PORT NECHES — Even Caleb Harmon knew about Jeff Bergeron. Now his name will fly right up there by the Jet.

By dashing 22 times for 204 yards and two touchdowns, the Port Neches-Groves senior tailback jumped among the truly elite rushers in a single season of this school's proud football history.

Most unexpectedly, the PN-G squad also added at least a share of the District 20-4A championship to its trophy case. The 35-20 victory over Beaumont Ozen improved coach Brandon Faircloth's Indians to 9-0 and 6-0.

That's a 9-0 start for the first time in 20 years.

The Indian Stadium faithful expected a purple and white victory to be sure. But PN-G's fans, players and coaches never anticipated the capture of any portion of a District 20-4A title on this damp, chilly night at The Reservation.

The combination of PN-G's win and Livingston's 10-6 upset of Beaumont Central enabled Faircloth's first Tribe to own at least half of the 20-4A crown with one week left in the regular season.

That's hardly satisfactory for the Indians, ranked eighth in this week's Associated Press Class 4A state high school poll. They visit Beaumont's Babe Zaharias Stadium for a title date with Central (7-2 and 5-1) next Friday night. Plus PN-G is assured of a Class 4A Division II bidistrict game.

Knowing the Indians had a share of the 20-4A title pleased Faircloth for the moment, though.

"You can’t beat it," Faircloth smiled. "I'm very excited for our kids. It's a wonderful reward for them. But we know we're not done. We're definitely going to push forward.”

PN-G's entire community sustained a painful blow early Friday when it learned that Jodi Esquivel had died following a gallant two-year cancer battle. The wife of PN-G teacher and former Indians football standout Justin Esquivel and the daughter-in-law of former PN-G principal Roy Esquivel was honored by virtually all of PN-G's coaches at the game.

The Indians staff wore green t-shirts, recognizing Team Esquivel on game night against Ozen.

"We wanted to dedicate this win to Jodi and we wanted the family to know we were praying and thinking of them," said Faircloth.

Faircloth did not have such eloquent thoughts or words to describe his running star on this night. He's run out of superlatives and compliments to issue Harmon who made a significant dent into all-time Indians single-season rushing records.

His 204-yard game enabled Harmon's season total to reach 1,464 rushing yards. That moved Caleb into sixth place among PN-G's all-time single-season rushers — one yard behind the legendary Jeff "the Jet” Bergeron who gained 1,465 in

1972. The 1,464-yard total moved Harmon above Justin Eicher's 1,346 and Bobby LaBorde's 1,433.