Elliott Lapin | Houston Chronicle Oct. 13, 2018
When the Crosby Cougars and the Port Neches-Groves Indians faced off on November 17, 2017, the game-winning touchdown was scored with 25 seconds remaining.
In the rematch on Friday at Cougar Stadium, the game-winning touchdown was scored with three seconds remaining as the Indians once again found themselves on the right side of a three-point margin, 48-45.
The winning touchdown came on a 13-yard pass from senior and University of Texas commit Roschon Johnson to junior Peyton Proenza.
Johnson struggled to describe his emotions when he saw Proenza come down with the ball but said he lives for the big moment.
PN-G coach Brandon Faircloth knew the game would come down to who had the ball last.
Crosby senior Zack Simon capped off a 70-yard scoring drive with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion attempt failed and Crosby took a 45-40 lead.
“I thought 2:30 was enough time to score,” said Faircloth, who admitted he was nervous during that final drive.
Both teams got a special teams touchdown. Crosby’s came on a 72-yard kickoff return by senior Marquise Doucette. PN-G’s came on a 66-yard punt return by senior Jose Ceja.
Johnson ran for three touchdowns (4 yards, 2 yards, and 24 yards) and threw for two touchdowns (26 yards to Ceja and the game-winning 13-yarder to Proenza).
His one mistake came when sophomore Deniquez Dunn intercepted a pass midway through the second quarter.
“Things like that happen in football,” Johnson said. “It was a silly mistake, but I give a lot of credit to the cornerback [Dunn]. He baited the hell out of me.”
On the first play of the drive Fagnana got the ball on a reverse and threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Doucette.
Facing fourth and seven on it’s opening drive of the game, Faircloth had called up some trickeration. Senior Cade Billeaud got the ball off a double reverse and completed a first down pass to senior Dakota Baxter.
“It’s a play we have in our playbook, and I thought that was a good time to use it,” Faircloth said.
Neither team ever led by a double-digit margin. The largest lead of the game for either team came midway through the third quarter when a 26-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Ceja gave the Indians a 33-24 lead.
PNG (@PNGIndians) QB Roschon Johnson (@RoschonJ) with some fancy footwork to put 6 more on the board.
Rewatch the game in its entirety here: https://t.co/xvt1POlbLc@HoustonChronHS #txhsfb @Coachbfaircloth @Cooper8Hammond@Beaumont_Sports pic.twitter.com/fg55GMCGso
— Texan Live (@Texan_Live) October 13, 2018
