Courtesy of www.chron.com
Klein Oak coach David Smith wasn’t worried about his team
after it gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns to top-ranked Klein Collins on
Friday night at Klein Memorial Stadium.
Smith was ready for his Panthers to play as many
overtimes as it would take. It turned out to be three as Klein Oak upset the
Chronicle’s No. 1 Class 5A team in the area.
“I told the guys that it was just going to be that much
sweeter to win in a third overtime,” Smith said. “Let’s go ahead and win it in
three. Why win it in one?”
Cody Spiegelhauer gave the Panthers a chance to win when
he intercepted Tigers quarterback Tyler Stehling on the first possession half
of the third overtime. Three plays later, Klein Oak quarterback Connor McQueen scampered up the middle for a 13-yard touchdown and a
district-opening victory.
The Panthers (2-2) were dominating on offense. They
finished with 498 total yards, including 254 in the first half.
McQueen was 25-of-34 passing passes for 289 yards,
and the Klein Oak ground game, behind EJ Fatu (12 carries for 32 yards),
Larenzo Stewart (22 for 97), Jaylon Brown (12 for 34) and McQueen (6 for 36),
accounted for racked up209 yards and all five touchdowns.
Panthers receiver Tuff McClain had 13 catches for
138 yards.
Fatu got the scoring started for the Panthers with a
4-yard run just under nine minutes into the game. The extra-point was true from
Kwame Kuffour and Oak led 7-0.
The game would stay at 7-0, despite the way Oak’s offense
was moving the ball for the rest of the first half.
The third quarter was more of the same from Oak, as the
Panthers used a 16-play drive that ate up nearly the final eight minutes on the
clock, before Stewart scored from two yards out for a 14-0 lead.
That is when the Collins offense finally woke up.
The Tigers, which had just one first down through most of
the first three quarters, got it going behind Stehling.
Stehling, who finished 15-of-29 for 198 yards three TDs
and the costly interception, hit Shane Rhodes on a 56-yard catch and run for a score to cut the Oak lead in half at 14-7 with
nearly all the fourth quarter to play.
The Tigers (3-1) would need nearly all that time, as
Stehling guided a long time consuming drive before hitting Rhodes, who finished
with nine grabs for 158 yards, on a 14-yard TD pass with just 23 seconds
to play.
A flag pushed the extra-point back 15-yards, but Rhett
Peterson was perfect on the kick and the score was tied at 14.
The teams
traded touchdowns in the first two overtimes before Spiegelhauer picked off
Stehling (15-of-29 for 198 yards, three TDs) to set up McQueen’s game-winning
TD run and hand Klein Collins its first loss. trotted in up the middle for the
winning score in the third OT.
