Shadow Creek slips past Pearland 55-35 in shootout

It was a game between two unbeaten teams with matching district records at 6-0 with the league title on the line. Both teams had already punched their ticket to the post-season.

It is the 27th consecutive year that the Oilers have advanced to the playoffs beginning back in 2000.

No. 9 Shadow Creek (7-1, 6-0) and No. 12 Pearland (8-0, 6-0) played each other four times since Pearland head coach B.J. Gotte took over the helm of the Oilers football fortunes in 2022 and had a 2-2 record coming into this year’s showdown.

Shadow Creek had beaten Pearland two previous times in 2020 and 2021 under the Oilers previous head coach to now have an overall series record of 5-2.

Pearland took out Shadow Creek 21-13 last season to capture the District 22-6A crown for a 10-0 regular season mark.

This year’s game featured a lot of offensive fireworks from both teams in the opening quarter as the Sharks scored three times and the Oilers found paydirt twice for a 21-14 Shadow Creek lead.

The theme of the opening frame were big scoring plays by each team as Pearland got on the scoreboard first when senior RB Ryan Miller burned the Shark defense for a 74-yard scoring jaunt and a 7-0 lead following the Holden Macneish PAT with 9:18 left in the first quarter.

It took the Sharks only :09 seconds to even the score following the ensuing kickoff as QB Tavis Coleman hit WR B.J. Lafell in stride for a 60-yard scoring bomb to tie up the game at 7-7 with 9:09 showing on the clock.

The Oilers quickly answered with a bomb of their own as they scored :12 seconds later when Pearland senior QB Blake Smith hit junior WR Joaquin Soraiz for a thrilling 75-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead with 8:57 left in the first frame.

Things would settle down as the Sharks managed to score two straight possessions on runs of 10 and 2-yards for the 21-14 lead with 2:27 left in the first.

Both teams traded out a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter as Pearland scored on a 3-yard toss from Smith to senior FB Dominic Teichelman and junior RB Royce Swan scored on a 38-yard dash while Shadow Creek scored on 56 and 16-yard pass plays to hang on to a 35-28 lead at intermission.

With 5:34 left in the third quarter, Swan scored Pearland’s only touchdown in the second half when he got loose on a 24-yard scamper while the Sharks added three more scores on a 7-yard run, a 63-yard scoring pass, and a 2-yard plunge with 2:09 left in the game to seal the 55-35 win for Shadow Creek.

Smith was 7-of-18 passing for 144 yards and two TDs.

Royce Swan had 16 carries for 114 yards and two TDs while Miller had eight totes for 113 yards and one score.

Soraiz had two catches for 91 yards and one TD and K.J. Johnson had three grabs for 41 yards.

Shadow Creek had 533 yards (179 rushing, 354 passing) of total offense while Pearland had 374 yards (230 rushing, 144 passing) of total offense.

Pearland (8-1, 6-1) will close out the regular season on Thursday, November 5 at 6:30 p.m. when they host the Brazoswood Buccaneers (4-5, 3-4) at Pearland ISD Stadium.

By Dr David Davis