Going into the 2009 football season, many of the area and state publications slated a big finish from Fort Bend ISD school Kempner. And while there is still plenty of football to go, and 0-2 start had some scratching their heads.
Even some within the organization. But that quickly turned around after last Thursday’s 31-24 win over district rival Marshall at Mercer Stadium.
“This is big for us since we started off 0-2. But now we are 1-0 in district,” Kempner running back Vedial Johnson said. “It’s very important for us to get these wins because we are trying to go to state and make a name for ourselves.”
And while that level of success is an important, yet lofty goal, Kempner coach James Brown is more so looking at what happens from week to week.
In his eyes, Week 3 was a good one.
“It’s good to get this win especially after an 0-2 start. Even more so, we played better in that second half then we have all year and that was huge for our confidence,” Brown said. “In the second half, I really felt like our offensive line really took control on that 95-yard drive and had them (Marshall) on their heels a little bit.”
Could easily say that the Cougars ran wild starting in the third quarter. In fact, it was Johnson who got things started.
Two minutes into the quarter, finished off a drive with a 20-yard touchdown run. Johnson finished the night with nine carries for 78 yards.
“I felt very good about how I played. I just told the offensive line to make a way for me and we did it,” Johnson said. “When we play like this we are going far this year as a team. There is no doubt.”
Another tithing that one cannot doubt, and surely for this game performance, was the ability to run the football. On the night, Kempner had 332 yards on the ground. The offense had a total of 367 yards respectively.
Johnson got things going at the start of the second half, but one could say that fullback Mmadu Biosah finished the job.
“I saw a lot of holes opening up. Coach said to stay on my zone path and the hole would be there and it was,” Biosah said. “My line stepped up big tonight. We had some trouble against Hightower. We worked on that a lot this week and they came out and got the job done.”
And while the dirty work was going on the trenches, Biosah made sure to cash in. He scored his only touchdown late in the third quarter from 37 yards out. He was the game’s leading rusher with 15 carries for 133 yards.
“It’s big because we are supposed to be No. 2. Now we have to show them we need to be there.”
The Cougars will line up this week against Dulles at Mercer Stadium at 7 p.m.