» Bright’s long TD runs lead La Porte past Deer Park in rivalry game.
What better way for La Porte and Deer Park to kick off their 2020 football seasons than against each other in the Border Battle, a rivalry among neighboring towns that began in 1946.
Unique this year is that it’s a non-district game. Deer Park is competing in a newly formed District 22-6A, and La Porte has dropped a classification to 5A. But the intensity was still there from players and fans alike. Though attendance at Bulldog Stadium was limited due to concerns over COVID-19, a good-size crowd of mostly La Porte supporters had plenty to cheer about.
Bulldogs running back Eric Bright made sure of that, scoring on runs of 76 and 64 yards to lift La Porte to a 17-6 win over Deer Park on Friday night.
“We knew it was a rivalry game, butwe also knew it was the first game of the season,” said Bulldogs defensive back Justin Kay, who cameup with a key fumble recovery in the third quarter. “We knew we had to start if off with a win so we can get the season rolling.”
Bright was definitely rolling, all the way downfield. He had the most explosive play of the game with his 76-yard touchdown run up the middle that gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game — 9-6 in the second quarter with Levi Hilborn’s extra point to come.
Bright’s second long run was just as exciting and put the Bulldogs in control. Defense stood out for the Bulldogs, holding the Deer to 99 total yards and two field goals by Gustavo Tejeida.
“Offensively, it wasn’t pretty, but we had two big plays and that was enough to get us the win,” La Porte coach Anthony Renfro said. “We try to pride ourselves on playing good defense. We didn’t give up any big plays.”
The big plays belonged to La Porte.
Maybe because it was the opener, both teams couldn’t get much rhythm in the opening half in which La Porte led 10-6. The Deer’s only points came on Tejeida field goals of 37 and 43 yards that staked the Deer to a 6-3 lead.
Most of the game’s offense came from Bright, who left the game with a lower leg injury with 2:31 to play in the third quarter but returned early in the fourth quarter. A 6-foot-1, 225-pound bruiser with speed, Bright finished just shy of 200 yards rushing.
“Just a phenomenal athlete,” Renfro said. “He’s strong, he’s fast, he runs behind his pads. He’s running guys over, butwhen the hole opens, he can run away from you too. We try to get him the ball as much as we can. He plays defense for us too.”
Against stifling defenses, both starting quarterbacks put up pedestrian numbers. A year ago, Deer quarterback Matthew Potts threw for 1,688 yards and 20 touchdowns for the Division I bidistrict finalist. Back for his third season, on Friday the left-handed Potts kept his passes at a minimum, throwing for 73 yards. Potts did have a 29-yard thirdquarter run that was called back by a penalty. Teague Sedtal backed up Potts and played three series.
Getting the start at quarterback for La Porte was senior Cooper Upshaw, who directed the victory.
La Porte took advantage of excellent field position to open the game’s scoring. After taking over at the Deer 27-yard line, three pays netted little yardage and the Bulldogs settled for Hilborn’s 45yard field goal with 3:13 to play in the first half.
Inside linebacker Dezmond Brodnax had a good game for La Porte, picking up a sack. In the secondary, Kay recovered a thirdquarter fumble in Bulldog territory, and Matthew Guerrero picked off Sedtal inside two minutes remaining in the game.
“We stressed playing hard the whole game and not giving up any big plays,” Kay said. “And we executed.”
At one point, La Porte had a 15game winning streak in the series with Deer Park, beginning in the mid-1970s.
La Porte is coming off a 4-6 season.
Under second-year coach Renfro, the Bulldogs are trying to get their program back to contending status. Less than a decade ago, the Bulldogs reached the 2011 region championship game under coach Jeff LaReau after knocking off top-rated Katy 9-7 at Tully Stadium. It was a period in which La Porte had winning records in eight of nine years.
Coming off a 7-4 season and a playoff appearance, the Deer are expected to contend for district supremacy along with Dobie in a league laden with Pasadena schools.