FOOTBALL: PNG’s Johnson showcases in Under Armour start
Published 8:13 pm Thursday, January 3, 2019
Roschon Johnson officially made it to the national stage in his football career.
The Port Neches-Groves early graduate earned the starting nod for Team Flash and unofficially completed 5 of 11 passes for 47 yards Thursday, but the Deion Sanders-coached Team Ballaholics edged Steve Mariucci’s Flash 28-27 in the Under Armour All-America game in Orlando, Florida.
PNG coach Brandon Faircloth was on the same sideline as Johnson for one final game, assisting Mariucci.
Johnson, who signed with the University of Texas last month, led the Flash on a go-ahead drive early in the fourth quarter. He had runs of 9 and 15 yards as well as a 1-yard sneak for a first down. That drive culminated in a touchdown to put the Flash up 27-21.
Johnson’s longest completion went for 22 yards in the first quarter. He checked into the final drive of the second quarter with the Flash down 14-13, but a throw in the red zone bounced off his intended target and ended in an interception.
One of the announcers early in the broadcast compared Johnson’s run-pass style to that of University of Houston quarterback D’Eriq King, whose new head coach Dana Holgorsen was formally introduced Thursday.
The Flash’s Cade York, an LSU commit from McKinney, set a UA All-America record with a 59-yard kick in the early going. He went 2 for 3, opening the scoring with a 39-yard try, but pushed a 49-yard attempt just to the right with 2:04 remaining that would have put the Flash back in front.
Two of Johnson’s Flash teammates, linebacker David Gbenda of Katy Cinco Ranch, and tight end Brayden Liebrock of Chandler, Arizona, are also going to Texas.
— I.C. Murrell