Football: Highlanders hold off College Park

SHENANDOAH, Texas - The College Park High School football team has three really good running backs.

The Woodlands High School football team has one special running back. Highlanders sophomore Patrick Carr rushed for 286 yards and three second-half touchdowns as The Woodlands fought off College Park 42-33 Friday night at Woodforest Bank Stadium in a District 14-5A showdown of neighboring rivals.

"We played as a team and we picked it up in the second half," Carr said. "I thank my teammates for fighting hard."

College Park trio Nick Black, Connor McPherson, along with quarterback Brett Buckley all surpassed the 100-yard mark in rushing. Buckley rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns before leaving the game late in the fourth quarter with an injury.

Black rushed for 130 yards and McPherson added another 106. Both scored a touchdown.

They kept the Cavaliers close and only a two-point conversion separated the two teams midway through the fourth quarter. McPherson finished off a touchdown drive after the Cavaliers held The Woodlands on fourth down. But the Cavs came up short on a two-point conversion run and the Highlanders held a 35-33 lead.

"College Park played a heck of a game," said The Woodlands head coach Mark Schmid, who coached from the press box, still recovering from a perforated intestine that forced his absence the previous two games. "Those kids played hard. It was a great football game."

It was a 14-13 game late in the first half when the Highlanders drove the length of the field in the final minute to take a 21-13 halftime advantage and then appeared to pull away by scoring on their first possession of the second half to extend the margin to 28-13.

But College Park showed no intentions of folding.

"It was a great game," Schmid said. "I told the kids that there had to be big plays made on offense and big plays made on defense. We were able to make those plays when we needed to."

The Woodlands quarterback Blaine Gillespie threw for 139 yards and rushed for another 55 as the Highlanders held a 489-402 edge in total yards.

Gillespie threw first-half touchdown passes of 10 and 6 yards to Houston Brown and Jayme Taylor respectively.

"Blaine made some key throws," Schmid said.

Then Carr took over in the second half.

"Patrick has grown up," Schmid said. "He's become more confident as the year has gone by. He's gotten better each week."

The Woodlands (6-3, 4-1) finishes the 2012 regular season next Friday when it hosts Oak Ridge at Woodforest Bank Stadium. A victory would secure the District 14-5A championship.

"We just need to stay focused, not get overconfident," Carr said. "If you take your opponent lightly anything can happen."

College Park (4-5, 1-4) can still make the playoffs with a victory Friday at Bryan coupled with Oak Ridge losses in its final two games with Lufkin (Saturday) and The Woodlands.