The final day of the bi-District round was a good one for the Klein Bearkats as they defeated former district rival Spring in a Class 6A Division I Region II showdown at Leonard George Stadium in Spring. Although trailing at halftime, the Bearkats were able to come out on top with a 10-7 win.
Both teams had difficulty taking advantage of opportunities early. Spring started off the game with a promising drive that ended up stalling out in Klein territory. The Bearkats took over and drove to the Spring 20 but missed a field goal that would have given them the lead.
The breaks favored the Lions early after forcing the Lions into a quick fourth down, Chris Satterfield of the Bearkats blocked a punt but was picked up by Spring to their own 42 yard line for a first down.
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The very next play, Clifton McDowell hit Darbe Pearson deep for a 58 yard touchdown to put Spring up 7-0. Klein looked to rebound but a mishandled handoff resulted in Derion Lane recovering a fumble at the Spring 47 to end the first quarter.
Klein would continue to struggle in the first half as they fumbled on their next possession and Spring recovered. But in a sign of things to come, the Klein defense would come up with clutch plays starting with a Ryan Labby interception that ended a promising Spring drive.
After both teams exchanged punts, Klein was knocking on the door of the end zone. However, a costly holding penalty moved them back to the 24 yard line and later resulted in a missed Trey Wolff field goal to keep the score 7-0 at halftime.
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The second half would continue to be slow going for Klein going three and out on their first possession of the half and even giving up a fake punt from Spring. But when the snap went over the head of the Spring punter, the Bearkats recovered at the Lion 13 and got the break they were looking for.
Three plays later, quarterback Greyson Lembcke ran it in from two yards out to even the score at 7. Spring would recover the onside kick but two plays later, Clifton McDowell mishandled the snap and Ian Bronson jumped on the ball for the Bearkats. The Lions defense would hold but Trey Wolff would kick a field goal through to make it 10-7.
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The Bearkats started the fourth quarter forcing the Lions to punt and were able to threaten to score again. Penalties drove Klein back to the 29 yard line and they would end up failing on fourth down.
With one last chance, McDowell hit Rory Samuels for a 54 yards down field to move the Lions into Bearkat territory with 1:02 left in the game. On their final chance, the Lions couldn’t convert on fourth down and Klein held on for the win.
“We just had to go back to the basics and play our game.” Greyson Lembcke said about the second half mentality. “We had a few turnovers in the first half and that wasn’t us. We had to keep control of the ball in the second half, the defense got us some great stops. I’ve got to give it up to my team. They played a great game.”
Spring ends their season with a record of 8-2 after the loss. Klein improves to 7-3 and will face Pflugerville Hendrickson at 1 p.m. CST Friday in Brenham.
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