Late Rally by Dawson Comes Up Short Against Texas City

Oct. 31, 2008 — Week 9

The Dawson Eagles have shown a lot of heart in their first year of varsity competition in one of the toughest leagues in the state. But head coach Eric Wells will see his youngster stay at home when the playoffs begin despite coming so close to beating two of the premier teams in the district - La Marque and defending league champion Texas City.

The Eagles led La Marque 27-26 with less than four minutes left in the game, but the Cougars managed to squeeze out the late win. But the Cougars have had their own share of problems and will need to beat No. 1 area-ranked Friendswood in the season finale and that doesn't too favorable for La Marque who will also stay at home if they lose.

However, Dawson has beaten Manvel (12-7), who knocked off Texas City and La Marque, and came within a foot on a two-point conversion of taking out Friendswood only to lose 21-20. Manvel is still in the hunt for the playoffs.

Had Dawson knocked off Texas City, then the Eagles would be battling for a place in the post-season. Texas City still needs to beat Brazosport to make the playoffs.

Dawson (2-4 in district, 4-3 overall) came out strong in the first quarter, with Akeem Blackshire returning the opening kickoff into Sting territory. Lazard then hit Randall Weeks just short of the goal line before he finished off the drive with a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line. Stuart Watkins kicked the extra point to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the game.

Texas City (3-3, 4-3) answered quickly. The Stings took favorable field position with a kick return to near midfield, then five plays later Lloyd Pete broke free for a 36-yard touchdown. With Sam Martin’s extra point kick, the game was knotted at 7-7 with 9:04 left in the first quarter.

Dawson started its next drive at its own 15, and had a 26-yard Lazard run wiped out by a clipping call. The Eagles punted to the Sting 45, and Texas City drove from there and scored eight plays later on a 13-yard Will Evans run. Travis Guerra kicked the extra point to give the Stings a 14-7 advantage.

After trading a pair of possessions, Texas City punted to the Dawson 9-yard line, where the Eagles launched a nine-play drive capped off by a Watkins 23-yard field goal with 6:30 left in the half, making the score 14-10.

But Derrick Bernard gave the Stings a comfortable 28-10 cushion with two five-yard rushing touchdowns in the second half, one with 7:59 to play in the third quarter and another with 7:03 left in the fourth.

But the Eagles fought back, with Lazard taking to the air again to find Tillotson for a touchdown. A failed two-point conversion made it 28-16, but the Eagles forced a fumble on a sack of Bernard to give Dawson a short field. Lazard threw two deep balls that fell incomplete, but that opened the Sting defense for a 33-yard scoring scramble by Lazard to the end zone to bring the Eagles within a possession 28-13.

Texas City took over and moved the chains three times to run out the clock after Dawson called its final timeout, holding on to the victory and its playoff hopes.

Lazard finished with 67 yards rushing on 10 attempts and two touchdowns while hitting 5-of-19 passing for 78 yards and one score. Xavier Brown caught three passes for 42 yards while Micah Tillotson grabbed three passes for 46 yards and one TD.

Dawson closes out the 2008 season at The Rig on Friday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. against Santa Fe.

 

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Dawson comes up short against Brazosport

Oct. 24, 2008 — Week 8

The Dawson Eagles hosted their first homecoming in school history and were looking to stay in the playoff hunt in their first season of varsity competition. With a big win over Angleton - head coach Eric Wells knew that his team had the talent to compete against Brazosport to get their third district win of the year.

Dawson and Brazosport were two of five teams that entered the game with a 2-2 district record. The win gave Brazosport a 3-2 mark while Dawson slipped to 2-3 in league play and is tied with Texas City and Manvel.

The Eagles got on the scoreboard first when quarterback Darian Lazard scored on a one-yard sneak with 4:59 left in the opening quarter for a 7-0 lead following the PAT by Stuart Watkins.

But the Exporters took advantage of two fumbles by Dawson to score 20 unanswered points for a 20-7 advantage.

The first score came on a one-yard run by Gary Bivens at the 11:14 mark of the second period to tie up the game at 7-7.

The Eagles fumbled the ball at their own 45 following the kickoff to allow the Exporters to have the ball back. It took two plays for the Exporters to move to the Dawson 20. Bivens scored three plays later for a 14-7 lead with 9:00 remaining in the second period.

On the second play following the kickoff, Dawson coughed up the ball again and Brazosport recovered at the Eagles' 40.

Brazosport's Dexter Brown carried three straight times with a seven-yard run capping off the short drive giving the Exporters a 20-7 lead after missing the PAT with 6:52 remaining in the first half.

Dawson regrouped as Lazard led the offensive attack to score on a 28-yard keeper to complete the 60 yard, nine play dirve with 4:48 remaining before intermission. The PAT by Watkins was good leaving the score 20-14 at halftime.

