Facing a formidable 16-point deficit at halftime, the Sharks exploded for 30 unanswered points in the second half and then provided a late defensive stand to rally past New Caney Porter 37-30 at AISD Freedom Field. The victory moves 11-0 Shadow Creek into the area round, where they will meet Cedar Park on Nov. 23 at Merrill Green Stadium in Bryan at 7 p.m. The Timberwolves edged Austin LBJ 10-7 in overtime on Friday.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to be completely white headed before this is over,” Sharks’ head coach Brad Butler said following the game. “We came out a little shaky and didn’t get a fast start. We had a few bad things happen and then it snow balled from there.”
Trailing 23-7 to open the third quarter, the Sharks marched 48 yards in five plays with Marquez Huland (173 yards on 21 carries, 3 touchdowns) busting loose for a 37-yard romp to the end zone. Jamarian George (16 of 25 for 150 yards, 2 TD’s) then nailed Kealon Jackson with a two-point conversion pass to cut the margin to 23-15 with 10:44 left.
After the SC defense forced a quick three-and-out, a 28-yard burst by Huland ultimately led to the tying scoring drive. While later facing a critical fourth-and-five from the Porter 7-yard line, George calmly drilled Ashton O’Connor in the back of the end zone with a TD pass and the senior signal caller then motored across the goal line on a two-point conversion run to even things at 23-23 with 8:19 still remaining in the third.
“The one thing I can say about this group is that they stay in the fight,” Butler said. “We thought about kicking it (on the fourth down play), but felt we had the momentum and wanted to stay aggressive.”
The Sharks did indeed continue to fight despite coming up empty on another fourth down try deep in Spartans’ territory a few minutes later and then having a third-down sack by Porter derail the next possession.
Sophomore lineman Jairo Castillo stepped up to recover a fumble by Porter quarterback Zane Russell at the Spartans’ 14- yard line to pave the way for the go-ahead score by Huland from 2 yards out to regain the upper hand for Shadow Creek at 30-23 with 46 seconds left in the third. Defensive back Jaylen Lane then picked off a Russell fling to set up Huland rambling 44 yards to paydirt to increase SC’s lead to 37-23 with 8:16 remaining in the game.
The Spartans showed their own grit, though, closing within 37-30 on Joey Corona’s 8-yard run with 4:42 remaining and later getting the ball back following a SC punt at their own 33-yard line in the closing minutes.
Porter appeared to be on the verge of tying it again, when receiver Tayler Baker collected a backwards lateral from Russell and completed a 31-yard pass downfield to Carter Chochet at the SC 8-yard line. However, Porter was called for an illegal formation and on fourth-and-14, Russell’s pass fell incomplete with 1:34 remaining.
The Sharks ran out the remaining time on the clock with three straight kneel downs by George.
“The kids really came out with a sense of urgency in the second half,” Butler said. “They knew it was vital that we put some drives together. The defense also buckled down when they had to and made some plays.”
Despite Shadow Creek jumping to an early 7-0 lead in the opening period on George’s 57-yard TD pass to Jared Jackson, Porter delivered several big plays of their own and also capitalized on a few Shark miscues.
Porter fired scoring passes to both Baron Bradley (11 yards) and Sevonne Rhea (56 yards), while Chochet returned an SC fumble 15 yards for a defensive TD. The Spartans’ special teams also got into the scoring act with the Sharks’ kick returner being tackled in the end zone for a safety.
As bad as things got for Shadow Creek during the initial 24 minutes, though, the Sharks man... Click here to read full article
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