TEXAS CITY — Go figure that the first meeting between Pearland and Pearland Dawson on the football field took place not at The Rig, but 25 miles east in Texas City.

And that it wasn’t 11-on-11, but instead 7-on-7.

And that nothing other than bragging rights was on the line.

Having secured their berths into the state tournament July 10-11 in College Station, the Oilers defeated the Eagles 38-33 Saturday afternoon in the championship of the Texas City state qualifying tournament at Stingaree Stadium.

“I’m glad we both made it,” Oilers 7-on-7 coach Jeff Phillips said, “but Pearland High School has the bragging rights.”

The Oilers, who clinched their state berth in Texas City for the second straight year, averaged 40 points in pool play victories over the host Stingarees (41-12), Kempner (46-33) and Montgomery (41-19), then outslugged Clear Creek 47-39 in the semifinals to clinch their berth.

Dawson put 147 points in pool play wins against Port Arthur Memorial (53-6), Baytown Lee (54-13) and Chavez (40-30) before clinching with a 48-32 victory against Clear Springs.

But the Oilers took early control against the Eagles, going ahead 19-6 on three touchdown passes by Trey Anderson, one to Sam Ukwuachu, who usually plays defensive end. The defense added two interceptions before a neck-and-neck second half.

“We lost a lot of year last year but we still have a lot of speed and we use that deep and on crossing routes. We put it together pretty nicely,” Anderson said. “We look it to hit it deep. We have the speed to do it, so we use it to our advantage.”

Anderson tossed at least two touchdowns of 40 or more yards Saturday,

“That’s a great sign,” Phillips said. “Any time you have guys who get open on deep routes downfield, that’s a great sign.”

Dawson, which currently is in District 23-4A, opened in the fall of 2007, relieving Pearland. In turn, Dawson will be relieved by Pearland Turner High School beginning this fall.

The Eagles were 1-2 at SQTs the previous two weeks. They have been led by 6-foot, 170-pound quarterback Darian Lazard, who has been offered by the University of Houston, and Cougar commit Xavier Brown at running back.

The other two area schools present, Morton Ranch and Kempner, did not advance past pool play.

Kempner was 2-1, with wins over Montgomery (41-40 in overtime) and Texas City (36-18) sandwiched around the loss to Pearland.

The Mavericks went 1-2, losing to Clear Creek (20-13) and Channelview (27-20) before a 39-25 victory against Alvin in their final game.

A complete list of scores is below.
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Dave Purpura can be reached at (281) 404-4958 or dpurpura@athletesconnection.com.

Pool A
Pearland 41, Texas City 12
Kempner 41, Montgomery 40 (OT)
Montgomery 26, Texas City 25 (OT)
Pearland 46, Kempner 33
Kempner 36, Texas City 18
Pearland 43, Montgomery 19

Pool B
Clear Creek 20, Morton Ranch 13
Channelview 25, Alvin 19
Clear Creek 40, Alvin 24
Channelview 27, Morton Ranch 20
Clear Creek 31, Channelview 18
Morton Ranch 39, Alvin 25

Pool C
Clear Springs 34, Friendswood 31
Beaumont Ozen 44, La Porte 27
Clear Springs 44, La Porte 19
Friendswood 45, Beaumont Ozen 20
Clear Springs 47, Beaumont Ozen 32
Friendswood 28, La Porte 14

Pool D
Chavez 39, Baytown Lee 16
Pearland Dawson 53, Port Arthur Memorial 6
Pearland Dawson 54, Baytown Lee 13
Chavez 46, Port Arthur Memorial 39 (OT)
Port Arthur Memorial 27, Baytown Lee 19
Pearland Dawson 40, Chavez 30

Semifinals: Pearland 47, Clear Creek 39; Pearland Dawson 48, Clear Springs 32.
Championship: Pearland 38, Pearland Dawson 33.

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