By David Thompson|Beaumont Enterprise
Updated 9:51 am, Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Port Neches-Groves sophomore Roschon Johnson stepped out of anonymity and into the spotlight last Friday night.
The same home crowd that watched previous quarterback Adam Morse throw for more 5,000 yards over the past two seasons witnessed Johnson turn his first varsity start into a dominant dual-threat performance in the Indians’ 54-27 win over Silsbee. He rushed for three touchdowns, including two to give his team a 13-0 lead, and added two touchdowns through the air on 9-of-12 passing.
“It was really a special thing for me,” said Johnson, who will face Goose Creek Memorial on Thursday at Stallworth Stadium in his second start. “I’ve been looking to be in this position for a long time. The impact of it all didn’t really hit me because I was in the zone going into the game, but now that I look back on it – I wasn’t surprised. I’m just glad I helped play my part in the win.”
Johnson is only one of four sophomores on varsity but has already made an impact on a team looking to its untested players to fill important skill positions.
PN-G coach Brandon Faircloth said that while Johnson and Morse have different skill sets, one similarity has made them both successful.
“Leadership,” Faircloth said. “All good quarterbacks have to have it. He (Johnson) is a great leader and one of our hardest workers, a great kid and a great student. When you have those things, sometimes being a quarterback can look pretty easy.”
Even Morse, now a freshman quarterback at Lamar, admitted that Johnson, “runs the ball better than I ever did.”
Johnson wasn’t the only PN-G player to go from untested starter to budding star in the Week 1 win.
Junior Preston Hughes spent most of last year on JV before being moved to the varsity special teams unit before the Central game. Hughes watched from the sideline as starting running back Kody Cropper turned his senior season into his best, gaining 1,285 yards and nine touchdowns on 189 carries.
With Cropper’s graduation and the position up for grabs, Hughes asserted himself as PN-G’s new starting running back in Week 1, rushing for 164 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, adding a 22-yard touchdown pass from Johnson in the second quarter.
It was his first varsity start, and it likely won’t be his last.
“I knew I had big shoes to fill,” Hughes said. “Because we are younger, I think people didn’t know what to expect from us. Roschon and I grew up together and played together as kids. We have a strong connection.”
Their connection can be seen on the field with the deceptive read option the two used to near-perfection, gaining more than 200 rushing yards and five touchdowns against a Silsbee defense that struggled to find an answer against a two-headed attack.
“It’s quite a relief to have him (Johnson) there,” Hughes said, “I know if he fakes the handoff to me, he’s making a good read and he’s helping the team out and getting some yardage.”
The emergence of Johnson and Hughes comes at a perfect time for the Indians, with district play in the wide-open District 22-5A beginning next week. PN-G was one of only two local teams from the district to win its season-opener. Nederland, which split the district title with PN-G last season, took a 42-0 loss to West Orange-Stark and looks to be struggling at the same key positions the Indians found answers for against Silsbee.
“I don’t think about Nederland until Nederland week,” said Faircloth, who is 1-5 against the Bulldogs and will face them the last week of the season. “That would be a huge mistake on our part. Nederland is a great team and I promise you coach (Larry) Neumann will get them were they need to be by the time district gets here.”
