By Daucy Crizer

Special to The News

TOMBALL – For three quarters, Port Neches-Groves looked to be in control of the game.

However, Tomball scored 17 unanswered fourth quarter points to grab a come-from-behind 31-21 win over the Indians in non-district football action Saturday afternoon at Tomball ISD Stadium.

“It’s a long game. They [Tomball] have some playmakers over there, so we knew it was going to be tough,” said PNG coach Brandon Faircloth. “We obviously had some missed coverages on defense.

“That’s what non-district is for. We want to play good people and have a chance to get better. That’s what we’re doing. It’s going to pay off down the road.”

The loss spoiled a good outing from senior backup quarterback Grant Rogers, making his first career varsity start. Rogers finished the game completing 17 of 31 passes for 218 yards and two touchdown passes. He was also threw two late interceptions and was sacked several times for minus-36 yards.

“I thought we came out and played well,” said Faircloth. “We started our backup quarterback [Rogers] and I thought he had a great game and was really proud of him, sitting in the pocket and throwing the ball around.

“I was proud of our guys. We made some mistakes like all teams do. We’re off next week so we’ll have a chance to heal up, fix those mistakes and get ready for the district opener at [Baytown] Lee.”

Regular starter Roschon Johnson was held out after sustaining an ankle sprain last Friday in a loss to Huntsville.

The Indians were led on the ground by Jaylan Williams, who finished with 68 yards on nine carries. Gavin Deslatte rushed nine times for 35 yards. As a team, the Indians rushed for 67 yards and finished the game with 285 yards of total offense.

Leading 14-7 to start the third quarter, the Indians added to their lead midway through the quarter. Kade Martin intercepted a Hunter Dunn pass and returned it to the Tomball 23.

PNG (1-2) wasted little time as Rogers hit Kaleb Wuenschel for a 23-yard scoring strike on the very next play from scrimmage to put the Indians up 21-7 with 5:06 remaining in the third quarter. However, that would be the last points that PNG would score the rest of the game.

Tomball (2-1) answered right back to start its comeback.

A steady diet of running back JaKobi Holland kept the drive going. He rushed five times for 32 yards. Dunn hit a streaking JayRis Smith on a 45-yard touchdown pass to pull the Cougars within 21-14 with 1:14 left in the third quarter.

After forcing the Indians to punt on their next possession, Dunn and Smith connected again on a long scoring play. This time it was for 65 yards and suddenly the game was tied at 21-21 with 10:50 left in the fourth quarter.

PNG was stymied again on its next possession, forced to punt after three downs. The Cougars took advantage of a poor punt that put the ball at the PNG 42.

Holland rushed four consecutive times, the last of which was an 11-yard touchdown run to give Tomball its first lead of the game at 28-21 with 7:06 remaining in the game.

A missed 51-yard field goal gave the Indians the ball at their own 34 with 3:59 left and a chance to tie the game. However, Rogers’ pass was intercepted by Brady Cox. Five plays later, the Cougars added to their lead with a 26-yard Austin Hudgens field goal to make the score 31-21 with 2:04 left in the game.

Rogers then hit Jose Ceja on a 9-yard completion to the Tomball 46. Those two connected on two more completions of 6 and 12 yards, the last of which put the ball at the 33. Ceja dropped what should have been a touchdown pass in the end zone. C.J. Strain intercepted Rogers on the very next play to end the threat and the game for the Indians.

Dunn finished the game completing 15 of 22 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns. Smith caught three passes for 123 yards. Holland led all rushers with 129 yards on 22 carries and 1 TD. The Cougars finished the game with 355 yards of total offense.

PNG took the opening kickoff and drove down the field for the game’s first score. Rogers hit Tyler Pippin for 12 yards to the Tomball 29. Rogers capped the drive with a 17-yard scoring strike to Ceja to put the Indians up 7-0 with 7:00 left in the first quarter.

Both defenses kept the offenses at bay until the Indians scored again midway through the second quarter. The drive started after the Cougars missed a 43-yard field goal. Rogers hit Wuenschel for 50 yards to the Tomball 24. Williams rushed for 23 yards to the 1. He capped the drive with a 1-yard TD plunge to put the Indians up 14-0 with 4:25 left in the second quarter.

The Cougars finally put together a scoring drive of their own. Dunn hit Konnor Cooper for 39 yards to get the drive started, putting the ball at the PNG 39. Holland followed with a 20-yard run to the 19. Dunn hit Kasen Handal for a 17-yard touchdown to make the score 14-7 with 2:00 remaining in the second quarter, which was the same score at halftime.

Cougars 31, Indians 21
PNG       7              7              7              0            —              21
Tomball   0              7              7              17           —             31

First quarter
PNG – Jose Ceja 17 pass from Grant Rogers (Mario Oceguera kick), 7:00
Second quarter
PNG – Jaylan Williams 1 run (Oceguera kick), 4:25
Tomball – Kasen Handal 17 pass from Hunter Dunn (Austin Hudgens kick), 2:00
Third quarter
PNG – Kaleb Wuenschel 23 pass from Rogers (Oceguera kick), 5:06
Tomball – JayRis Smith 45 pass from Hunter Dunn (Hudgens kicks), 1:14
Fourth quarter
Tomball — Smith 65 pass from Dunn (Hudgens kick), 10:50
Tomball — JaKobi Holland 11 run (Hudgens kick), 7:06
Tomball — Hudgens 26 FG, 2:04

Team statistics

PNG     Tomb
First downs        15           14
Rushes-yards     23-67     27-116
Passing yards     218         239
Total yards          285         355
Comp-Att-Int     17-33-2 15-22-1
Fumbles-lost     1-0          1-0
Penalties-yards 12-85     8-75
Punts-Avg.           4-26.3    3-33.0

Individual statistics
RUSHING —  PNG: Gavin Deslatte 9-35, Jaylan Williams 9-68; Tomball: JaKobi Holland 22-129, Hunter Dunn 4-(-8).
PASSING — PNG: Grant Rogers 17-31-2—218, Blake Bost 0-2-0—0; Tomball: Hunter Dunn 15-22-1—239.
RECEIVING — PNG: Kaleb Wuenschel 7-113, Jose Ceja 4-44, Cooper Hammond 3-26; Tomball: JayRis Smith 3-123, Jake Johnson 3-22, Konnor Cooper 2-42, Beau Scott 2-19.