Defense boosts Highlanders
The Woodlands was out of sync on offense Thursday night without injured starting quarterback Eric Schmid.
It barely touched the ball in the first half and turned it over four times.
But this year’s Highlanders aren’t built on offense — and their defense remained on point.
The defense allowed only three points off the turnovers and sealed a win on Mitchell Bell’s interception with 30 seconds left as The Woodlands registered a 21-18 victory over Kingwood at Turner Stadium.
“They played that way all year,” The Woodlands coach Mark Schmid said.
That’s why the Highlanders (9-1, 6-0) are undefeated District 16-6A champions for the third consecutive season.
They face Klein Oak in the first round of the Class 6A Division I playoffs next week.
Kingwood (6-4, 4-2) dominated time of possession in the first half and even held a 10-7 lead at halftime.
“We played a really good game,” Kingwood coach Barry Campbell said. “There’s definitely some things we can do better … but I’m proud of our guys. They got after it with a really good team.”
The Mustangs used a long drive that chewed up 6:36 and was capped by Diego Garcia’s 23-yard field goal to break a tie with 1 second left in the half.
The Woodlands had only four possessions in the first half, two ending in turnovers.
“It’s hard to develop any kind of rhythm when you don’t have the ball that much,” Mark Schmid said. “So the second half, we were able to start the run game going a little bit and throw the ball around a little bit. That was the difference.” That and Antoine Winfield Jr.’s 92-yard return for a TD on the opening kickoff of the second half.
“We were looking for a spark, and they had been kicking it left, so we felt like if we lined it up left, they might go ahead and kick it to him, and they did,” Schmid said. “That’s the great thing about having a guy like Antoine. He can do things like that.”
The Woodlands’ lead grew to 21-10 on Harry Woodberry’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Reed Barber. Woodberry relieved Craig Heiser, who started for the injured Eric Schmid, on the third-quarter series.
“They both made plays when they needed to,” Mark Schmid said.
The coach said his son will be fitted for a playing brace to protect his injured elbow and will practice next week, but he’s unsure of Eric’s playoff status.
“We’ll see,” Schmid said. “(But) that’s why it was so big for Craig and Harry both to play.”
Jason McDaniel is a freelance writer.