The Eagles came out fired up to begin the second half and Akeem Blackshire, who suffered both fumbles in the first half, ripped off a 61-yard scamper on the first play from scrimmage. That set up a nine-yard scoring pass from Lazard to Micah Tillotson with 9:54 left in the third. Watkins hit the PAT to give the Eagles a 21-20 lead.

"We don't turn the ball over all year and we do it twice in a row," Wells said.

The Exporters responded with a three-yard scoring run by Bivens with 4:02 left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion pass was no good leaving the Exporters with a 26-21 lead.

But the Eagles weren't going to go down easy as Lazard led Dawson to score early in the fourth period with a 10-yard scoring strike to Nick Baldearena at the 11:50 mark. The PAT pass failed as Dawson held on to a slim 27-26 lead.

However, Brazosport continued to move the ball and Bivens scored his fourth touchdown on a two-yard run at the 5:25 mark. The PAT pass fell incomplete leaving the Exporters ahead 32-27 in the see-saw battle.

Dawson mounted a final drive that took the game to the final seconds. Taking over at their own 14 with 51 seconds, Lazard moved the team to the Brazosport 37 with three second left in the game. With one last play, Lazard rolled out, but was tripped up before he could loft a hail mary pass in the end zone.

"They are not going to quit," Wells said after the game. "I really thought we were going to go down and score."

Blackshire led the Eagles in rushing with 14 carries for 114 yards. Bivens had 29 carries for 140 yards for Brazosport.

Lazard was 7-of-9 passing for 58 yards and two TDs. Tillotson had four catches for 29 yards and one score.

Dawson had 348 yards of total offense compared to 323 for Brazosport.

Dawson will need to win out if they are going to remain playoff eligible -- plus they will need some help.

The Eagles will travel to Texas City to face the Stingarees on Friday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. Both teams are 2-3 in the district standings. The losing team will drop out of playoff contention for this season.

Dawson will host Santa Fe in the regular season finale on Friday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. at The Rig.

 

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No. 1 Friendswood routs Pearland Dawson 61-28

Oct. 17, 2008 — Week 7

Last week, Pearland Dawson was the Homecoming opponent for Angleton and the upstart new kids in the district registered their first major upset with a 21-20 win in overtime over previous district leader Angleton.

What a difference a week makes as the Eagles found themselves as the Homecoming opponent for the second straight week -- this time at Henry Winston Stadium in Friendswood against the No. 2 area-ranked team in the Houston area among 4A schools.

The game was almost over before it ever started as Texas Tech pledge QB Jacob Karam opened the game with a short scoring run and then two touchdown passes that looked more like scud missles that had a GPS tracking device on his receivers.

Friendswood scored on their second possession as the Mustangs used a 57 yard pass from Karam to Andre Gautreaux to get to the Dawson 18. Andre Cole ripped off an 18 yard run and then Karam scored on a keeper with 2:38 left in the first quarter. Zach Hardy booted the extra pint for a 7-0 lead.

Following a Dawson punt, Karam went back to the airways and hit Cody Bergeson for a 68-yard scoring bomb to make the score 14-0.

The Eagles coughed up the ball back to the Mustangs and Karam didn't waste any time as he hit Andre Gautreaux for a 20-yard scoring toss to make the score 21-0 with 2:11 left in the opening period.

Less than three minutes later, the Mustangs were back in the end zone as Karam fired a laser to Austin Fitzpatrick for a 17-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 28-0.

Dawson went three and out again setting up the Mustangs at their 42.

Three plays later, Andrew Cole blew thru a big hole for a 42-yard scoring dash with 8:45 still left in the second quarter for a 35-0 lead.

Dawson finally got on the scoreboard as Akeem Blackshire burst through a hole be the offensive line for a 47-yard scoring romp. The extra point was good and the lead was 35-7 with 7:40 left before intermission.

Once again - it was the Karam to Gautreaux air show covering 40 yards to make the score 42-7 with 1:50 left.

With Dawson backed up at their own end of the field and punting on fourth down, the snap sailed over the punter's head. To avoid giving Friendswood another easy score - the punter fell on the ball for a safety to make the score 44-7 at the half.

With Dawson backed up at their own end of the field and punting on fourth down, the snap sailed over the punter's head. To avoid giving Friendswood another easy score - the punter fell on the ball for a safety to make the score 44-7 at the half.

Friendswood head coach Steve Van Meter pulled his starters in the second half as the Mustangs added an eight-yard scoring run by Cole. Hardy hit a 21-yard field goal and Gautreaux moved to quarterback and threw a 29-yard touchdown to Robert Smith.

Dawson still kept giving a strong effort a Blackshire scored on a 16-yard run and running back Xavier Brown burned the Friendswood defense for a 70-yard scoring jaunt to make the final score 61-28.

The Mustangs finished the game with 542 total yards with 143 on the ground and 399 through the air.

