44-point first half propels Lobos into regional final
Langham Creek left no doubt.
Chris Herron threw two long touchdown passes in the first five minutes of a lopsided first half, and the Lobos cruised past Kingwood 51-16 in the Class 6A Division II Region III semifinals Saturday at TDECU Stadium.
“I’m so proud of our kids,” Langham Creek coach Todd Thompson said. “I knew they were prepared. We had great practices all week, and this is a fun team to coach. We’ve got good kids who work hard, and they have a great chemistry as a team.”
Now Herron and the Lobos (11-1) are heading to the regional finals for the first time in school history.
“It’s big,” said Herron, a senior quarterback who completed six of 13 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception, and rushed for 76 yards and a score. “All this feels like what most teams want, and this team for sure, especially not being able to make it past this round in previous years.” And they meet again
Langham Creek will face a familiar opponent in the next round.
Cy-Fair (12-0) dispatched Friendswood with equal ease, rolling 45-14 on Friday, to set up an all-Cy-Fair ISD regional final. The Bobcats and the Lobos, who met only three weeks ago in their District 17-6A finale at Pridgeon Stadium, which Cy-Fair won 30-21, will square off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium.
“I’m ready,” Herron said. “That’s all I can say. I’m ready for it.”
The Lobos definitely were ready Saturday, jumping on Kingwood early.
Herron delivered a 25yard strike to Devin Lawrence on fourth-and-10 for a quick 7-0 advantage and then, after a Kingwood punt, found Golden Eke — who outjumped safety Nolan Powell — on the first play of the Lobos’ second series for a 51-yard TD and 13-0 lead with 7:12 left in the first quarter.
“We wanted to start at 12 o’clock, not 12:30,” Thompson said. “We’ve had several games where one side of the ball has started off slow, and either the team drove down and scored on us to start the game, or we went three-and-out. So we put a lot of emphasis this week on, ‘Hey — 12 o’clock. We’re playing. That’s it.’ And they did that (Saturday).”
Langham Creek pushed its lead to 27-0 by the end of the quarter and 44-0 by halftime. Bryce Tucker blocked two punts in the first half, leading to 14 points on two short runs by Corien Azema.
“We thought, looking at their punt team, that we would have a chance to get to them, and those are all effort plays,” Thompson said. “If you want to, you can go get it sometimes, and Bryce is a great role player for us.”
Those plays were only the brightest signs it was going to be the Lobos’ day. Lucky bounces help
The Lobos also scored on two plays in which they fumbled in the first half.
Azema fumbled crossing the goal line on his first 1-yard run but recovered in the end zone to make it 200. Herron fumbled in the second quarter, but the ball bounced right back to him, and he picked up a bone-jarring block from Lawrence and then turned the right corner for a 39-yard TD and 34-0 lead.
“Sometimes you get momentum and you get lucky,” Thompson said. “The ball seems to bounce your way.”
Tucker added to his big day in the third quarter, breaking a first-play, 60yard TD run for a 51-0 lead.
Kingwood (6-6) was the feel-good story of the playoffs, making it to the third round for the first time since 1990 after the high school was flooded by Hurricane Harvey, forcing it to share a campus with Summer Creek. But it didn’t have much to feel good about Saturday.
The Mustangs didn’t crack the scoreboard until Matt Slayton found Powell for a 40-yard score with 9:33 left in the third quarter.
Kingwood punted on its first five possessions. The Mustangs tried a fake punt on the sixth but came up short and then turned the ball over on downs on a fourth-and-1 on the seventh possession.
Conversely, Langham Creek scored on four of its first five possessions, and its starters exited the game midway through the third.
“I really wouldn’t expect (to lead 51-0), but it comes with being able to do what successful teams have to do — come out, jump on teams, keeping jumping on them and not give up,” Herron said.