What a way to start a high school football season.
That game last Friday night in Tiger Stadium between Houston and Orchard Farm was one wild and wooly affair. There were two groups of individuals on the field that both believed they could win and provided many moments that combined to form a great story.
From a Tigers fan’s viewpoint, it had a little bit of everything, but a bit too much of one thing. That one thing was the difference in the contest: Turnovers. Houston inexplicably had six (six!), including four in the first half and two more in the second.
That didn’t have just a slight effect on the final outcome, it made a gigantic difference. That’s evident by the fact that the Tigers actually led with under a minute to go before taking a blow to the gut in the form of a touchdown pass that closed out the scoring in a 3-point game.
Again, the turnover outbreak was just a huge obstacle for Houston to negotiate. It’s hard not to imagine the Tigers not winning if they had, say, “only” three or four.
But while giving the ball away a half dozen times, the Tigers also did a lot of cool stuff and made the game extremely interesting.
There were numerous big plays on defense, which was of course necessary since the Big Red D had to keep going back onto the field after a turnover. And those plays came from all angles – the line, the linebacking crew and the secondary. I can’t tell you how many times I saw Eagles offensive players hanging their heads after being stifled by somebody on the home team.
There was a highly-effective passing game orchestrated by senior quarterback Wyatt Hughes. For a team that has relied on the run big-time for years, it was fascinating (and fun) to watch Hughes & Co. manufacture more yards through the air than on the ground.
And there was a breakout performance by an individual who has shown significant athleticism and potential for a couple of years now: Jordan Arthur. During his 48-minute personal meet-and-greet party, the 6-foot, 165-pound junior scored all three of Houston’s touchdowns, including a 12-yard reception on a fourth-down play, a 75-yard kickoff return and an 80-yard catch-and-run.
The kick return was a thing of beauty. As is often the case on a kickoff, the center of the field became a bit crowded, so Arthur looked left for some space. He found it, shifted into an extra gear and just plain ran away from several pretty fast guys in opposing uniforms.
The 80-yarder was dang pretty, too. Arthur got free behind the Orchard Farm secondary and Hughes lofted a perfect pass to him and he caught it in full stride. Then it was see-you-later, thanks for participating. Nobody came even close to the fleet Arthur as he sprinted toward the end zone.
I also saw really good moves by tight end Kayden Crawford, who had a TD reception nullified by a penalty. He has that knack of knowing when a little juke in one direction will allow a lot of steps to be taken in the other.
And Brady Brookshire is now a senior and totally looks the part. He has lost a bunch of weight over the past year and is now simply a beast. It seemed like he was in on every play from his middle linebacker position, and he finished in double figures in tackling and was probably one of the main subjects discussed when the Eagles watched film of the game.
But dang it, six turnovers. That’s just rare, and it’s even more rare for a team to be in the lead late in a game after reaching that level of bungling.
And five were fumbles! That’s wild; almost as if the ball was greased or something.
As head coach Eric Sloan said, the Tigers just don’t have a history of fumbling and to have what pretty much amounts to a season’s-worth of them on one night is downright weird.
But in spite of it all, Houston still had a chance with 11 seconds left, but it wasn’t meant to be and a 50-50 pass to Arthur fell incomplete at the goal line. It could have easily gone the other way, but the Orchard Farm defender won the play.
Anyway, that was one heck of a sporting spectacle, even if it didn’t go the way we Tiger fans had hoped, and it was just further proof as to why thousands of people are attracted to Friday Night Lights.
And it didn’t do anything to sway my viewpoint of Football Tigers 2023. I was encouraged going into this season and I still am. I honestly believe this year’s group has the ingredients to win plenty of games (including some they’re “not supposed to win”) and ultimately call it a successful season.
I guess that begins with this Friday’s matchup with Fayette. Go Tigers.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.
