Bulldog’s Tenacious defense and forced turnovers end Tiger’s season
Spring Branch – Style points aren’t always a popular concept when comes to Bulldog Football. Some of La Porte’s toughest victories have come in grind-it-out fashion, getting down in the dirt that is.
Facing a stout opponent in Katy, gave way to another dirt-day, which was highlighted by Eric Medina’s 37-yard Field goal with 4:38 to go in the 4th quarter, to give La Porte a stunning 9-7 victory in the Class 5A Region III Semifinals Saturday night at Tully Stadium.
For the second straight year, the Tigers end its season before reaching the title game. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs moved on to the Class 5A Region III Finals where they will face district foe Port Arthur Memorial next Saturday at Reliant Park at 1:00 pm. The two met last month with La Porte taking a 24-20 decision along with the district title.
Katy’s Coach Gary Joseph “Yes, they played well, (La Porte) they did what they had to do to win the game. It’s a tough way to lose; it’s a tough way for our kids to lose. It came down to a couple of mistakes in the kicking game. I can’t complain, our kids played hard. We just didn’t play real smart but we played hard.”
Medina’s Kick was setup, when Bulldogs took possession at the Katy 41-yard after a short punt. Sophomore RB Johnathan Lewis and Keith Whitely carried the Bulldogs down to the 15 before Medina split the uprights.
“I don’t know how to explain it, about the game winning field goal. I’d like to thank God. He told me that I was going to make that game winning field goal,” said Eric Medina, La Porte’s Kicker.
La Porte (12-1) used its gutsy defense to hold the Tigers to a season low of 7-points, which hadn’t been done since 2008, the year; the Tigers dropped a 10-6 decision to North Shore.
We’re a scrappy bunch and it may not always be pretty”, said Jeff Lareau, La Porte’s coach, I always call us the Rocky Balboa of high school football, we’ll get in there but if we’re in the last round toe to toe we got a little bit to bring to the table and that’s what these guys did tonight.”
The Bulldogs broke open a scoreless game with 5:07 left in the first quarter. Highlighted by Whitely’s 29-yard punt return to the Tigers 6-yard line. After holding La Porte on two downs, the Tigers gave chase to QB Josh Vidales who rolled out of the pocket, looking for a WR, but instead scrambled back to the opposite site of the field where found running room down the left sideline to cap a 6-yard TD run. A failed extra point attempt left the score, 6-0.
“We were going straight at them to see if they could stop us. We have a terrific line and I give them all the credit. Sometimes they stopped us and sometimes we pound the ball on them and football games go back and forth, thank God, it went our way”, La Porte’s RB Keith Whitely said. For Port Arthur, it may be a revenge game. In four year we’ve beat them three times.”
A couple of dropped balls complicated things for Katy, on a very windy night. Not to mention the defensive pressure applied by the Bulldog’s front seven, which included DL Cameron Whilley, Tyler Davis, Cory Lee, Mark Guzman, Maurice Morris, LB Tyrone Graves, Chad Sutherland and sophomore Hoza Scott. A bright future looks to be in-store for Scott, a 6’2” 220 LB, who showed the experience of a polished senior, sacking Haack twice and forcing a fumble of Haack.
“We didn’t do a good job, when we had the wind at our backs. We should have taken advantage of that. Their kicking game was better than ours tonight. We didn’t do a good job with the wind. The wind played a big factor in our passing game,” Gary Joseph said. I know they were physical and did a great job of game planning us. Many great teams went down today, including Euless Trinity and Longview. “
Later, in the second quarter, Katy (12-1) executed a 48-yard drive to grab a one-point lead when Haack found Jordan Thompson down the left sideline, which covered 52-yards on the TD strike and after Jeff Johnson’s kick, the Tigers led 7-6.
The Tigers defense was equally impressive, DE ends, Jake Grode and Matt Dimon shored up the line of scrimmage most of the evening. However, the game boiled down to a battle of field position in which La Porte took advantage of, penning the Tigers deep in its own territory at times.
With time becoming a factor, frustrations mounded for the Tigers. Each Katy offensive series that led to great field position was snuffed out by the Bulldog’s defense, whether with a big-play or turnover.
Malik Graves’s interception halted a promising Tiger drive that started at its 32 and ended at the 7-yard line of La Porte. Katy’s next possession was disastrous, when Scott rushed in and stripped Haack of the ball as LB Cameron Whilley, who was in on several big stops, fell on the loose ball at the at the Bulldog 45.
“Coach told us we would have to come out here and play hard on defense if we were to win,” said Jose Scott, La Porte’s OLB
“Basically, I told them, if we’re in there in the fourth quarter with them, we’re going to win the ball game and those kids did what they had to do to keep it going. Punting game worked out good for us. We never gave them good field position. We came up with the big plays on defense and sure enough, we got a chance to kick the field goal,” said Coach Jeff Lareau.
Katy out gained the Bulldogs in total yards, 144 to 122. But suffered three turnovers.
La Porte’s winning drive covered 41 yards as fans watched Medina drilled a 30-yard field goal with 4:38 left to send the Bulldogs to a shocking defeat.
“We came out and gave it our best. They kicked a field goal. We held them as long as we could. Offense did their best and defense did their best. The top team came out on top tonight said,” Katy’s DL Cory Lyons.
Brooks Haack, Katy’s quarterback finished his season with perhaps the most dissapointing game of his career, going 6 of 23 with 88 yards, a touchdown and two INTs and 4-carries for a -19 yards. Freshman RB, Rodney Anderson had 15 totes for 63 yards, WR Jordan Thompson caught six passes for 88 yards.
Kieth Whitely led La Porte in rushing with 94 yards on 29 carries.