By Chris Moore | PANews.com
Published 9:47 pm Friday, November 23, 2018
HOUSTON — The Port Neches-Groves Indians and the Lindale Eagles came out firing on all cylinders in the first half at NRG Stadium on Friday. PNG won 50-28.
Indians senior quarterback Roschon Johnson came out hot, taking his second rush 66 yards to give PNG (8-3) an early 7-0 lead. Lindale (7-4) answered back on its first play by going to a trick play on a Brayson Campbell receiver pass that connected for a 74-yard score. After only three plays from scrimmage, the game was tied up 7-7 just over 1 minute off the board.
Lindale took the driver’s seat forcing PNG into a three-and-out. The Eagles used a 12-play drive to go 53 yards and score on a 6-yard run to give Lindale a 14-7 lead with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
On the second play of the following drive Johnson found Jose Ceja on a short hitch route that Ceja turned into a 65-yard score after breaking a tackle.
The game changed when…
After trading scores, the game was tied at 21-21 with a little over 2 minutes left in the half. The Eagles were threatening to take the lead on the Indians 35-yard line, but were facing a fourth down.
PNG came up with a huge sack and took over with 2:01 left in the half on its own 39. After two plays, PNG was on the Lindale 42. Johnson connected on a deep pass to Ceja down the left side of the field in the end zone. The Indians completed the two-point conversion to give them a 29-21 lead.
PNG’s defense held again inside their own territory to force a turnover on downs to end the first half.
The PNG defense didn’t allow a first down on Lindale’s first two possessions of the second half and Johnson made them pay with a pair of long touchdown runs (87 and 73 yards, respectively) to give the Indians a 43-21 lead over the Eagles with 5:58 left in the third quarter.
On the next drive, with any chance to get back in the game on the line, Eagles quarterback Dillon Heinaman threw an interception to Kade Martin who returned the ball to the Eagles 6-yard line.
“(Martin) means everything to the team,” PNG head coach Brandon Faircloth said. “He’s like a coach on the field. He’s played corner and safety. He knows it all and i’m really proud of him tonight.”
A couple of plays later, PNG did some trickery of there own with a wide receiver pass from Kaleb Wuenschel to Cade Hammond for a 10-yard score to give the Indians a 50-21 lead.
The Eagles scored a late touchdown to bring the final to 50-28 in favor of the Indians.
The game ball goes to…
Roschon Johnson, who had one of his most memorable performances in NRG Stadium on Friday. The Texas commit had 477 yards of offense (249 rushing and 228 passing) to go with six total touchdowns (four rushing and two passing). Johnson had three rushing touchdowns of at least 60 yards, the latter of which, Johnson broke four tackles before out running the rest of the defense to the end zone.
“He had a great game, obviously,” Faircloth said. “He took what the defense gave him. He did a good job of getting the ball to our players. He made some great runs and the online did a great job blocking there in the second half.”
Next up…
PNG will face Fort Bend Marshall at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Stallworth Stadium in Baytown.
Indians 50, Eagles 28
Port Neches-Groves 14 15 21 0 — 50
Lindale 14 7 0 7 — 28
First quarter
PNG — Roschon Johnson 66 run (Mario Oceguera kick), 11:10
LIN — Conner Boyette 74 pass from Brayson Campbell (Landon Love kick), 10:51
LIN — Jordan Jenkins 6 run (Love kick), 3:30
PNG — Jose Ceja 65 pass from Johnson (Oceguera kick), 2:45
Second quarter
LIN — Brennan Moore 44 pass from Dillon Heinaman (Love kick), 11:54
PNG — Johnson 1 run (Oceguera kick), 9:48
PNG — Ceja 42 pass from Johnson (conversion good), 2:07
Third quarter
PNG — Johnson 87 run (Oceguera kick), 9:27
PNG — Johnson 73 run (Oceguera kick), 5:58
PNG — Cooper Hammond 10 pass from Kaleb Wuenschel (Oceguera kick), 4:53
Fourth quarter
LIN — Theron Brown 8 pass from Heinaman (Love kick), :25
Lindale PNG
Rushes-yards 114 259
Passing yards 306 238
Total yards 420 497
Comp-Att-Int 20-31-1 10-18-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 4-40 4-35
Individual leaders
RUSHING — Lindale: Jenkins 23-87, Heinaman 12-25, Grant Sims 5-4, Boyette 1-(-2).Port Neches-Groves: Johnson 17-249, Dejaunte Conner 1-4, Jaylan Williams 3-3, Blake Bost 1-3.
PASSING — Lindale: Heinaman 19-29-1, 232, Campbell 1-1-0, 74, Boyette 0-1-0, 0. Port Neches-Groves: Johnson 9-16-0, 228, Wuenschel 1-2-0, 10.
RECEIVING —Lindale: Boyette 3-117, Moore 7-101, Cody Pike 5-53, Jenkins 1-8, Borwn 1-8. Port Neches-Groves: Ceja 2-107, Tyler Pippen 1-28, Wuenschel 3-32, Cooper Hammond 2-32, Williams 1-19, Kade Guilbeau 2-13, Cade Billeaud 1-7.
