By Chris Moore

Special to The News

As the final whistle blew, the Port Arthur Memorial Titans began to celebrate their 40-14 revenge win against the Vidor Pirates, who handed the Titans their only loss last season.

As the players and coaches celebrated, the stadium announcer gave the crowd another reason to celebrate.

“With the final score of 36-35, the Nederland Bulldogs defeat Port Neches-Groves,” the announcer said.

Memorial Stadium erupted in cheers because Memorial (7-1 overall and in 22-5A play) had just earned half of the district championship along with the PNG Indians, whom they lost to 44-36 in mid-October. The Titans led 30-14 at halftime of that game.

“I’m just happy,” senior quarterback Keitha Jones said. “I felt like we deserved to win that PNG game. We worked hard all year and I feel like we earned it and — congratulations, Nederland.”

The Titans jumped out to an early lead on the Pirates when Jones connected on a 30-yard pass to senior James Francis to give Memorial a 7-0 advantage with 10:02 left in the first quarter.

Following a three-and-out by the Pirates, the Titans pounced once again, capping off a short drive with a four-yard touchdown run by Jones. The Memorial quarterback finished the game completing 14 of 18 passes for 286 yards with one interception and five total touchdowns (four passing).

The Titans seemed to tack on another 26 points before Vidor could blink. Jones connected Xavier Hull twice for scores of 34 and 85 yards, respectively. Hull was not listed on the roster for the game because he just returned to Memorial two weeks ago, after evacuating to The Woodlands following Tropical Storm Harvey.

“Yeah, we were missing him,” Memorial coach Kenny Harrison said. “We just got him back a couple of weeks ago. We’re excited to have him back.”

Hull said that he was excited to be back and provide a spark for the offense.

“It just feels good to be back,” Hull said. “I just listened to my coaches and let the game flow.”

Hull finished the game with three receptions for 129 yards, and his quarterback said he was especially happy to have his receiver back.

“I feel like he makes us complete,” Jones said. “He gives us more speed. We already have a lot of speed and he gives us more. He is the fastest player on our team now. He’s back and I feel like we’re even more dangerous.”

The Pirates tacked on two late scores, but the Titans already sent their message. Harrison said this game was one of the games he looked forward to all year.

“To be honest with you, I’ve been waiting for this game for 365 days,” Harrison said. “To be able to revenge last year’s loss is a good feeling. I’m excited about it. We’ve got a great group of kids. Now we have to put this behind us and move forward.”

Vidor finishes up the regular season with a 5-3 record (overall and in district). The Pirates will face New Caney in the first round of the playoffs. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

It was not immediately clear whom Memorial would play next week.