Memorial and Galena Park took 1 hour, 35 minutes to complete the first half of their District 9-5A Division I opener Friday night. In that timespan, one might have forgotten how much quicker Memorial can score on a possession.

Try three possessions each in less than a minute.

The Titans their first three drives in 11, 52 and 53 seconds on their way to a 35-7 win over Galena Park in a game that lasted 3 hours, 1 minute. The win is the 11th in a row at Memorial Stadium for the Titans (4-0, 1-0 in 9-5A-I), who last lost in Port Arthur to another Galena Park ISD team — eventual state champion North Shore — in the 2015 season finale.

Junior Alex Ned got Memorial going with a 74-yard touchdown catch and run from Kam Ladia on the Titans’ first offensive play after Galena Park (2-2, 0-1) ran eight plays in nearly 3 minutes.

The Titans’ second possession went 73 yards in five plays, including four first downs and no penalties, all in 52 seconds. Sophomore Branden Chaney coasted 31 yards to make it a 14-0 game.

Junior Chan Rubin then was the recipient of a 44-yard strike from Ladia, capping a five-play, 57-yard series in the third sub-minute drive.

Thirteen penalties — eight of them for 15 yards each — and a combined 8-for-29 passing by both teams, not to mention the touchdowns themselves, often stopped the first-half clock. Ladia was 4 for 15 with an Antonio Zamora interception for the game, but he also had 141 passing yards and the two touchdown strikes.

Chaney finished with 13 carries for 99 yards and two scores, the other coming on a 9-yard run late in the first quarter.

 

DEFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS

Junior Colton Mitchell returned an interception 48 yards to pad the Titans’ lead to 35-0, the halftime score. Mitchell also recovered a fumble on Galena Park’s first offensive series, allowing Ned and the Titans to capitalize and set the tone for the game, and picked off another pass and returned it 30 yards in the fourth quarter.

Jacob Washington, Memorial’s football athlete of the week, also had an interception he took back 26 yards.

The Titans avoided losing a shutout before halftime when a high snap in field-goal formation forced kicker Julian Villalobos to recover for a big loss of yards. The attempt would have been from 45 yards out.

 

THE GAME BALL GOES TO …

Mitchell for two picks (one touchdown) and fumble recovery.

 

NEXT UP …

Memorial will visit Goose Creek Memorial on Thursday. Kickoff at Stallworth Stadium in Baytown is 7 p.m.

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

 

Titans 35, Yellowjackets 7

Galena Park   0          0          7          0          —        7

Memorial        28       7          0          0          —        35

 

First quarter

Memorial — Alex Ned 74 pass from Kam Ladia (Kenny Pham kick), 9:08

Memorial — Branden Chaney 31 run (Pham kick), 7:19

Memorial — Chan Rubin 44 pass from Ladia (Pham kick), 5:25

Memorial — Chaney 9 run (Pham kick), 1:52

Second quarter

Memorial — Colton Mitchell 48 interception return (Pham kick), 10:20

Third quarter

GP — Eliseo Quintero 5 run (Julian Villalobos kick), 6:52

 

GP       Mem

First downs    7          13

Rushes-yards 30-50 35-147

Passing yards            28       141

Total yards     78       288

Comp-Att-Int 6-21-2            4-19-1

Fumbles-lost  1-1      5-4

Penalties-yards         9-110 10-109

 

Individual statistics

RUSHING — GP: Quintero 19-46, Elizar Torres 6-22, Eric Guzman 2-0, Julian Macias 2-0, Team 1-(-18). Memorial: Chaney 13-99, Teajawon Mack 4-39, Jayven Jean-Louis 5-10, JaVontae’ Hopkins 1-7, Jatavian Neal 5-3, Ladia 2-(-4), Team 5-(-7).

PASSING — GP: Guzman 6-16-0, 28; Macias 0-4-1. Memorial: Ladia 4-15-1, 147; Brian Milton 0-4-0.

RECEIVING — GP: Patrick Hernandez 3-17, Macias 2-11, Carlos Guzman 1-0. Memorial: Ned 1-74, Rubin 1-44, Tavion Gipson 1-16, Mack 1-7.