The La Porte Bulldogs secured their second consecutive district championship last Friday, holding on for a 37-33 victory over the Port Arthur Memorial Titans in the regular season finale. La Porte finished the district schedule undefeated for the second year in a row and finish the regular season with a 9-1 record heading into the playoffs.
The Bulldogs came out of the gate with their pants on fire. La Porte started with the ball on the 25 yard line after a touchback. The very first play from scrimmage Senior Running Back Keith Whitely took the handoff and sprinted 65 yards, finally getting tracked down at the ten yard line. Three plays later Junior Quarterback Jordan Jackson found Junior Running Back Jonathan Lewis for a 8 yard pass and a touchdown giving the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead 1:32 into the game.
The Titans came out passing early after a good kickoff return, however the Bulldogs were up to the task forcing a punt. La Porte would get the ball and start driving with seven runs into Titan territory. However the drive would stall and Senior Kicker Eric Medina got off a great punt pinning Memorial to their own 4 yard line. A three and out for La Porte forced the Titans to punt from their own end zone. That's when Senior Defensive Tackle Corey Lee charged through the front of the Memorial line and blocked the punt out of the back of the end zone. It was a safety and La Porte now lead 9-0 with 1:54 left in the first quarter.
After the safety La Porte would get the ball and a penalty on the kickoff moved the ball back to the 15 yard line. Jonathan Lewis would get his career rushing day off and running with a 85 yard touchdown run around the right side on the first play. It was a great run as he set up a Titan defender in the backfield and used his quick burst around the edge, cut back to the middle of the field after some great blocks and was gone. La Porte jumped all over the Titans 16-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was a wild one with penalties on both teams seemingly every play. The scoreboard operator got a work out as well. The Titans would get a long drive with running almost the whole way with Senior Quarterback Ricky Fisk getting 39 yards on 6 carries and finishing it off with a scramble to the right side inside the ten yard line where he found Junior Receiver Roderic Rucker for the five yard touchdown pass. Memorial went for two and La Porte Senior Defensive Back Malik Graves intercepted it. La Porte lead 16-6 with 8:55 left in the half.
It wouldn't take long for La Porte to find the end zone again as Lewis again took the first play, this time 66 yards for the touchdown. The run went straight up the middle untouched and Lewis pulled away from the secondary. Lewis had 160 yards on four carries at this point. La Porte lead 23-6 with 8:34 left in the half.
Port Arthur again moved the ball down the field with passes and four La Porte penalties. Big Titan Senior Defensive Lineman Mathew Romar would leap over the top for a one yard touchdown run to get Memorial back in the game 23-13 La Porte with 3:13 left in the half.
Memorial would intercept a pass and return it 41 yards to the La Porte 16 yard line. Two plays later it was Running Back Edwin Mayfield with a nine yard touchdown run and the Bulldogs lead was evaporating quickly. The extra point was no good. La Porte lead 23-19 with 33 seconds left in the second quarter.
La Porte would start on their own 25 and were not quite done. Lewis had a big 15 yard gain. The Bulldogs pulled out a passing formation with Junior Victor Holmes at quarterback and four receivers on the right side of the formation. Junior Hoza Scott was the lone receiver on the left side of the formation. Holmes took the snap and threw deep to Scott who drew a pass interference penalty and then the Titans got a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moving the ball all the way to the Titan 25 yard line. Jackson threw a wide receiver screen to Senior Receiver Jahvey Mark who took it to the house for a 25 yard touchdown. Finally the first half would end with La Porte ahead 30-19.
The Titans would receive the second half kickoff and start moving the ball again getting to the 50 yard line when Victor Holmes would seal the game with a interception and he returned it 58 yards for the touchdown. La Porte now lead 37-19 with 8:33 left in the 3rd quarter.
Memorial would make it interesting driving down the field easily and getting a 25 yard touchdown pass from Fisk to Taylor Labrie with 5:27 left in the third. La Porte lead 37-26 with 5:27 left in the third.
La Porte would be forced to punt and again another long drive for Memorial would result in another score with Fisk finding Brandon Leday for a 19 yard touchdown. La Porte lead 37-33 with 10:50 left in the 4th.
At this point the Bulldog defense had been on the field almost the whole game due to those long one play touchdowns and the interception return, however the Dark Side defense rose to the occasion in the 4th quarter. The offense gave them the rest they needed with a 14 play drive eating over seven minutes off the clock and Medina with another outstanding punt to the Titan four yard line.
Port Arthur would again move the ball into La Porte territory and had the ball first and 10 at the Bulldog 35 with a touchdown needed to win the game and time running down. A holding penalty would back up the Titans to first and twenty at the 45. The next two plays the Bulldogs forced two incompletions with great coverage down field. Fisk would scramble on 3rd down only to have Graves make a huge tackle for only a gain of two yards. On fourth down Junior defensive end Lane Albertson beat his blocker and sacked Fisk for a huge loss and the Bulldogs were victorious.
What an intense and interesting game it was. It was a total team effort as Keith Whitely (114 yards on 10 carries) was injured in the second quarter and did not return to the game. Lewis picked up the pace with a huge game rushing for 217 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns. The Bulldogs offensive line was executing at a very high level. Congratulations to the La Porte Bulldogs, who won their second straight 21-5a district championship and head to the playoffs 9-1.
La Porte will play Pasadena Memorial this coming Saturday at 1pm at Deer Park. Let's fill up that stadium and cheer the Bulldogs to another long playoff run!
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