College Park Cavaliers hang tough, fall in tight affair to Pearland 25-14

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SHENANDOAH, Texas - Friday night lights is back and College Park (0-1) seemed up to the task of taking on the 2013 state-runner up Pearland Oilers (1-0) in their home opener at Woodforest Bank Stadium. College Park won the toss and decided offense was the way to go, and preceded to go on an impressive 12 play, 56 yard drive that saw new starting quarterback, Robert Ferguson, make some impressive plays with his feet. However, the offense stalled near the red-zone, giving Pearland possession and momentum.

“The biggest thing for us going in is they are faster than anybody we’ve played so far,” said College Park head coach, Richard Carson. “That’s why we are playing them. So we can get used to it before we play the teams in our district.”

The star of the contest was Pearland running back, JaColbie Butler, who ran for 210 yards on 21 attempts, to go along with four touchdowns. For College Park, quarterback, Robert Ferguson, led the charge with 102 yards through the air, to go along with 31 yards rushing and a touchdown. Domimic Garcia also had a big night for the Cavaliers, with 111 yards on 19 carries to go along with a score.

The Oilers kicked off the scoring on their first possession with a 42-yard touchdown scamper by running back Butler. The extra point was missed and Pearland led 6-0 with 3:18 left in the first quarter.

After consecutive three-and-outs for both teams and a punt that didn’t go as far as College Park would have liked, Pearland started their drive at the Cavaliers 31-yard line. Pearland started the drive slowly, but went for it on 4th and 7th deep in College Park territory and completed a wide receiver screen for nine yards to senior, Ryan Diaz. After completing a 3rd down on the next series to create a goal-to-go situation, running back, JaColbie Butler, slipped through the center of the College Park defense for a three-yard touchdown. College Park managed to block this extra point as well, and the score was 12-0 Pearland with 7:48 left in the second.

With the first half dwindling, College Park started to respond, as Robert Ferguson threw a deep ball on third down to wide receiver, Greg Maxie, over the middle of the field that was completed for 60-yards. This flipped field position and the Cavaliers had the ball down to Pearland’s 7-yard line. Three plays later, Ferguson ran in a quarterback-keeper from the 3-yard line and the score was 12-7 Pearland at the half.

The first play out of the locker rooms saw Pearland’s Butler getting free again, this time for 69-yards, and in the blink of an eye it was 19-7 Pearland with 11:48 left in the third.

“We didn’t get out-physicaled,” surmised Carson. “We just have to get better angles and get off blocks and adjust to the speed.”

College Park didn’t hang their heads after the big play, and on their first possession of the half tailback Dominic Garcia struck back and went untouched up the middle of the field for a 55-yard score, making the score 19-14 with 9:55 left in the third quarter.

The defense for both teams started to stiffen and we entered the fourth quarter in a one possession game, 19-14. However Butler started to wear down the Cavalier defense, and after his 4th score of the night, a four-yard gallop, the score was 25-14 Pearland with 9:09 left to play.

After a sack on a 4th down, Pearland turned the ball over on downs at College Park’s 22-yard line with 1:39 left, the valiant effort by the Cavaliers came to an end with a final score of Pearland 25, College Park 14.

“There are some things we could have done better,” said Carson. “But we played hard, we lined up correctly, we tackled well. We got more out of this than our first game last, and that’s the bottom line. We played hard, we acted right, and we’re getting better”

College Park will be back at it next weekend when they take on Eisenhower at Woodforest Stadium on Friday, September 5th at 7:30pm.