First south county tussle goes to TWHS
By: Mike Jones, Sports Editor11/06/2004
Round one of the new south county rivalry between The Woodlands and Oak Ridge went to the Highlanders 49-17 Friday night at Buddy Moorhead Memorial Stadium.

"The kids came out focused and ready to go," said TWHS head coach Mark Schmid. "We executed well offensively and played well defensively. The great thing was all our kids that practice all week got an opportunity to play and played quite a bit. Everybody's happy."

The Woodlands scored on all six of its first-half possessions en route to a 42-0 lead at the break as the Highlanders got cranked up for the playoffs, which begin next weekend. TWHS is set to face off against old district rival Bryan at either Katy's Rhodes Stadium or at Sam Houston State University.

"It's a familiar opponent," said Schmid about Bryan, which the team faced to open the 2003 season at the Alamodome and also battled in bi-district at the Reliant Astrodome in 2000. "They do have a new staff."

Highlander quarterback Greg Meinzer played only the first half Friday night and was near-perfect, completing 12-of-15 passes for 220 yards. He spread the wealth, hooking up with Kyle Drabek three times for 63 yards, Kyle Anderson three for 58, Taylor Grote twice for 52 and Eric Paul four for 47. That included a pair of TD tosses, the first coming on a 47-yarder to Drabek on the game's fifth play, and the other with 23 seconds left in the half on a six-yard connection with Kyle Anderson that completed a five-play, 70-yard drive that took 2:02 off the clock and included four complete passes in four attempts for all of the yardage. Grote grabbed a 38-yarder along the way.

In between, the Highlanders got two TD runs from Josh Martinek (32 yards and 1 yard) and one each from Chris Burns (11) and David Redding (3).

Oak Ridge played a solid second half, outscoring the Highlanders 17-7, with QB Trent Miller completing 7-of-8 passes to open the second half. Miller, who threw for 33 yards in the first half, exploded for 152 in the final two periods, finishing the night 15-for-26. The War Eagles' TD in the third quarter was sparkling, with Miller handing off to Keith Smith, who tossed back to the QB on the flea-flicker. Miller then threw deep for Dennis Shafer, who adjusted well, fought through interference and hauled in the pass and ran the rest of the way into the end zone. Shafer had a nice night, catching five aerials for 102 yards.

Bryan Howe saw some action in the Highlander backfield in the second half and ran six times for 39 yards, including a three-yard TD burst. In the fourth quarter, ORHS kicker Kevin Sharples nailed a 29-yard field goal and Smith scored on a 14-yard run up the middle. Smith, 14-5A's leading rusher entering the game, finished the night with 19 carries for 52 yards and the season with 209 carries for 1,202 yards. Depending on Javorskie Lane's night in Lufkin's 44-21 win over Klein Collins to clinch the outright league title on Friday, Smith will finish either first or second in the league rushing race.

Oak Ridge closes its first season in 5A with a 3-7 mark, including a 2-5 record in 14-5A. TWHS advances to the postseason with 7-3 and 5-2 marks.


©Houston Community Newspapers Online 2004