By Gabriel Pruett
The News Sports Writer
COLLEGE STATION — Port Neches-Groves’ march through the 7-on-7 State Tournament came to a quick end Saturday at the hands of Arlington Lamar.
Guided by University of Texas quarterback commit Shane Buechele, the Vikings eliminated the Indians early Saturday with a 34-32 victory.
PN-G went 3-0 Friday to get to the winner’s bracket and in its first game Saturday never appeared to get things going against Lamar.
Buechele was very efficient and even took to shovel passes several times to pick up first downs after noticing PN-G defenders run deep with receivers.
PN-G players were disappointed with their play Saturday even knowing the experience could lead to great things during the regular season.
“It doesn’t feel good,” PN-G defender Anthony Anniboli said. “We treat every quarterback the same. We can’t think he is the greatest ever just because he has gone to some camps. He was good, can’t take that away from him.
“This year is far better than last year for us. We didn’t win any games last year. It is great going 3-1 and now we are looking forward to the upcoming season.”
Receiver Keynel McZeal really showed a lot this weekend, as did all the receivers, and he impressed many with several big-time receptions.
“We are disappointed,” McZeal said. “Lamar was very focused today. Their quarterback plays at a top level. They were just clicking. We seemed tired today and didn’t come out as hard we did Friday. The heat had a lot to with it. It was hot out there but the other team had to deal with it, too.”
McZeal’s quarterback, Adam Morse, was overall pleased with his team’s effort even after the loss considering PN-G won a very tough pool Friday that included Pearland, Plainview and Lake Dallas.
“The key was missing few extra points,” Morse said. “This tournament is huge because we know we can win. We are ready to put the pads on and show what we can do.
“We improved on defense a lot and on offense. We played a hard schedule. Buechele was a great quarterback today. We feel good. We are just a small 5A school and beating a big 6A school (Pearland on Friday) is a good feeling.”