Karam hit 17-of-27 for 342 yards and four touchdown. The gunslinger is now the all-time leading passer in Friendswood history moving past Kent Ballard who previous held the career passing mark with 5,430 yards.

Karam now has 5,749 for his career and counting including 63 touchdowns.

For this season, Karam has 1,494 yards and 17 TDs. He needs just a little over 1,100 yards to set a new single-season record that will surpass former FHS and TCU quarterback Jeff Ballard.

Cole led the Mustangs in rushing with 125 yards on 12 carries. Brandon Gray had 11 totes for 38 yards.

Bergeson had five catches for 126 yards and one score. Gautreaux had three grabs for 73 yards and two TDs. Fitzkpatrick finished with three catches for 28 yards and one TD. Cole also had six catches for 69 yards.

Friendswood (4-1, 3-1) will travel to Alvin Memorial Stadium on Friday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m. to take on another new school -- the Manvel Mavericks.

Manvel upset defending district champion Texas City 25-21 and beat Santa Fe 19-14 to improve to 2-2 in league play and 2-4 overall.

 

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No. 7 area-ranked Dawson surprises Angleton in OT

Oct. 10, 2008 — Week 6

The Angleton Wildcats didn't get a full week to celebrate their 28-25 win over former No. 1 and district rival Friendswood before they had to take the field as the only undefeated team in District 24-4A.

The Wildcats hosted the upstart Dawson Eagles who are competing in their first year of varsity football. Angleton had invited the new kids in the district to be their Homecoming guests which would be the Wildcats' final celebration before moving into a new stadium in 2009.

If Angleton took Dawson for granted, then they found out the hard way that they shouldn't have because the Eagles entered the game believing they belonged on the same field with Angletion. Especially after almost knocking off La Marque in a game that went down to the wire before the Cougars pulled out a hard-fought 34-27 win.

The 21-20 win over Angleton (3-3, 2-1) placed Dawson (3-1, 2-1) as the No. 7 area-ranked 4A team in Houston giving them their first official ranking in the history of the school. But head coach Eric Wells knows his team can't spend too much time basking in their own glory because they will get their biggest test of the year when they travel to face No. 2 area-ranked Friendswood on Friday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m. at Henry Winston Stadium.

If the Eagles haven't figured it out by now -- they should come to realize that they have the talent to compete in their new district despite being young. La Marque found it out and now Angleton knows for sure. Dawson is very much in the hunt to make the playoffs in their first season at the varsity level.

Playing at Angleton has never been an easy place to play. But the Eagles were not going to let the Wildcats push them around on the field.

"Dawson played hard and kept playing hard," Angleton head coach Finis Vanover said. "You have to hand it to them. They came in and were well-prepared."

Despite Angleton's high-octane offense picking up 376 total yards, the Dawson defense made the crucial stops when they needed to limit the Wildcats from blowing out the game.

"We stalled out on about seven drives that we usually score on," Vanover said.

Angleton got on the scoreboard on their opening drive when QB Quandre Diggs scored on a 21-yard run. The extra point was good for a 7-0 lead with 10:03 left in the opening quarter.

But Dawson came back later in the first period with a scoring drive of their own capped off by a 15-yard scoring pass from QB Darien Lazard to Marcus Vaughn. Stuart Watkins booted the extra point to tie up the game at 7-7 with 3:43 left.

That would be all the scoring in the first half as the defense of both teams stood their ground.

Early in the third quarter, Dawson took a 14-7 lead when Lazard scored on a two-yard keeper to complete a 70-yard, eight play drive. Watkins hit the PAT with 8:58 left in the third.

With 9:33 left in the fourth quarter, Angleton found the end zone on a Henry Josey seven-yard scoring scamper. The extra point by Christian Brownfield found the mark to knot up game at 14-14.

It appeared that Angleton might score late in the fourth frame when they reached the Dawson 13, but a personal foul help stall the drive. A 44-yard desperation field goal attempt wasn't even close to send the game into overtime.

Angleton got the ball first and scored on the second play on a five-yard run by Josey. Brownfield, who has been suspect all season as a placekicker, sent the extra point wide right leaving the door open for the Eagles.

On Dawson's second play in overtime, Lazard scrambled through the Angleton defenders for a 25-yard scoring run to tie up the game.

Stuart Watkins walked on the field facing the most important kick of his young high school career and calmly booted the ball through the uprights to send the Eagles into a frenzy with the 21-20 victory.

Lazard hit 10-of-17 passing for 59 yards and one score while picking up 40 yards on the ground on 13 carries.

Akeem Blackshire led the Eagles on the ground with 95 yards on 14 totes. Xavier Brown picked up 55 yards on 15 carries.

Dawson will travel to Friendswood to face the Mustangs' high-powered aerial show led by Texas Tech pledge QB Jacob Karam who passed for 333 yards and five TDs in the 45-19 win over hapless Santa Fe.

The two teams will clash on Friday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m.

 

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