Conroe Tigers @ Tomball
Cougars
Conroe 23, Tomball 17
9/21/07
Jay Darneal
Conroe jumped on the board early as JR LB Blake Cavil
tacked the Cougar fullback in the endzone with 8:43 left in the first quarter to
pull Conroe to an early 2-0 lead. Tomball responded right back as JR QB Chad
Tarhini connected with SOPH WR Jordan Leslie on a 97 yard TD strike. Conroe JR
RB Lou Greenwood found paydirt on a 5 yard run but a missed 2 point conversion
left the score at 8-7 with the Tigers in front. That TD run by Greenwood was set
up by a 47 yard reception from SR QB Justin Smith to SR WR Ronald Stine. A 33
yard FG by SR K Patrick Pratt was good and pushed the Cougars to a 10-8 lead
with 6:28 left in the first half. There was no scoring in the quarter until :53
seconds were left on the clock and SR WR Isaiah Reed hauled in a 24 yard TD
reception from Tarhini that made the halftime score 17-8. One halftime stat that
would later come to haunt the Cougars was the fact they had 12 rushes for only
22 yards, but their passing game was enough to overcome that in the first half.
The second half belonged to the Conroe Tigers. The Tigers
took the second half kickoff and held onto the ball for almost 9 minutes. The
drive was finally capped by a TD run of 1 yard by SR RB Draylon Booker. That TD
made the score 17-15 in favor of Tomball still. The rest of the third and
basically all of the fourth quarter was just back and forth football. Neither
team put get any points on the board and take control of the game until Conroe
received a punt from the Cougars and SR CB Mookie Lewis took it back to the
Cougar 26 yard line. Unfortunately for Conroe there was an illegal block but
they were down by 2 points and only 52 yards from the endzone. The first play QB
Smith booted out to his right and hit JR WR/DB Mario McArthur for a big 12 yard
gain. After an incomplete pass JR FB Willie Tolbert rumbled for 8 yards to the
Cougar 34 yard line. After a 5 yard penalty put them back on the 39 and an
incomplete pass to the endzone Smith threw a perfect strike to a wide open JR RB/DB
D.D. Johnson at the Tomball 24 for a first down. Johnson then carried the ball
up the middle for a 7 yard gain followed by a rush of no gain. Smith then hit
McArthur at the Cougar 12 yard line for a first down with 1:51 left in the game
and still down by 2. Johnson then carried the ball on a stretch play to the left
for another 8 yards that put it down at the Tomball 5. After another Johnson
rush of negative yardage he got the call again and this time broke a tackle
behind the line of scrimmage and bounced out to his left and slipped into the
endzone with only :23 seconds left on the clock. A two point conversion pass put
the score at 23-17 with Conroe ahead for good.
Although
Tomball lost the game they definitely had some terrific playmakers show off
their abilities. SOPH WR Jordan Leslie 7 receptions for 151 yards and a TD
reception. Tomball JR QB Chad Tarhini was 12-23 for 215 yards and a TD pass.
Conroe SR QB Justin Smith had over 325 yards of total offense as he was13-27 for
216 passing yards and 8 carries for 114 rushing yards. JR RB/DB D.D. Johnson had
23 carries for 102 yards and a TD carry.
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