LAST-SECOND FIELD GOAL LIFTS PEARLAND OVER MANVEL IN MATCHUP OF AREA POWERHOUSES

After the darkness, Bernstein delivers winning field goal

ALVIN — Pearland played lights-out football in the second half Friday night. Really, it did. With 17 seconds remaining and the regular-season game of the year between Pearland and Manvel hanging in the balance, the lights went out at Alvin Memorial Stadium.

When they came back on after a 15-minute delay, Pearland ran one play to set up Cody Bernstein for a field goal. The senior made it from 37 yards out to give the Oilers a 27-24 victory that likely will not be forgotten for a long time.

During the delay, Bernstein told coach Tony Heath: “Get it in the middle of the field. I’ll make it.”

“I was getting anxious standing there for 15 minutes with the lights out,” Bernstein said after the game. “It was weird. There is no real explanation for something like that.”

The victory gives Pearland (10-0, 8-0) the outright District 22-6A championship. The Oilers will be in the Division I playoffs next

week. Manvel (8-2, 7-1) will be in the Division II playoffs.

Pearland began the winning drive on its 20-yard line with two minutes, 11 seconds to go. The Oilers caught a lucky break when Manvel’s Brandon McCarty fumbled through the end zone for a touchback on a fourth-and-goal play from the 2.

If he had scored, then Manvel would have had the lead. Instead, the Oilers only had to kick a field goal to break a 24-24 tie. Pearland gained 43 yards on three consecutive plays to get to Manvel’s 25.

Quarterback Connor Blumrick spiked the ball to stop the clock.

That’s when the lights went out.

It could have been an anxious moment for any team, but Pearland did all it could to not let it get in the way of what was ahead.

“We had to sit down, relax and take a deep breath,” Heath said. “I asked (the players) which one of them called Buffalo Wild Wings to shut the lights out. You have to keep it lighthearted. If you worry about everything you’re fixing to do, then you’ll overthink it.”

Pearland did not overthink the game plan when its offense managed just five first downs in the first half. The Oilers wanted to come out throwing and then get back to the running game after halftime. The plan worked.

Consecutive touchdown drives of 13 and 14 plays pulled Pearland even at 2424 with six minutes left.

Manvel responded with a long drive and instead of kicking a field goal, went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 2. That’s when McCarty fumbled.

Corey Roepken is a freelance writer.

Thomas B. Shea photos Pearland kicker Cody Bernstein (12) comes through in the clutch with the winning field goal from 37 yards out on the final play to lift the unbeaten Oilers to the outright District 22-6A title over Manvel on Friday night at Alvin Memorial Stadium.

Thomas B. Shea Pearland running back Evan Burgess dives for the end zone in the first half Friday night at Alvin Memorial Stadium. The Oilers edged Manvel 27-24 in a District 22-6A showdown.