Published 11:44 pm Tuesday, November 15, 2016 | PANews.com
No matter what adjustments Barbers Hill made against Port Neches-Groves in last Friday’s 5A Division II bi-district game, PNG held firm to a philosophy that’s best described by two numbers.
“We just preach, every week, a ‘1-11,’” Indians defensive back and running back Logan LeJeune said. “If everybody does a ‘1-11,’ we’re going to come out with a win. This time, we all put in the effort.”
The “1-11” philosophy explains the importance one player doing his own job on a team of 11 on the field and all 11 doing the same. The two numbers proved key in the Indians’ 31-26 victory at Provost Umphrey Stadium.
PNG (10-1) posted plenty of numbers to be celebrated that night. Aside from the score, there were four — the number of interceptions PNG made against standout Barbers Hill quarterback Cameron Cauthen, 425 — the number of total yards Indians quarterback Roschon Johnson accumulated, 3,255 — the total yardage on the season for Johnson, and two — the number of defenders who sacked Cauthen in the game’s final play to run out the clock. Linebacker Alec LeBouef and defensive lineman Logan Hammonds were in on the winning stop, a 10-yard loss.
“We have an animal d-line,” said LeJeune, who started at running back for the injured Preston Hughes. “If they get in the backfield, they cause havoc. Our d-line went off, and we’ve got to give that game to them.”
LeJeune made his mark on defense that night, picking off Cauthen twice. The Barbers Hill junior was intercepted on each of his first three drives, but came back to complete 11 of 21 for 247 yards.
LeBoeuf broke up a halfback pass on a two-point conversion attempt early in the fourth quarter, keeping the Indians ahead by five points.
PNG was forced to punt on its next two possessions, and Cauthen had completed 4 of 5 passes for 70 yards on the final series, including a 32-yard toss to Cullen Kirkland to the Indians’ 5 with about 11 seconds remaining.
Good thing for the Indians they have short-term memory.
“He’s got a great arm,” LeBouef said of Cauthen. “Big play, but hey, you’ve got to think next play. Don’t worry about what happened in the past. We got to the line. Big things happened. We let that play go behind us. We did what we had to do to win the game.”
PNG coach Brandon Faircloth credited defensive coordinator Dustin Templin’s play-calling for the winning sack.
“We have, no doubt, the best coaching staff,” LeJeune said. “I will preach that until I die. Coach T, he’s an amazing defensive coordinator. We just study real hard and we did our 1-11.”
The Indians were not without their struggles. They had three drives stall after moving within the Eagles’ 30-yard line, failed to convert a 29-yard field goal and missed four extra-point attempts.
“The holder got hurt,” Faircloth said. “That makes it tough. We’re kicking over college goalposts. We had a lot of things go wrong in that area.
We have a lot of work to do.”
Next for the Indians is their third trip of the year to Stallworth Stadium in Baytown and the area-round battle with Fort Bend Willowridge.
That game kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday.
“Man, I’m just proud of my team.” LeBouef said. “We laid it out there [Friday]. I just happened to break through. I brought [Cauthen] down, and we’re celebrating. We’re able to keep focusing on [this] week.”
