for it, but an illegal procedure call led Price to send out his field goal unit.
Bryant blocked Frazier’s 29-yard attempt with 43 seconds left in the half.
“We just can’t fumble the ball and you can’t have penalties on fourth-and-2,” Price said. “You sure can’t give up a turnover for a touchdown.
“The game is real simple if you can figure that out.”
The Baytown Sun Published October 24, 2009 MONT BELVIEU – When Barbers Hill’s defense and maybe some bad karma kept Crosby’s offense from firing on all cylinders, the Cougar defense had a tip.
Two actually.
Twice Cougar defenders intercepted passes that were tipped by Barbers Hill receivers. M.J. Mathis returned one for a 56-yard first-half touchdown and that proved to be the difference in Crosby’s 21-16 win.
The win gives the Cougars at least a share of the District 19-4A championship. They are 6-0 in district and 6-2 overall and finish league play next week at home against 1-7 Galena Park.
Dayton, 5-1 in district, is the only team with a chance to catch Crosby.
Barbers Hill, 4-5 overall, dropped into a fourth-place tie with C.E. King at 3-3 but only needs to win its final league game against 0-8 North Forest next week to make the playoffs as it holds the head-to-head tiebreaker edge over C.E. King.
A tipped interception by cornerback Cameron Trench with a little more than a minute to go stopped Barbers Hill’s last chance at the Cougar 15-yard line and preserved the win.
It was the second interception by Crosby in the game’s final three minutes.
“It was ugly, but it’s a win and we won’t give it back,” Crosby coach Kevin Flanigan said after the game, in which Barbers Hill outgained the Cougars 454 yards to 300.
“Those guys (the Eagles) played well. I think our guys played hard, but I don’t think we executed well. I think those guys (the Eagles) are sick over there (in their locker room), because they outplayed us.”
Four interceptions and five total BH turnovers made the difference.
“It was just mistakes,” Eagles coach Don Price said. “If we could learn to play without them. I know they’re not trying to make them.”
Crosby led 14-9 at halftime and scored on its first second-half possession with Ja’Kacy Evans going two yards for his second touchdown of the night and a 21-9 Cougar lead.
Evans led Crosby rushers with 127 yards on 25 carries and quarterback Dominic Merka rushed for 88 yards and passed for 74 more.
Barbers Hill made it a one-score game late in the fourth quarter when Matthew Viverette hit a streaking Carter Smith for a 54-yard score with 4:42 remaining.
Viverette passed for 240 yards on 22-of-38 accuracy, but suffered the four interceptions. rushed 22 times for 131 yards, to finish with 371 total yards. Logan Stubbs added 92 BH yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Smith caught nine passes for 130 yards.
Barbers Hill ran twice as many plays as Crosby (40-20) in the first half, but trailed after two big misses and one large turnover.
A Viverette screen pass tipped by the receiver right to Crosby defender M.J. Mathis and Mathis’ 56-yard sprint gave the Cougars their 14-9 lead with 5:29 left in the first quarter.
Before that, the Eagles opened the game with an eight-play, 75-yard march with the opening kickoff to a five-yard Stubbs TD run.
Stubbs, carried 11 times for 66 yards in the first half.
Viverette rushed 15 times for 97 yards and passed for 88 more in the first half on 8-of-14 accuracy, with the one costly interception.
Crosby appeared headed to a 7-7 tie when its quarterback, Merka, ripped off a 28-yard gain on the first Cougar play. But after the Cougars reached the BH 34, Eagle defenders stood up ballcarrier Evans and DB Stuart Hamlin succeeded in ripping the ball away from him.
In turn, the Eagles marched from their 28 to the Cougar 4-yard line before Crosby’s blitzing Marchael Bryant batted away Viverette’s third-down pass. BH settled for Chris Frazier’s 22-yard field goal and a 9-0 lead.
Crosby’s next drive started with a 28-yards kickoff return by Cameron Trench. Evans carried five times for 39 yards on the drive, including a seven-yard score to cut the Eagle lead to 9-7 with 9 seconds left in the first quarter.
After Mathis’ “pick six” put Crosby ahead 14-9, the Eagles moved 60 yards in 11 plays to a fourth-and-2 at the Cougar 7. They lined up to go for it, but an illegal procedure call led Price to send out his field goal unit.
Bryant blocked Frazier’s 29-yard attempt with 43 seconds left in the half.
“We just can’t fumble the ball and you can’t have penalties on fourth-and-2,” Price said. “You sure can’t give up a turnover for a touchdown.
“The game is real simple if you can figure that out.”