La Porte vs Clements postgame report

What a great performance by the Bulldogs last night against a pre-season favorite Clements.  One thing I saw at the opening of the game was La Porte looked more fired up than Clements.  La Porte was in line for the National Anthem before Clements even hit the field and looked like they were chomping at the bit to play ball.

On the field the defense came out and set the tone after a QB scramble from Austin Decell gained decent yards for Clements, La Porte intercepted soon after.  The two La Porte over 6' tall corners Jon Wesby (1 INT) and Ben Flores really smothered the Clements receivers all night.  The linebackers Chad Sutherland and Jamarcus Erskin, who also intercepted a pass, were continuously in the backfield disrupting the flow of the Ranger offense.  Clements' star running back Jarrod Johnson, held to 15yds on 11 carries, had no room to run and was hit in the backfield almost every play.  Overall the Bulldog defense is as good as advertised with athletes all over the field.

On offense La Porte immediately opened up huge holes for all area RB Anthony Webb who broke off 60 yards on 3 carries on the first drive.  The "inexperienced" Bulldog offensive line was very impressive.  The drive was capped by QB Jeremy McNeal, on the night of his coming out party, with a 12 yard TD to Karl Terrebone.

More of the same for La Porte on the 2nd drive as Webb ran through the Clements line untouched on multiple occasions and capped it off with a 15yd touchdown.  Webb had 115yds rushing with 3:42 left in the first quarter.

The third drive saw Sophmore RB Keith Whitley spell Webb.  This made no difference as Whitley ran 60 yards on 3 plays and also was untouched through the Clements line.  This drive was finished by a McNeal QB keeper and with 11:10 left in the 2nd quarter it was 21-0 La Porte.

The Bulldogs received another punt and Clements came out and stacked the line of scrimmage to stop the run.  McNeal picked apart the Rangers defense through the air including a 36 yard catch by Junior WR Aaron Nance-Garrett who was wide open along the sideline.  As he turned up field a Clements safety was right on him and Nance-Garrett proceeded to lower his shoulder and knock the defenders helmet off and kept running.  Unfortunately Nance Garrett stepped out of bounds, but wow what a play!  McNeal concluded the drive with a 2 yard pass to Senior H-back Zach Reynolds for a touchdown making it 28-0 Bulldogs. 

Clements got on the board just before halftime with a series of screen passes and Jarrod Johnson got their only points of the night with a 5yd TD run.  La Porte 28 Clements 7 at the half.

In the second half it seemed La Porte took their foot off the gas considerably.  The Bulldogs were stopped on their first drive and forced to punt for the first time.  Clements was quickly shut down by the La Porte defense and Clements had a bad snap on the punt that went through the end zone for a safety.

The Bulldogs received the kickoff in good field position and methodically drove down the field and faced 4th and 1 on the Clements 15 yard line.  McNeal used a QB sneak and took it in for the score to cap off the scoring.

The fourth quarter saw lots of backups get in the game to get valuable experience. Freshman RB Hoza Scott had some impressive runs and both teams did little else.   La Porte 37- Clements 7.

The Dogs start the season on a strong note out gaining the Rangers 388-156 in total yards.  Impressive debut for La Porte against a preseason acclaimed team.  Here is the box score from the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/sports/highschoolsports/results.html?site=default&mkt=&Season=2010&tpl=Boxscore&Sport=1&ID=77587&TeamID=70&SearchType=Teams

And game story: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/hso/7175284.html

My players of the game were QB Jeremy McNeal and the La Porte O-line, who came out and showed they are gaining confidence and primed for a great season.

I will have a preview of La Porte-Baytown Lee matchup this week.  The game will be played in Baytown's Stallworth Stadium 7pm Friday the 3rd of September.