Pearland roughs up Pasadena Rayburn, 63-0

Written by Administrator Monday, 08 October 2012 15:33

By TED DUNNAM

Ecstatic would most certainly over-describe Pearland defensive coordinator Mark Kanipes’ reaction after the Oilers’ 63-0 win over Pasadena Rayburn Thursday night.

Add last week’s 63-0 pasting of Pasadena High by the Oilers, and it still doesn’t elicit much of a reaction from the low-keyed Kanipes.

“A lot of it’s luck, but we’ve played pretty well,” Kanipes said. “We try not to give up big plays and hope to win the turnover margin. That’s our goal. When we do that, good things seem to happen.”

For the second straight week, Pearland (4-1, 2-0) dominated its opponent on both sides of the ball.

Oiler quarterback Jake Garner scored three first-half touchdowns on runs of 10, 3 and 37 yards as Pearland led 21-0 after one quarter and 49-0 by halftime.

“I told our kids we needed to come out here, put our heads down and grind,” Pearland head coach Tony Heath said. “Honestly, we know they’re not all going to be like this. But when they are like this, we need to make sure we’re doing our job.

“That means doing things right, and playing good, hard football.”

In the decisive first half, Pearland accumulated 17 first downs to just two for Rayburn. The Oilers rushed for 193 yards, and Pearland quarterbacks Garner and Kalen Johnson combine to complete 9 of 15 passes during that time for 115 yards.

Garner’s first two touchdown runs gave the Oilers a 14-0 cushion before Hayden Cole’s 5-yard burst for a TD led to a 21-0 bulge with 3:24 still remaining in the opening period.

Pearland scored four touchdowns in the second quarter, the first coming on a 13-play drive that culminated with fullback Zach Boegler’s one-yard plunge to make it 28-0 at the 10:04 mark.

The Oilers then drove 75 yards in four plays for their next score, but got 63 of those yards on the final two snaps – a 26-yard completion from Garner to Carter Jefferson before Garner rambled 37 yards for this third TD.

That pushed the Pearland advantage to 35-0 with 6:58 showing before the half.

On Rayburn’s ensuing possession, Pearland’s lead swelled to 42-0 with 4:33 left in the second quarter when Oiler defensive back Marlon Walls picked up a fumble by Rayburn’s LaTrone Williams and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown.

That represented the second touchdown the Oiler defense helped make happen. The first came when linebacker Justin Phillips intercepted a pass by Rayburn’s Ernie Martinez and returned it to the Texan 14 yard line.

Phillips juggled the ball for about 10 yards before gaining control just in time to be waylaid out of bounds.

Pearland’s final touchdown of the half was engineered by reserve quarterback Johnson, who drove the Oilers 55 yards for a TD just 27 seconds before the end of the half.

Johnson completed a 19-yard pass to Robert LaChuisa, and the junior signal-caller also ran 13 yards down to the Texans’ 21 yard line.

On the next play, Johnson threw a perfect wide receiver screen pass to Andrew Mapps, who used a wall of blockers to zig-zag his way into the end zone.

“The kids executed the game plan well on offense,” Heath said. “Jake and Kalen both did a good job out there. We saw the things we could get and took advantage of it.”

Pearland wasted no time producing points in the second half, scoring on its first play. Running back JaColbie Butler exploded through the left side of his line and raced 52 yards for a touchdown to make it 56-0 at the 11:49 mark of the third quarter.

The Oilers’ final touchdown came with 8:25 left in the game when Zach Norman bulled into the end zone from a yard out to cap a 37-yard drive. Michael Winstead and Ronik Patel combined for a perfect night on PATs for Pearland.

Kanipes said Pearland’s defense is still a work in progress.

“We’re still trying to figure out the puzzle,” he said. “We played a freshman at defensive tackle today, and we had several combinations out there.

“We’re swarming to the ball, but we need to get off blocks better, and we need to do a better job of tackling. We focus on our mistakes at the beginning of the week and eradicate them. We’ve got to ramp up because we’ve got some good football teams ahead of us.”

Heath echoed Kanipes’ sentiments.

“Not to shortchange Rayburn, but the competition will get better,” the Oiler head coach said. “We’ll have to step up. If we’re satisfied with this, then we’re fooling ourselves.

“Our offense and defense are going to have to measure up. There are good teams ahead of us, and we’ve got to be able to answer the challenge.”

Rayburn managed just four first downs and 77 yards against Pearland’s defense, which has now recorded three shutouts and allowed just three points in four wins.