I will Never Understand

[Stattrax]

VIDOR — Friday night was full of surprises.

Kolbie Humble rushed for four touchdowns, and Vidor surprised previously unbeaten Port Arthur Memorial with a 31-21 victory in the teams’ regular-season finale. Now, the Titans (8-1, 7-1 in 22-5A) — who were fighting for their first outright district title and first unbeaten regular season in their 15-year history — have to share District 22-5A’s top prize with the upstart Pirates (8-2, 7-1 in 22-5A), who finished atop league standings for the first time since 1978, and Port Neches-Groves.

“Very shocked,” Humble said of the outcome. “It’s just an unbelievable shock.”

Humble finished with 202 yards on 18 carries, surpassing coach Jeff Mathews’ prediction by 2 yards.

Mathews had a feeling about Humble’s performance, he said after winning his first district crown in 18 seasons leading the Pirates.

“I told him pre-game you’re going to get 200 tonight,” he said. “‘Coach, I hadn’t had 200 my whole life [he recanted Humble saying].’ He had 200 tonight, and it happened. He’s just a workhorse.”

Humble gained 67 of those yards early in the third quarter on a third-and-2 run all the way to the Memorial 5, where he was stopped by speedster Kary Vincent Jr. The Pirates settled for a field goal to go up 24-0.

But Memorial wasn’t going away so easily. No, not even after losing three fumbles and giving up an onside kick.

“We just made some mental mistakes the first half you just can’t make against a good football team,” Titans coach Kenny Harrison said. “Hey, no excuses. We’re not like no other team in the district where we make excuses when we lose. If you beat us, you beat us. We don’t make excuses like other people. We just lost. They were a better football team than us tonight.”

Quarterback Kadon Harrison engineered back-to-back touchdown drives of three plays or fewer, as Memorial took advantage of two failed fourth-down conversion attempts for Vidor.

Harrison, who completed 9 of 17 passes for 171 yards, had touchdown bombs of 63 yards to Keitha Jones and 41 to Rickey Thomas to bring Memorial to within 24-21. He also rushed five times for 58 yards and a score.

“We just took advantage of some 2-on-2 matchups,” Kenny Harrison said. “They came out and played some man in the second quarter, and we were able to get behind them and do some things. They did a good job of keeping us in front of them. They did an excellent job tonight.”

Following Thomas’ score, Vidor got good field position after a failed onside kick and scored with 4:32 left on Humble’s 8-yard carry.

Vidor’s ability to control the clock was no surprise, but holding Memorial to 73 first-half yards may have stunned the heavily favored Titans. Elijah Hines, who was the only Titan to carry the ball in the half, finished with 57 yards on 16 carries.

The Pirates capitalized on the first of three Memorial fumbles late in the first quarter and turned it into a nine-play, 64-yard march to make the score 14-0 with 6:31 left before halftime. Quarterback Maverick Quirante converted a fourth-and-1 play dragging a bunch of defenders on a 13-yard carry to the Titans’ 4, and Humble rushed for the touchdown three plays later.

A successful onside kick gave possession right back to the Pirates at the Titans’ 48, and it took them just three plays to up the score to 21-0. Quirante’s only pass attempt of the half went to Haylon Leckelt from 33 yards out, setting up Humble’s 13-yard dash.

The Titans went 12 plays from their own 42 with the help of two 11-yard passes by Kadon Harrison. The series, though, ended with Hines’ fumble just shy of the goal line.

Neither team scored on its opening series, although each gained a first down. Humble rushed 22 yards for the opening score to close an 11-play, 75-yard series.

The Titans finished with 286 total yards. Vidor had 384.

But, by no means did the Pirates outdo themselves, Quirante said.

“No, not at all,” he said. “We knew we haven’t played our best game all year. We could bring it out tonight and make an upset. We did. We showed up. We played hard.”

Memorial’s 5A Division I bi-district playoff game was confirmed earlier Friday. The Titans will face New Caney Porter at 7:30 p.m. next Friday at the New Caney ISD stadium.

“We just have to put this one behind us as quick as possible, get back to work Monday and get ready to roll,” Kenny Harrison said.

Vidor will take on Crosby in the 5A D-II bi-district round next weekend, with date and location to be determined.

[Stattrax]

So are you calling everyone in the district cry babies? Other than Vidor?

[AthleticSupporter - Jock]

41 minutes ago, Buddy Garrity said:

So are you calling everyone in the district cry babies? Other than Vidor?

That was a strange quote but I never read too much into post game interviews with emotions running high. 

[prepballfan]

OLD X-BOX-Kenny

[BMTSoulja1]

I think he's talking about PN-G and Nederland, because their fan base was the once being whiney and making excuses.  hounding know coaches read these forums...

[Eagle91]

11 minutes ago, BMTSoulja1 said:

I think he's talking about PN-G and Nederland, because their fan base was the once being whiney and making excuses.  hounding know coaches read these forums...

I believe his fan's are doing the same thing on the PAM vs Vidor thread. Blaming the coaches and turnovers.

[robanadana]

I whined when we lost to you at the Rez. IT happens.

[badndn]

Never saw a single comment from a coach or a post from a fan that made any excuses for the loss PNG took from PAM. Hines and the Titan Lines whooped us. This guy needs to focus on PAM and stay off the MBs. 

[BMTSoulja1]

Actually, there was and quite a lot of whining and excuses in Twitter and Facebook.  It even escalated to really bad comments about the City of Port Arthur in general, Port Arthur kid's home training, 'if Faircloth coaches that team, they'd be state champions every year', ect.  

Then when many got on their case,  some pulled the chicken 'you know what' move and deleted their comment...

[tvc184]

When a coach says, we are not like other teams in the district making excuses, is he talking about the coaching staffs or fans?

I saw no coaches complaining about being cheated or "what ifs". I saw plenty of fans doing it and have seen the same from PAM fans that I know since Friday. 

Is Harrison blaming fans for being fans or comparing himself and his coaches to fans? 

It seems as if he has an ax to grind like maybe he doesn't think that PAM has gotten enough respect and in his emotion after losing the game is crossing fan bases/internet posts with coaches. In a strange kind of way it seems like his comment on excuses is like whining after seeing his expected perfect season going down the drain. 

On the other hand, this whole thread might be entirely too many brain cells wasted on an after game comment with no time to think it out. 

Oh yeah, Is "other people" a pejorative? 

[Realville]

I thought it was an odd comment when I first read it but he was definitely talking about somebody in our district. He gets a win next week he'll be alright. Winning cures all.

[Stattrax]

Yep