Unbeaten at home: Titans take care of business, earn share of District 22-5A

Published 1:41 am Saturday, October 29, 2016

Undefeated home record? Check. A share of the District 22-5A championship? Check.

Next on Port Arthur Memorial’s to-do list? Undefeated regular season and outright district title.

Kadon Harrison had another accurate passing game for his senior night, but it was a pair of junior running backs who accounted for four touchdowns in the Titans’ 49-10 rout of Baytown Lee on Friday night.

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Harrison completed 8 of 11 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown each to classmates De’Andre Angelle and Rickey Thomas.

“It feels great to be the first Memorial team to go 9-0, and then eventually we can go 10-0, so it feels good to make history here in Port Arthur,” Harrison said.

Memorial is officially 8-0 and 7-0 in 22-5A.

There was more reason than seniority for Harrison to play from start to finish. The backup quarterback, junior Keitha Jones, is also a wide receiver.

“We were just handing the ball off,” Memorial coach Kenny Harrison, Kadon’s father, said. “We felt if we put [Jones] in to hand the ball off, he would’ve kept the ball, so we didn’t want to risk anything with that young man.”

Junior Elijah Hines was very productive in a much shorter amount of time. Of his four carries for 105 yards, three of them went for touchdowns.

He had a 70-yard run on the game’s opening play called back for holding. So, he tried again the next play and rushed 71 yards for a touchdown.

But it would take the Titans some time to pull away from the Ganders (1-8, 0-7). Lee scored on its first drive, getting help from Jaylen Johnson on a 36-yard carry on third-and-4.

The Titans built a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter with Kobi Martin, who is incorrectly listed as a senior in the game program, doing much of the rushing. The junior had six carries for 76 yards before halftime, while Kadon Harrison snuck into the end zone and found senior De’Andre Angelle on a crossing pattern from 3 yards out for a score.

Omar Hernandez converted a 40-yard field goal to pull the Ganders within 21-10, but that was all they would muster on the scoreboard. Hines’ second rushing touchdown of 18 yards came after a taunting penalty against the Titans wiped out a score on what would have been a 65-yard kickoff return by senior Kary Vincent Jr.

Thomas’ 22-yard catch gave the Titans a 35-10 lead. D.J. Riley picked off Harrison at the end of the half and returned it 60 yards from the goal line.

Hines and Martin each rushed for a TD in the second half to shape up the final score. Martin finished with 108 yards on nine carries.

“Kobi’s a gem of a football player,” Kenny Harrison said. “He works at it as if he was a starter week in and week out.”

Gregory Laday returned an interception 20 yards out of the end zone with less than 5 minutes remaining.

The Titans easily outgained the Ganders 422-175 in total yards, although 11 different Ganders carried the ball. Lee did not attempt a pass in the second half.

Memorial can win its first district title in school history outright next Friday with a win at Vidor. Lee gets one last opportunity at a district win at home next Friday against Central.

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

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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