• When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

• Where: Cougar Stadium, Crosby

• Records: PN-G 1-0, Crosby 0-1

• Series: PN-Groves leads 5-1

• Last year: Crosby, 7-0

• Tickets: All seats at the gate are $6.

• Radio: KCOL-FM (92.5)

• Television: The Port Arthur News Friday Night Experience, Tuesday at 7 p.m. (cable 18)

• Directions: Travel west on I-10 and exit north on FM 2100 (or Crosby Lynchburg Rd). The school is on the west side of FM 2100 a mile north of US 90.

• Indians capsule: PN-G had to battle from behind in the second half for a fourth-quarter touchdown to overtake Barbers Hill, 19-14, for the ninth season-opening win in head coach Matt Burnett's 14-year tenure. A 13-yard Harrison Tatum toss to Justin Cegielski provided the winning margin with 2:17 to play. Indians led 20-12 in first downs and 334-200 in total yards . . . A completely new defense passed its first test with top tackle numbers by ends Jerin Spikes and Aaron Shetley, corner Tyler Gizzi and inside backer Kane Benoit . . . Josh Wright ran 29 times for 145 yards and a touchdown while Caleb Harmon was 17 for 69 behind line work from Tanner Ross, Lloyd McLin and company. Spikes and corner Shea McElduff collected their season's first interceptions.

• Cougars capsule: Fourth-year head coach Kevin Flanigan (21-12) has Crosby in position for a third straight trip to the 4A playoffs with one of the region's premier athletes. Running back Chance Casey ran for 1,121 yards and 12 TDs last fall, before winning state gold medals in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles in May. Casey gained only 69 yards in 20 carries during last week's 14-7 loss at Waco University... Flanigan went with senior Justin Herrera at QB and Herrera who passed for only 55 yards last week. Tonight's spotlight centers on soph QB Dominic Merka (6-3, 195) who is scheduled to make his first varsity start, although both QBs likely will play.... Cougs defense is led by 225-pound senior inside backer Randy Rasmussen but PN-G offense is challenged to compile more yards than Waco University's 349-yard total output.

• Burnett says: "It's always good to get that first win and we showed some qualities as far as staying together. I was pleased to see us do that. You never know with a young team how all of that is going to work out... Crosby looks as if it has a lot of speed on offense. Their running back (Casey) is a world-class 300-meter guy and they have most of their offensive line back. They have a new quarterback and they run and throw about half and half. They show a lot of fronts and do a lot of stunting. They usually do a good job of getting prepared for us."

• Flanigan says: "Waco was very athletic, plus we just played poorly last week, but I'm not trying to take anything away from them. We have seven back on offense and five on defense, so we're pretty experienced.... Matt (Burnett) has PN-G going and I knew they would be good. They have gone back to what they know best and their offense is picking up where they left off. They lost a lot of good defensive players but I thought they did real well at Barbers Hill.”

PN-G OFFENSE