Roschon Johnson believes in the power of Southeast Texas football so much, he became the Port Arthur News’ Super Team Player of the Year for the second year in a row.

The game in which the Port Neches-Groves junior quarterback excels so much brought communities together in the wake of a tropical storm.

“It was really important just to get some normalcy back into the community after the storm,” said the University of Texas oral commit, who added he was blessed to win the award a second time. “Just to get back to the norm of Southeast Texas and just playing football and being happy, bringing everybody together that day was pretty special.”

That day was Sept. 8, nine days after the floodwater from Tropical Storm Harvey peaked and 10 days after Harvey first touched down in the area.

Port Arthur Memorial had to wait 10 more days just to start the school year and kicked off two days after that.

For Elijah Hines and Jomard Valsin, it was worth the wait.

“It was wonderful,” Hines said. “We came back as a team, and then we helped out the community and went to practice and did what we had to do.

Hines was one of many student-athletes from across Southeast Texas volunteering to aid those in need in the wake of Harvey’s destruction. On the field, the senior running back and Louisiana Tech verbal commit turned in a second straight Super Team Offensive Player of the Year campaign, going for 1,401 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns.

Valsin quarterbacked, so to speak, a defense that was one of the best in the district. The sack machine’s impact earned him top defensive honors from 22-5A — and the Super Team Defensive Player of the Year award.

“People say like, I’m kind of a quiet assassin,” said Valsin, who’s nicknamed Smooth. “So I kind of embrace that.”

PNG on Sept. 8 hosted Baytown Sterling, a 6A school from a community that was still reeling from the impacts of what was then Hurricane Harvey. Johnson teamed up with wide receiver Preston Riggs for three touchdowns, threw for two more and ran for one in a 55-31 victory.

That game started a string of 10 straight games Johnson combined for five or more touchdowns. He totaled 63 of them on the season — 35 passing (to go with 2,920 yards) and 28 rushing (1,607 yards on 220 carries).

With Johnson’s legs, the Indians started the season 8-0 and had clinched a share of the District 22-5A championship before the regular season finale against Nederland. PNG lost that game, but Johnson picked the Indians back up with 10 combined TDs in a 72-69 bi-district round win over Crosby.

Hines’ favorite moment from the season came after the Titans’ only regular season defeat to Johnson and the Indians. It carried Memorial into the third round of the 5A Division I playoffs.

“We came together,” he said, mentioning the moment. “After we lost to PNG, we buckled down together, played together as a team.”

That’s exactly what Valsin, a 6-foot-2, 237-pounder who runs a 4.65 40-yard dash, takes from such a dramatic season.

“After the storm, it kind of brought us together to be more like brothers,” he said.

As teams banded together in times of need, the season taught Johnson to not take anything for granted.

“We’re blessed to be able to play football,” he said.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews