By CHRISTOPHER DABE, Beaumont Enterprise
November 20, 2009
Posted: November 20, 2009, 11:43 PM CST
The best thing about the Port Neches-Groves football season that ended Friday night might be everything on the horizon.
The team completed an undefeated regular season and won a playoff game with a first-year head coach before Friday’s 27-21 Class 4A Division II area round loss to Brenham at Houston’s Thorne Stadium.
Although the loss marked the end of a journey for the 41 PN-G seniors listed on the team’s roster, the season showed what can be accomplished with a mix of belief and hard work. The Indians, who won the District 20-4A championship, finished the season with eight more victories than they did a year ago.
PN-G (11-1) succeeded with the coaching of first-year head coach Brandon Faircloth, who brought with him a version of a spread offense that allowed the team to run and throw effectively. Leading rusher Caleb Harmon, a senior, ended the season within a whiff of the school’s single-season rushing record.
Although Brenham (10-2) limited Harmon to 40 rushing yards in 10 carries, many will remember him for the 1,802 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns he tallied in the first 11 games. He entered the game 348 rushing yards behind the single-season school record of 2,150 set in 1955 by Gordon LeBoeuf.
PN-G’s final touchdown came with 15 seconds left, too late for a miracle finish even after it recovered an onside kick with 13 seconds on the clock. The next play resulted in an interception that clinched the end to PN-G’s season. PN-G scored that last touchdown with a 1-yard pass by junior Brennan Doty to senior Spencer DeRon.
PN-G might not have needed last-second prayers if it had fulfilled scoring chances on its first two fourth-quarter possessions. The Indians got inside the Brenham 20 on one possession and then had a fourth-down pass bounce off the left shoulder of an open receiver who had a clear path to the end zone at the end of
another possession.
Brenham kept PN-G out of the end zone in the first half, but the Indians rallied with two third-quarter touchdowns. Harmon scored on a 4-yard run on fourth-and-3, six plays after junior Amir Jalali opened the second half with a long kickoff return to the Brenham 28.
PN-G’s next touchdown – scored on a 34-yard pass by Doty to senior Blake Reyenga – cut the margin to 27-14 with 2:22 left in the third quarter.
In the end, PN-G failed to solve the riddle of Brenham junior quarterback Ty Schlottmann, who rushed 21 times for 116 yards with a touchdown and completed 15 of 22 passes for 163 yards and another touchdown.
Brenham led 27-7 after Schlottmann threw a high and arching 12-yard pass to the left corner of the end zone where junior Derek Edwards tip-toed his way in bounds to catch the ball.
Brenham held a 20-0 halftime lead with two touchdown drives kept alive by fourth-down conversions and two field goals by Tanner Schmidt, the last a 27-yarder as first-half time expired.
The winning team advanced to the regional round to face Houston Jones (9-2) or Angleton (10-1). Those teams play 1 p.m. today at Angleton. PN-G last reached the regional round in 1999, the year it advanced to the Class 4A Division II state final.
A nearly filled PN-G side of the bleachers greeted players as they walked on the field about an hour before the game with a standing ovation. Fans bought virtually all of the 4,500 tickets allocated to the PN-G side of the stadium by Aldine ISD.
