Heath notches win No. 150 over South Houston 63-6

Written by Dr David Davis Thursday, 01 November 2012 12:19

When Pearland head coach Tony Heath arrived in Pearland in 1997, he inherited a team that had a 17-game losing streak to begin his first head coaching job. His first priority was to win one game. After six more losses to run the streak to 23, Heath got his first win, a 23-14 victory over Pasadena.

The Oilers went on to finish the 1997 regular season with a 2-8 record, but they won the right games in the Pasadena district and emerged with the tie-breaker that sent them to the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Pearland lost to Ball High 28-8 in the opening round, but the first Heath squad got a taste of winning and the post-season -- all in the same year

Now, 16 years later, the Oilers are the 10th winningest football team in the entire state of Texas of any class since 1999, while adding a state championship on the biggest stage in Texas in 2010 when they beat No. 1 nationally-ranked Euless Trinity 28-24 in front of over 60,000 football fans at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

This past Friday, this current Pearland team walked all over the South Houston Trojans and in so doing -- handed Heath win No. 150 in his storied coaching career. Heath is now 150-42 overall and has earned the admiration of his coaching peers from all across the state.
Some of this year's current band of Pearland players were also on the first state championship team when they were sophomores and they know what it takes to be at the big dance.

Coach Heath didn't realize that the win over South Houston was No. 150 until after the game.

"I honestly didn't know that this was my 150th win," Heath sheepishly said. "You know I don't keep up with that stuff. But it is a great milestone and one that I couldn't have reached without my coaches and players."
Anyone who knows Heath will testify that he doesn't seek any personal glory or credit, but the success of any team rides on the shoulders of a leader and Heath has certainly provided that leadership since coming to Pearland.

The win also included Heath getting to see his son, Connor, who is a junior quarterback, able to participate in the win.

While the players probably didn't recognize the monumental win, there was no question the Oilers were waiting to take South Houston apart and they did it from every direction.

Pearland had nine possessions and they scored on all nine possessions without having to ever punt the ball.

The offense scored three times on the first five plays of the game as Jacob Garner opened the game with a 67-yard scoring jaunt through the middle of the South Houston defense. Michael Winstead booted the first of his nine PATs for a 7-0 lead with 11:41 left in the first period

Hayden Cole proved to be a scoring machine while making some spectacular moves throughout the contest.

Cole scored four times on runs of 2, 42, 19, and 6-yards with his final score coming with 1:40 remaining in the second quarter.

Add newly arrived standout Resheed Davis who took a short screen pass and turned it into a crowd-pleasing 54-yard touchdown and sophomore JaColbie Butler who turned on his after-burners to complete a 30-yard scoring dash, and the Oilers had a 49-6 lead at intermission.

Zach Boegler added a 2-yard scoring run in the third quarter and Cameron Brown notched a 5-yard run in the fourth period to complete the 63-6 scoring parade. It is the third time this season that Pearland has scored 63 points in a game. The Oilers beat Pasadena (63-0) and Sam Rayburn (63-0).

When the dust had cleared, Pearland had amassed 502 total yards while the Oilers defense held the Trojans to 198 total yards including a mere 36 yards rushing.

Backup quarterback Kalen Johnson was 9-of-16 passing for 121 yards and one score. Connor Heath hit 1-of-2 passes for 15 yards.

Cole led all ball carriers with eight carries for 99 yards and four scores.  Garner had two carries for 83 yards and one TD. Butler finished with three carries for 74 yards and one score. Brown had four carries for 25 yards and a score.

There were eight different receivers who caught passes during the game with Davis leading the way with three grabs for 64 yards and one TD.

Pearland (6-1, 4-0) will travel to face Pasadena Memorial (6-1, 3-1) on Friday, October 26 at 7:00 p.m. at Pasadena Memorial Veterans Stadium. The only loss suffered by Memorial came at the hands of Manvel by the score of 35-14.