Pearland rolls over Manvel 66-14

    Someone once said, referring to football, “Offense wins games but defense wins championships.”
    With half of the 2025 regular season in the books, the Pearland defense is playing at a championship level while the offense is certainly winning games.
    The Oilers are 5-0 overall and 3-0 in district action while sitting atop of the league standings.
    Pearland has outscored their opponents 280 to 71 total points.
    But the defense is really getting stronger as each game progresses.
    Last week, Pearland held Manvel’s high-octane offense to 205 total yards (31 yards rushing, 174 yards passing) and two first half touchdowns.
    Meanwhile, the Oilers erupted for 604 total yards (371 yards rushing, 233 yards passing) while scoring nine touchdowns and one field goal.
    “I told the team after the game I am glad they have experienced their capabilities if all three phases are playing clean, disciplined football,” said head coach B.J. Gotte. “Now that they have experienced how and what that looks and feels like, we need to replicate the preparation and approach each week moving forward.”
    The Oilers made an opening statement when they kicked off and Manvel mishandled the ball, which bounced on the turf and in the hands of Pearland’s junior Caden Wilson to set up the Oilers’ offense on the Manvel 33.
    Senior running back Ja’Maurey Champion carried the ball five straight times to the Mavs 10 setting up a scoring pass from senior QB Jake Westmoreland to junior WR Michael Shawver for the score. Junior kicker Holden Macneish booted the PAT for a 7-0 lead with 9:40 left in the opening quarter.
    Manvel took the ensuing kickoff to their own 29 and 11-plays later evened up the score when QB Cam Renfro scored on a 12-yard keeper. The PAT was good and the game was tied at 7-7 with 5:42 remaining in the first period.
    Pearland’s defense started to take control of the game forcing three straight three-and-outs and each possession by the Oilers resulted in three scores for a 28-7 advantage.
    It took the Oilers only five plays to go 65-yards for Champion to score on an 8-yard run with 4:16 left in the first quarter.
    Pearland scored again with :31 seconds in the opening period when sophomore RB Royce Swan blasted his way on a 16-yard scoring romp to make the score 21-7.
    Swan scored again on an 8-yard dash to make the score 28-7 with 8:47 left in the second quarter.
    The Mavs got a good kickoff return to the Pearland 33. It took only 7-plays for Manvel to score when Renfro hit WR Carter St. Junious on a 20-yard slant pass with 7:02 remaining in the second frame to cut the lead to 28-14.
    That would be the final time the Mavs would score as the Pearland defense shut their offense down and the Oilers offense went into overdrive.
    Pearland would add two more scores before the end of the first half when Champion got loose on a 50-yard scoring jaunt at the 3:26 mark of the second quarter and Westmoreland scored on a 12-yard keeper with 1:08 left to make the first half score 42-14.
    The Oilers scored twice in the third period when junior TE Karon Johnson caught a 36-yard scoring pass from Westmoreland and Champion got loose on a 49-yard scoring trip to the pay station making the score 56-14.
    Both scores were set up by defensive interceptions by DB Ed Smith and LB Sam Armstrong. Jr. DB Roy Johnson also had an interception against the Mavs.
    The fourth quarter saw Macneish boot a 33-yard field goal and junior FB Luke Campo scored on a 15-yard run. Macneish was 9-for-9 in the PAT department plus a field goal.
    “We challenge our team to get better and improve every week and that message hasn’t changed,” Gotte said. “Despite the success we had against Manvel, there are plenty of things to work on to improve.
    ‘We have made progress but still need to keep improving if we want to accomplish our goals.”
    Westmoreland was 9-of-14 passing for 154 yards and two TDs while backup QB Jr. Kaleb Smith was 4-of-5 for 79 yards.
    Champion had 180 yards rushing on 17 carries for three scores while Swan had 94 yards rushing on 11 totes and two scores.
    Johnson had two catches for 79 yards and a score. Jordan (Jet) Hernandez had three grabs for 46 yards. Jason Smith had one catch for 49 yards.
    Pearland and Dawson will play this week in the annual PearBowl at Pearland ISD Stadium on Friday, October 3 at 7:00 p.m.
    “We take the season one week at a time,” said coach Gotte. “We do reference our long-term goals from time to time, but we mostly stay focused one being at our best every Friday. This week will be no different since we are playing against a well-coached and talented Dawson team.”