Quick take
The Patriotic Game is always a special night for high school football in Tomball.
For the first time since 2020, the Tomball Memorial Wildcats went home happy and with a big win over rival Tomball.
The Wildcats used a ball possession offense, got some major stops on defense and the special teams came through as well for a 27-21 win Friday night in District 15-6A.
Tomball Memorial (6-1, 3-1) trailed by a point at halftime and pieced together two long scoring drives in the second half, including one with a fake punt for a first down conversion.
“It’s a pretty big deal,” Tomball Memorial quarterback Aiden Martin, who ran for two massive third down conversions late in the fourth quarter, said of winning the rivalry game for the first time since Tomball ISD Stadium opened two years ago. “We’ve been working for this for a while. We started back last offseason and we’ve been putting in this work for this season. Especially this game.”
Treveon Green punched home two 1-yard touchdowns in the second half.
Tomball scored with 4:18 left to make it a one-possession game.
When Tomball Memorial got the ball back, Martin converted those third down runs and made the Cougars (5-2, 3-1) burn through all three timeouts.
“It was really exciting,” Martin said. “It was real fun and a good experience. Can’t wait for more.”
The Wildcats punted on fourth-and-long to pin the Cougars at the nine. The defense then stopped them on four plays to kill the rest of the clock.
“The biggest story of the night was holding that offense to 21 points,” Tomball Memorial coach Sam Parker said. “That was awesome. We were 100% comfortable about punting the ball and holding them. Our defense did great.”
The Wildcats came in off a tough loss last week to Klein Collins, which is now the District 15-6A leader after the loss for Tomball, which snapped a four-game winning streak.
Highlights
With a quick score from the 1-yard line with 25 seconds left before halftime, Tomball led 14-13 at the break after trailing most of the half.
Koby Fosher pushed in his second touchdown of the night. That came off a heads-up catch by tight end Colby Dawson, who corralled a tipped ball earlier in the drive for a 36-yard gain.
Fosher, who entered the night with nine rushing scores on the season, also had a touchdown run of 15 yards in the first quarter.
Tomball Memorial opened the scoring with a 15-yard keeper by Martin on the Wildcats’ first drive of the night.
The Wildcats drove down within the 10-yard line of Tomball twice in the half, but had to settle for a pair of field goals (23 and 29 yards) by Rome Gabbert.
Tomball Memorial took back the lead out of halftime. On its second possession, Green pushed in his fifth touchdown of the season to go up 20-14.
Green then capped a methodical 16-play drive for the Wildcats with a 1-yard touchdown at the 9:50 mark of the fourth quarter for the 13-point lead.
“Huge piece of that was the fake punt to keep it going,” Parker said of a conversion on the eighth play.
Tomball got a nice drive going midway through the fourth and it resulted in a 4-yard touchdown pass to Joey Bruhn from Carter Noyes. Noyes hit Brooks Junod on a 55-yard reception earlier in the drive.
What it means
No matter the result of this one, both Tomball and Tomball Memorial are still in good shape in the 15-6A playoff picture.
The Cougars and Wildcats have only made the playoffs in the same season twice before. Last year and in 2018.
Friday night’s game in particular might be considered the best matchup on paper in the rivalry’s 12-year history as both teams were 5-1 coming in.
“In 2021, we started all those sophomores,” Parker said. “Now they’re all seniors. It’s been awesome. Tonight, was about a great team win. We had amazing special teams and defense. Offense played great in some spots.”
On the theme of the Patriotic Game, the city of Tomball and the school district uses the matchup as an opportunity to honor local veterans at halftime. The marching bands and choirs of Tomball and Tomball Memorial perform together on the occasion.
Quotable
“Coach (David) Handal and those guys do a great job,” Parker said. “I consider this one of our best quality wins because it was against a really, really good opponent.”
Game balls
In just his third game of the season, Tomball Memorial running back Isaiah Nelson ran for 138 yards on 16 attempts.
Gabbert was 2-for-2 on field goals and 3-for-3 on extra points.
Tomball’s Junod caught three passes for 84 yards.
Tomball defensive lineman Ramon Pernas was in on at least three tackles for loss, including two sacks.
Up next
Tomball takes on Klein Forest this coming Thursday, 7 p.m. at Klein Memorial Stadium. The Golden Eagles are coming in off a 24-0 loss to Klein Collins Thursday and are 1-3 in district play.
Tomball Memorial hosts Klein next Friday at 7 p.m. The Bearkats play Saturday against Waller.
Oct 13, 2023|Updated Oct 13, 2023 10:34 p.m.
Rob Tate is the Deputy High School Sports Coordinator for the Houston Chronicle. He previously served as sports editor for The Conroe Courier from 2021-23. He can be reached at [email protected].
Rob joined the Conroe Courier staff in May 2015 as the assistant sports editor. He previously served as the assistant sports editor at The Daily American Republic in Poplar Bluff, Mo. from 2008-2015. He is a 2008 graduate of Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.