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As Woodlands defenders chased down Klein Forest running back Ty Robinson near the sideline, the football squirted out of his hands and into those of Woodlands defensive back Taylor Charbonnet, who took it 85 yards the other way for the game-clinching touchdown with 1:39 remaining, as the Highlanders shut the door on the Golden Eagles 21-7 Friday night at Buddy Moorhead Stadium.

``I was trying to get over there to make a tackle,'' Charbonnet said. ``The ball came out, I caught it and I just ran as fast as I could.''

The play capped an exhausting night for the Highlander defense, which spent 32:31 out of 48 minutes on the field and had to defend 78 Golden Eagle plays, while The Woodlands (3-2, 2-0 in District 14-5A) only ran 32. Klein Forest (4-1, 1-1) had six drives lasting eight plays or more, including three totaling 11 plays apiece.

``The defense was playing lights out,'' Woodlands coach Mark Schmid said. ``But it seemed like every time they'd get a stop there would be a yellow handkerchief on the ground and the defense would have to stay on the field.''

Four of The Woodlands' eight penalties came on a Klein Forest third or fourth down, nearly draining a defense that grew frustrated each time it had to go back on the field.

``We just figured we had to be an iron curtain and not let anything get past us,'' senior linebacker Kirby Smith said.

Still, the Highlanders' defense was resilient, led by the playmaking of Charbonnet (seven solo tackles, blocked field goal and fumble return for a score). Senior defensive end Blake Hinton (four solo tackles, one tackle for a loss) and Smith (three sacks) also wreaked havoc, often getting in the Klein Forest backfield to make things difficult for quarterback Ford Lakin.

``Our front seven with Blake and Kirby Smith were stalwarts for us tonight,'' Schmid said. ``We got big play after big play from both of them.''

The game began ominously for the Golden Eagles as Woodlands senior receiver and Louisiana transfer Ryan Montague returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.
The Woodlands didn't take long to extend its early lead as junior quarterback Brett Parsons led the Highlanders on a nine-play, 54-yard drive that was capped off by running back Chris Burns' two-yard touchdown run at the midpoint of the first quarter.

Charbonnet blocked a Klein Forest field-goal attempt with 44 seconds remaining in the second period to keep the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard in the first half.

``The blocked field goal was huge,'' Schmid said. ``Klein Forest had established some momentum heading into the half and for them to come out with no points I think deflated them a little.''

Klein Forest's lone score came on the opening drive of the second half when Lakin had a one-yard TD run at the 6:31 mark in the third quarter.

``In all my years of coaching, I've never seen a defensive effort like I saw tonight,'' Schmid said. ``No matter where (Klein Forest) had the ball, they kept playing. It was spectacular.''

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The Highlanders, now 3-2 overall and 2-0 in 14-5A play, used a 99-yard return by Ryan Montague on the opening kickoff for a touchdown, then got a scintillating 85-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Taylor Charbonnet with under 1:40 to play and the game in the balance to gut out the victory.
The Golden Eagles held the ball for 18 of 24 minutes in the second half and ran 47 offensive plays in the final two quarters to just 12 for the Highlanders. For the game, Forest had 81 offensive plays, to just 37 for the Highlanders. With those numbers it would appear that the Golden Eagles could wear down The Woodlands' defense, but the Highlanders had no part of that, holding a potent Forest attack to just seven points after the Golden Eagles had been scoring over 30 per contest.
"That was one of the best defensive games I've ever seen in all my years of coaching," said TWHS head coach Mark Schmid. "It didn't matter where the ball was, whether it was in the red zone or at the 40, we were just making plays.
"We scored on offense, defense and special teams. It's great to score in all phases of the game."
Montague, a Hurricane Katrina evacuee from New Orleans, briefly bobbled the opening kickoff, then used his blocking before sprinting for the score to open the game. TWHS would go 54 yards in nine plays, with Chris Burns scoring from two yards out, to make it 14-0 just six minutes into the game.
From there, defenses took over. For The Woodlands, defensive standouts included Taylor Charbonnet (blocked field goal; several deflections), Blake Hinton, Matt Hinton, Taylor Skaufel, Zach Carpenter, Kirby Smith, Jake Beller, Tucker Golson, Kyle Bouthilet, Andrew Cagle, Chris Lake and others.
Forest twice drove into TWHS territory in the final quarter, only to be stopped on downs. Charbonnet's fumble return came on a 4th-and-2 play at the Highlander 17.

Woodlands rides big finish past Klein Forest