By David Thompson | BeaumontEnterprise.com | Published 10:20 pm, Thursday, September 24, 2015
Port Neches-Groves proved Thursday night that size does matter.
The Indians (3-1) controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and dominated undersized Baytown Lee during a 45-10 district-opening road rout at Stallworth Stadium.
“You are always going to win and lose games with your offensive and defensive lines,” said PN-G head coach Brandon Faircloth. “They (Lee) were forcing us to run the football and we got a tremendous push up front and our defense was able to do the same thing.”
It wasn’t like Faircloth completely abandoned the passing game.
Lamar commit and PN-G quarterback Adam Morse had enough time in the pocket to sure up his weekend plans while throwing for 194 yards on 15-of-19 passing and four total touchdowns.
Morse connected on touchdown passes of 18, 33 and 8 while scoring another with his feet from three yards out near the end of the first quarter.
But PN-G’s offensive line shown the brightest when running backs Kody Cropper and Jace Runnels touched the ball. The duo finished the night with 30 carries for 255 yards and a touchdown apiece behind the Indians purple and white wall.
“I think whenever we get a push up front it opens things up for our skill guys to take control,” said junior offensive lineman Zachary Murdock. “We felt on top of our game but we knew we had to keep putting our foot down and control the game.”
The defense held Lee’s dangerous dual-threat quarterback Javarius Irving to 67 yards on 9-of-20 passing and allowed only 188 total yards in the game. Lee’s only scores came on a 20-yard field goal from Rigoberto Vargas in the first half and a late 12-yard touchdown run from Irving.
“Wins aren’t easy to come by in this district and you will always take them,” said Faircloth, whose team will be back home next Friday against Goose Creek Memorial. “I’m very proud of our defense, Lee’s quarterback is a really talented player and our guys did a good job of getting off the blocks and containing him.”
Lamar Cardinal fans got a taste of the near future during the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third.
Morse found senior receiver Caisen Sullivan – who announced his verbal commitment to Lamar on social media – in the end zone from 18 yards out with under a minute in the half and again from 33 yards on the first possession of the third quarter.
Sullivan finished the night with a team-high seven catches for 102 yards. Junior wide receiver Dylan McGough recorded the final score of the night on a 10 yard pass and catch from Morse.
“That was hopefully a little preview of what we can do at Lamar,” Sullivan said. “Me and Adam are pretty much best friends and we hang out every day. It’s going to be great.”
