Offense, offense and more offense was the tale of The Woodlands and Lufkin as the Highlanders outlasted the Panthers 63-42 to remain unbeaten at 5-0 on the season.
The first quarter produced an offensive attack for the Highlanders that showed no signs of slowing down. The Woodlands would score first with a touchdown pass from Eric Schmid to Casey Stewart with 8:27 left in the first quarter. The Woodlands would then go up by two scores as Eric Schmid dialed in a long distance touchdown pass to his receiver Dylan Casey with more than four minutes left to play in the first.
Schmid who seemed to replicate the accuracy of a heat seeking missile in the first quarter would start the night off 6-for-7 with two touchdown passes for 100 yards. In the first quarter alone, The Woodlands’ offense produced 12 first downs to put Lufkin on their heels early.
Lufkin would not go down without a fight as their offense led by quarterback Kordell Rodgers would retaliate to bring the game within arm’s reach at 14-7 following a quick drive that was capped off with a touchdown pass from Rodgers to Malik Jackson with 3:44 left in the first.
As the second quarter resumed both offenses would trade blows as the Highlanders would open up the quarter with a touchdown run by Jordan Talford to make it 21-7. Unphased by the deficit Kordell Rodgers would once again hook up with Jackson, this time from 46 yards out to bring the score 21-14.
Following a touchdown from Lufkin’s Khalil Brown the score was at 28-21 with The Woodlands leading and getting the ball before the end of the half with 2:44 left to play. The Highlanders would capitalize and Eric Schmid would find his receiver Grant Murphy putting his total touchdown pass count at four and his team ahead 35-21 with 36 seconds left.
From there it was all but over as The Woodlands would further impose their offense’s will and end the third quarter with a score of 56-28 in their favor. To cap off his excellent night, Schmid would complete a 45-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Casey to go up 63-35 with under eight minutes to go. Schmid finished the night with 291 passing yards and six touchdowns and running back Jordan Talford finished with 12 carries for 129 yards and two touchdowns as The Woodlands opened up their district play with an impressive 63-42 victory.
