Klein Oak Panthers vs Tomball Cougars
October 8, 2009

JV Black Wins, 22-18, Over Tomball Cougars

The JV Black played at Klein Memorial Stadium against district foe Tomball and the bright lights and field turf helped inspire the Panthers to an exciting win, 22-18.  Injuries forced a lot of substitutions to the roster but the team meshed to mash the visiting Redcats Cougars.

Heat, humidity and a strong wind from the south greeted Captains Connor McQueen (still in a cast),  Ryan Emerson and Kyle Phillips for the coin toss.  Oak kicked off and the defense wasted no time with an interception by Brycen Turner on the second Cougar play giving the offense a short field.  The offense opened up with the fake reverse and kicker/end Nicholas Bradley threw the kick-out block to open the left end for Jason Williams to get the 37 yard run for a touchdown, Oak 6, Tomball 0, 9:18 remaining in the quarter.  Brycen was so happy about his interception that he sprinted down the field on the kick-off and wiped out the Cougar returner much to the delight of his teammates.  Brandon Vongsenddeuane made the tackle for loss (TFL) and his D-line teammates, Drew Latham and Jay Andrews stuffed a run and knocked down the screen pass to force the Cougar punt.  Jason Williams became the workhorse running back due to the injury to Khaleeq Little and ran for a first down behind the surge blocking of Richard Carpenter, Arthur Fatu, Dakota Thompson, Kyle Phillips and Daniel Shaul.  Alfred Baratti carried the ball on a few swing passes.  The Cougar defense got a little stronger and Nicholas Bradley hit the great punt to pin the Cougars deep.  Joshua Redkey, Eric Sanchez and Sam Porter played the D-line strong, Ryan Emerson and Currie Palmer were stout linebackers while Xavier Doyle, Dillon May and Peter Crews defended the passes quite well.  The quarter ended with Oak stopping the Cougars on downs near mid-field.

The second quarter opened with Tomball proving that it is often better to be lucky than good, earning an interception off a tipped ball, the Cougar player not realizing he had the ball in his hands until his teammates congratulated him.  The Tomball passing game went into high gear and found the end zone to tie the score, 6-6, 7:39 remaining in the quarter.   Oak tried its own passing game and the results were good with QB Tuff McClain hitting DJ Scott for a 30 yard gain.  Kyle Phillips, Arthur Fatu and Daniel Shaul put on a clinic on downfield blocking and led the way for Jason Williams to run into the end zone and the point after to give the Panthers the 14 – 6 lead, 5:32 remaining.  The Cougar kick-off returner dribbled the ball for several yards before Cody Steele dribbled him off the turf.  Lemon Ford knocked down a few passes and Xavier Doyle flipped the runner for a dramatic tackle.  Tomball threw a ball much higher than it went far and the Cougar receiver managed to snatch the ball for the short gain.  William Hoffmans had enough of this nonsense and stuffed the fourth down play to give the ball back to Oak who gave it right back to the Cougars on a three and out.  Tomball tried to move down the field with passes but Cody Speigelhauer thought the ball should go the other way with a great interception and run back to within 5 yards of the Oak goal line.  With only 11 seconds left, the Oak offense just couldn’t quite get organized to push the ball over for the score, bummer.

The third quarter opened with a Oak fumble and facemask penalty.  Tomball made their own errors with penalties but executed an excellent pooch kick to pin the Panthers back against their own goal.  Jason Wiliams went up the middle for several very nice runs to move the ball out of harm’s way.  On a fourth down and four, the Cougar defense went offside to keep the Panther drive alive.  Jason Williams carried Cougars time after time to soften up the middle of the defense.  On a third and long, Tuff launched a beautiful pass to the sprinting DJ Scott who gathered in the ball for the 42 yard SportsCenter highlight play of the game, Oak 22 – 6, 3:11 remaining after the 97 yard drive.  Oak kicked off and credit the Cougars for regaining some composure to start a nice drive.  Currie Palmer put a blister hit on the Cougar runner but they kept moving the ball to end the quarter near the Oak goal line.

A few plays into the 4th quarter, Tomball finally pushed the ball in for the score, 22 – 12.  Oak lost some focus and had to punt, great job by the substitute deep snapper Dakota Thompson filling in for the injured Dillon May.  Tomball felt renewed on a long pass for their second score of the quarter, 22 – 18, only 2:33 remaining.  The Cougars ran the on-side kick but the Oak hands team safely gathered the ball.  The offense managed a couple of first downs behind some blocking by Aaron Mitchell  but footballs bounce crazy and the terrific hit by the Tomball defender after a long Panther run caused the ball to go multiple directions through multiple sets of hands before settling in the Cougar paws.  With 1:31 remaining, the Tomball Cougars started marching and even gathered a first down by a half of a football length on a crucial fourth down with 36 seconds left.  The fans cheered and the Oak defense went into overdrive to prevent any chance of a Cougar score.  Game over and the Panthers were the winners, 22-18.

The Panthers played a great game with a great team effort, contributions by the defense forcing turnovers and the offense playing steady ball-control.   Great win for the JV Black Panthers!  GO OAK!!