Highlanders nail down title
SHENANDOAH — The Woodlands scored 35 unanswered points in the second half to beat College Park 45-14 in their District 13-6A finale to close out the regular season Thursday night at Woodforest Stadium.
With the win, The Woodlands is 14-2 against College Park all-time.
It’s the first district title for the Highlanders since 2018 and 20th all-time for the program.
“This game we have had circled since last year,” Highlanders coach Jim Rapp said. “I don’t feel like we played to our standard last year for a lot of reasons. Our kids have worked their tails off all offseason and all summer long. We had a great non-district schedule that we went through and they handled adversity. We were on a mission to finish district strong.”
College Park came out firing on offense in the first half.
The Cavaliers (7-3, 3-2) drove down the field on their first drive and scored on quarterback Ty Buckmon’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Holden Rook.
The Woodlands (8-2, 5-0) seemed to be on the way to score on its opening drive, but the Highlanders fumbled, and College Park recovered the ball for the first turnover of the game.
The Woodlands would hold College Park on its next possession to force a punt, but the Cavaliers had a 7-0 lead after the first quarter.
The Woodlands senior running back JoBarre Reed tied the game at seven with a 10-yard touchdown run up the middle of the College Park defense with 8:55 left in the second quarter.
The College Park defense forced another fumble, but this time the Cavaliers went on to score off the turnover.
Two plays later Buckmon took the ball for an 8yard TD run to put College Park up 14-7 with seven minutes left in the second quarter.
Highlander kicker Nick Sims made a 31-yard field goal with 3:45 left in the second quarter as College Park led the Highlanders 14-10.
With six seconds left in the second quarter College Park attempted a 43-yard field goal, but the attempt was no good.
College Park went into the locker room with a 14-10 lead at halftime.
“I told them we were OK,” Rapp said. “We were down four, we didn’t play a great half and we stopped ourselves offensively. It’s not about what I said. The coaches made good adjustments and the kids know how to play. They know how to come back and they knew they were OK down at halftime.”
The Highlanders got their first lead of the night when sophomore quarterback Mabrey Mettauer ran in on a 16-yard TD. Mettauer hurdled a College Park defender before running into the end zone as The Woodlands took a 17-14 lead with 8:07 left in the third quarter.
On College Park’s next possession, the Cavaliers turned the ball over on downs in the red zone.
College Park head coach Lonnie Madison was proud of the effort of his team, but the Cavaliers will be back next week for the playoffs.
“We didn’t play well on offense or defense,” Madison said. “We have to take away the positives from this game and move onto the playoffs next week. The kids played well in the first half and in the second half we didn’t play very well. We have to fix the mistakes and move forward.”
Mettauer connected with wideout Jason Williams for a 40-yard gain to get the ball to the 15-yard line.
Reed then went through the gut of the College Park defense and front flipped into the end zone for a 15yard TD run to give The Woodlands a 24-14 lead with 3:58 left in the third quarter.
The Woodlands broke open the game on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Williams scored on a 21yard TD run as the Highlanders took a 31-14 lead with 11:51 left in the game.
The Woodlands got its first turnover when Tommy Kratt came up with an interception.
On the next play Mettauer connected with Tobin Miller for an 18-yard TD pass as The Woodlands went up 38-14 with 10:57 left in the game.
Woodlands running back Jacoby Mitchell added a 8-yard TD run to cap the scoring as the Highlanders went up 45-14 with 1:58 left in the game.
“I think were playing where we need to be right now,” Rapp said. “We have done a good job of continuing to get better.
“We still have work to do. I’m happy where we’re at right now and we have a high ceiling that we can get to.”