Manvel flies past Pearland 42-28

Written by Dr David Davis Monday, 12 November 2012 13:41

MANVEL — Everyone who anticipated the game between the Manvel Mavericks and the Pearland Oilers knew that the Mavs would put the ball in the air. If the Oilers secondary could stop the high-flying Mavs, then the game would be really close.

Unfortunately, the Oilers were unable to stop the Houston area's top passer as senior QB Shane McCarley hit 20-of-40 passing for 422 yards and five touchdowns for a 42-28 win that also included the District 22-5A title as both teams entered the game undefeated at 5-0 in league play.

Manvel improves to 8-1 while the Oilers drop to 7-2 overall.

The game wasn't as lopsided as it appeared as Pearland had some golden opportunities to separate themselves from the Mavs, but failed to take advantage of those key moments in the game that allowed Manvel to capitalize on some miscues.

With that high-octane offense, you can't let opportunities go away," Pearland head coach Tony Heath said. "You can look everywhere in the game for that. We get a little bit of momentum then we get a penalty and knock us back. Then defensively, we let them have those big plays."

Manvel opened up the game by hitting a 66-yard touchdown bomb on the fifth play. McCarley hit Carlos Thompson in stride for the score with 10:15 left in the opening period for a 7-0 lead.

But two possessions later, Pearland answered with a 63-yard explosion from QB Jake Garner to Kevin Washington to knot up the game at 7-7 with 4:32 left in the first stanza.

Click to enlarge.

Manvel drove the ball to the Pearland 10, but Ronnie Fraser picked up a fumble and made his way down the left sideline with a lot of good blocking to score for the Oilers.

However, Pearland was called for a questionable block in the back that placed the ball on the Manvel 10.

With :18 seconds left in the first quarter, Hyden Cole scored on a 7-yard run to give the Oilers a 14-7 lead.

Manvel took the kickoff and drove the ball to the Pearland five-yard line where McCarley rolled out and hit Kyrion Parker for a game-tying touchdown with 7:56 left in the second quarter. The drive was aided by a pass interference call on the Oilers.

Pearland was forced to punt on their next possession and Manvel set up at their own 46.

The Oilers came up with an interception, but it was nullified as the Oilers were called for pass interference. Three plays later, McCarley escaped the pass rush and found Kwandre Wilson behind the Pearland secondary for a 36-yard scoring pass and a 21-14 lead with 4:18 left in the first half.

Pearland was forced to punt on their next possession with only 1:35 left before intermission. While penalties had cost the Oilers and given the Mavs new life, it would be a mistake by Pearland's punter who fielded the ball at his own 42. The snap was low and the punter blocked the ball and was call down because his knee was on the ground.

That gave Manvel the ball at Pearland's 42. After two incomplete passes, McCarley lofted a ball down the right side and a Pearland defensive back stepped in front of the receiver to intercept the ball. However, the ball went through his hands and into the hands of Austin Bennett who scored on the 42-yard pass play to give the Mavs a 28-14 halftime lead.

The Oilers weren't going to give up as they got the second half kickoff and marched down to score on a 3-yard run by Garner to close the gap to 28-21 with 10:02 left in the third quarter.

One of the key plays was a 24-yard reverse by Washington to the Manvel 19. The Mavs were also assessed their fifth personal foul giving the Oilers the ball inside the 10 setting up Garner's scoring run.

The Mavs went on a scoring spree as Qyalan Clay scored on a 20-yard run and then Thompson scored on a 29-yard scoring pass from McCarley with 1:39 left in the third quarter to increase their lead to 42-21.

Pearland held Manvel scoreless in the final quarter, but was able to only score once when JaColbie Butler scored on a 1-yard run to make the final score 42-28.