by Dr. David Davis E-mail: drdd@swbell.net

The Pearland Oilers and the Kempner Cougars faced one another in the season opener at The Rig and head coach Tony Heath saw his gridiron warriors pull out a close 13-9 win.

However, the second time the two teams faced one another, there was a dramatic difference between the two squads.

In the first meeting, the Pearland defense figured to be ahead of the offense in their early development.

The difference for Kempner wasn't too much different than in the first meeting as it related to Pearland's defense. While the Cougars scored nine points in the first contest, the Oilers still held Kempner to only 120 total yards.

However, in the playoff game, Kempner was held to only one first down and 40 yards in the first half and three first downs and 44 yards in the second half for a total of only 84 yards.

“In our district we play three teams with this type of offense, and usually the advantage of that is, not having seen it, not having worked on it, but it’s the fourth time we’ve played it,” Pearland defensive coordinator Mark Kanipes said. “Our kids know the insides and outsides of it and we executed against Kempner like they practiced all week.”

“Our defense proved that they were a pretty good defense,” Pearland coach Tony Heath said. “They played hard, they played tough and they showed that however many times we’ve faced the bone, they can play pretty good.”
Meanwhile, Pearland's offense completely dominated the second time around with 18 first downs and 374 total yards including 270 on the ground led by junior running back Kasey Carrier who had 185 yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns. Junior quarterback Sam Allen hit 9-of-16 passing for 120 yards and one score.

Pearland struck first on its second possession of the game as Carrier ran for 68 yards on first down to set up the Oilers at the Cougar 27. Carrier finished the short drive off with a 25-yard score as he shifted into high gear after taking the pitch from Allen. Robbie Hersh nailed the extra point for a quick 7-0 lead with 4:42 left in the opening quarter.

The Oilers went on a nine-play, 91-yard ball-controlled drive that took almost five minutes off the game clock. Carrier capped off the drive with a two-yard run while Hersh added the extra point for a 14-0 lead with 5:36 remaining before intermission.

The drive included a 20 yard run by Carrier, a pass from Allen to Carlos Lebron-Thachar covering 22 yards, and an outstanding run by Allen for 22 yards to set up the scoring burst by Carrier.

The Oilers's defense forced Kempner to punt after three plays came up short for a first down.

Starting with good field position at the 48 with 3:18 left before halftime, Allen engineered the Oilers' offense to the Kempner 26.

On fourth-and-six, Allen hit tight end Kevin Davis with a short pass over the middle as Davis took two defenders with him to the Cougar 8-yard line.
Allen rolled to his right and lofted a perfect pass to Jake Peters who scored on the eight-yard catch with 25 seconds left before intermission. Hersh hit the extra point giving the Oilers comfortable 21-0 lead at the break.

Pearland got the second half kickoff, but was forced to punt.

Kempner began the drive at their own 40 and finally crossed the mid-field strip to the Pearland 29. However, the Oilers' defense stiffened to force Kempner to try a 46 yard field goal attempt that was wide left.

Pearland took over at their 29 with 6:07 left in the third quarter and drove to the Kempner one-yard line, but came up short on fourth down. While the Oilers didn't score, the offense took 8:28 off the game clock.

The Oilers forced Kempner to punt on their next possession and got the ball on the Cougars' 30. It took only five plays for Carrier to find the end zone on a five-yard run with 4:49 left in the game. Hersh booted the extra point to post the 28-0 final score.

No. 4 area-ranked Pearland will return to Abshire Stadium in Deer Park to face No. 2 area-ranked North Shore on Friday, November 23 at 7:00 p.m. in a rematch from last year that saw the Oilers shock the Mustangs 21-14. Pearland moved on to win the 5A Region III Division I championship and advance to the 5A Division I state semifinals.

A win this week could see the Oilers make another deep run to repeat at Region III champions.

by Dr. David Davis E-mail: drdd@swbell.net