By Tom Halliburton | Beaumont Enterprise
Published 10:44 pm, Saturday, October 7, 2017
Junior quarterback Roschon Johnson threw for 299 yards and four touchdowns Saturday on homecoming night as Port Neches-Groves beat Baytown Lee 59-21 at Indian Stadium in Port Neches.
The Indians compiled 557 total yards and Johnson connected with seven different receivers and completed 18 of 25 attempts.
WHAT HAPPENED
Johnson had an early tendency to overthrow his deep targets. Coach Brandon Faircloth’s solution to that tendency was for Roschon to keep on throwing deep.
“There was a little wind and his timing was off a bit,” Faircloth said. “I don’t know, maybe he was a little excited, but you’ve got to keep on trying.”
When Johnson found the range, his bombs accurately reached their destinations. He displayed deep accuracy on the opening snap of the second quarter, a 53-yard touchdown pass to Preston Riggs.
The versatile senior Riggs caught four balls for 83 yards. The Johnson-Riggs combo also took a turn with each one running for a first-half touchdown.
Johnson opened the scoring with a 39-yard dash down the Indians sideline midway in the first quarter. Riggs followed midway in the second by sprinting 18 yards on a fly sweep for a score.
WHAT STOOD OUT
Although a holding penalty brought it back, the PN-G punt return by senior Cameron Stansbury was spectacular early in the second quarter. Stansbury headed toward PN-G’s sideline and noticed the kicking team’s flow and angled back in the opposite direction. Unfortunately the penalty limited Stansbury to an official runback of only eight yards.
SUPPORTING CAST
While Johnson and Riggs performed well, two other teammates earned the leading rusher and receiver honors. Junior running back Jose Ceja carried nine times for 111 yards and scoring runs of 3 and 47 yards. Senior runner/receiver Preston Hughes received five passes for 98 yards, including a pretty 45-yard lob for a touchdown to give PN-G a 31-7 lead.
Although the Indians had plenty of weapons, they deployed only one quarterback for the entire game. Faircloth indicated that Austin Bost could have entered the game as Johnson’s backup, but Bost was busy playing linebacker.
BY THE NUMBERS
Baytown Lee suited out only 24 players at game time…. Penalties tended to rule the night. The Houston-based officiating crew penalized PN-G 7 times for 65 yards and Lee 5 times for 56.… PN-G never punted the entire game…. Riggs impressively lofted seven kickoffs into the end zone…. Senior Landon Sandell was a perfect 8 for 8 on extra-point kicks…. The game’s leading rusher was Lee sophomore quarterback Ijenea Wooley who carried 19 times for 132 yards and all three Ganders scores…
HE SAID IT
“Port Arthur Memorial (PN-G’s next opponent) is well-coached. Their team speed obviously is something we haven’t seen yet. We will try to play our best game of the year next week. The (staggered) schedule (of not playing on Fridays) has been tough on the kids and on the coaching staff. We will be glad to get back to playing on Fridays,” PN-G coach Brandon Faircloth said.
RECORDS
Lee 0-5, 0-4 in 22-5A, PN-G 4-0, 3-0.
NEXT UP
PN-G hosts Port Arthur Memorial next Friday night at 7 p.m. Lee entertains Livingston on Friday at 7 p.m.
Tom Halliburton is a freelance writer
