By Danny Shapiro | Beaumont Enterprise
Updated 9:23 pm, Saturday, December 2, 2017
For the second-straight season, Port Neches-Groves was unable to stop College Station’s offense.
The Cougars totaled 651 yards and scored on ten-straight possession in a 66-40 win over the Indians in a Class 5A Division II regional semifinal on Saturday at Turner Stadium in Humble.
College Station running back DaDa Anderson had 229 rushing yards and four touchdowns while quarterback Marquez Perez rushed for 212 yards and three touchdowns.
PN-G quarterback Roschon Johnson passed for 273 yards, rushed for 204 yards and totaled five touchdowns in the loss.
The Indians, who lost 52-28 to the Cougars in the regional semifinals last season, finished the season 10-2.
“College Station was big, physical and fast,” PN-G coach Brandon Faircloth said. “It just wasn’t our day.”
TURNING POINT
PN-G had won a shootout – 72-69 over Crosby – earlier in the playoffs but made too many mistakes against College Station.
The Indians, trailing 21-7 early in the second quarter, went three-and-out following a College Station touchdown.
The Cougars added another touchdown on the ensuing drive, a 12-yard run from Anderson.
The Indians fumbled the following kickoff and College Station recovered.
Anderson then scored on a 6-yard run to push the Cougars’ lead to 35-7 with 6:21 left.
PN-G wasn’t able to recover from the poor stretch and trailed 38-14 at halftime.
WHAT HAPPENED
The Indians simply couldn’t stop Perez, Anderson and the Cougars’ offense.
PN-G forced a punt on College Station’s first possession then had no luck the rest of the game.
Perez scored on rushes of 84, 52 and 1 yard while Anderson scored from 56, 33, 12 and 6 yards.
Even backup running back Azarian Foght, who didn’t have a carry in the first half, was able to rush for 97 yards and two touchdowns for the Cougars.
The Indians were able to put up 564 yards of total offense but needed to play a mistake-free game to win.
BY THE NUMBERS
Port Neches-Groves scored at least 40 points in 10 of its 12 games, including against College Station. This was the first time the Indians lost while reaching that mark.
Preston Riggs was the Indians’ leading receiver, catching 9 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown.
PN-G had 35 first downs compared to College Station’s 30.
Johnson entered having thrown just three interceptions all season but threw two against the Cougars. The Indians lost the other game Johnson threw two interceptions, 36-35 to Nederland.
HE SAID IT
“I knew we were going to have to score a lot of points to win,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, we got off to a slow start and we knew we couldn’t do that.”
