KFDM COOP Posted October 4, 2008 Report Posted October 4, 2008 Sterling wins over New Caney, 39-24 By Dave Rogers Published October 4, 2008 NEW CANEY – Here’s something Baytonians haven’t seen in a while: Baytown Sterling calling timeout at the end of the first half so it can pad a four-touchdown lead. The maneuver backfired and set off a New Caney scoring flurry that made for a dramatic finish Friday night at Don Ford Stadium. A happy finish, too, for the Rangers. Mark Gray’s fourth-quarter interception and 30-yard return led to two late Sterling scores and a 39-24 win over the Eagles in a final tuneup for District 21-5A play. And, of course, next week’s league opener is against Lee as the fifth decade of the intracity rivalry called simply “The Game†rolls around next Friday night. “It was an ugly win,†Sterling head coach Herb Minyard said, “and I love it.†The Rangers improved to 3-1 on the season, winning for the first time since Sept. 5. “We needed to win and it’s better than a pretty loss. Hats off to my kids; they kept fighting. New Caney did a good job to stay in the game and, certainly, we made it nteresting.†The Rangers led 25-0 with 2:15 remaining in the first half and New Caney faced third-and-five from its own 25 when the Rangers called time in hopes of getting to work on their two-minute offense. Eagles quarterback Buddy Rios scrambled for seven yards and a first down and, suddenly, it was the New Caney coaches calling the timeouts. New Caney scored eight plays later, when Rios passed to Chad Jackson for a 24-yard score with 12 seconds left before half that made it 25-6 at the break. The scoring continued in the second half for New Caney, which went 75 yards in 12 plays with the third-quarter kickoff to score on a 28-yard pass from Rios to Joey Hibner. A fake punt helped the Eagles get to within 25-18 with 3:34 left in the third quarter. Cash Gilmer threw 24 yards to Austin Echols out of punt formation to give New Caney new life with a first down at the Ranger 42. On the very next play, Rios found Jackson wide open down the middle for a 42-yard touchdown. The Eagles remained within a touchdown until Gray caught a deflected pass and returned it to the Eagle 25 with 6:01 left in the game. Ranger quarterback Keagan Kogut followed with his third short TD run of the game with 3:06 remaining, then Lesroy Clarke sealed things when he ran 23 yards to score with 2:33 left. That came after New Caney failed on a fourth-down pass from its own 23. The Eagles did score again, with 35 seconds left, on a short Rios run. Sterling built its 25-0 with some luck, trickery, solid play and quick scores. The Rangers picked up their first break of the game when Mark Michel fell on an Eagle fumble at the New Caney 23 on New Caney’s second snap of the game. Sterling scored in six plays, with Malcolm Zeno going over the left side for a two-yard score. Then Minyard’s minions really caught New Caney napping with an onsides kickoff. As the Eagles raced back to set up their blocks, Zeno covered it for the Rangers. This time, Sterling went 51 yards in nine plays to score, with Kogut sneaking over from the one. Kogut rushed 18 times for 72 yards and the three TDs and completed 6 of 13 passes for 88 yards. Clarke carried the ball 13 times for 68 yards and Chance Nelson caught two passes for 55 yards and added a 55-yard score on a punt return. Nelson’s catch-and-run efforts of 15 and 40 yards set up Kogut’s second one-yard TD for a 19-0 lead with 5:34 left in the second quarter. The next time Sterling got the ball, Nelson made quick work of it by scooting 55 yards down the right sideline to score, darting and dodging Eagles all the way.
sahen Posted October 5, 2008 Report Posted October 5, 2008 wasn't as convincing as i would like but i'll take it...they gotta stop getting up on teams in the first half and letting them back in it...they paid for it w/ a loss last week but pulled it out this week....next weeks game will be fun to watch, all of baytown should be out in force at stallworth as sterling and lee look close to even this year, sterling may even have the slight advantage for once since lee seems to have no offense whatsoever (which is really really weird for them).....anyway, sterling/lee could be for a playoff spot as well since it appears that channelview is god awful and since there are only 6 teams in the district 2 wins will prolly get you in...
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