Humble Summer Creek 35, Fort Bend Hightower 31

Class 6A-Division II Region III Championship

December 2, 2003

Cy-Fair FCU Stadium

Cypress, TX

This Houston area showdown was full of plenty of twists and turns and the fireworks started pre-game as the two teams had to be separated in pre-game with emotions running high on both sides.

Summer Creek opened the game with the ball and Hightower’s defense set the tone early forcing a three and out, Hightower would go 13-plays and score on an eleven yard touchdown pass from Joseph Stewart to Shane King giving the Hurricanes a 7-0 lead with 4:40 left in the first quarter. Summer Creek would have an answer as Tulsa commit Lloyd Avant would tie the game up on a 15-yard run late in the first quarter.

After an exchange of punts, Hightower would hit with the Bulldogs with a big play to regain the lead as TCU commit RB Jeremy Payne caught a swing pass out of the backfield with a 74-yard touchdown pass to put Hightower up 14-7 early in the second quarter. Again, Summer Creek would have an answer to the Hightower score as Avant capped a 14-play drive scoring from 22-yards out to tie the game at 14-14 with 6:44 remaining in the second quarter.

After recovering a Hightower fumble, Summer Creek would take a 17-14 lead on a short field goal from Brian Mays, but that lead was short lived as Hightower would get the lead back on a 54-yard pass connection from Stewart to Zion Kearney making the score 21-17 with just over two minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Fort Bend Hightower would open the second half with the ball, but the Summer Creek defense was again up the task as DB William Hill made a sensational interception along the sidelines setting the Bulldogs up in Hightower territory. The Bulldogs were unable to find the end zone after the turnover and after two first downs Summer Creek settled for a short field goal to cut the Hightower lead to 21-20 with 7:50 left in the third quarter.

The remainder of the third quarter was dominated by both defenses and field position, but after a Summer Creek fumble late in the third quarter Hightower had the ball looking to extend the lead at the SCHS 30.

On the first play of the fourth quarter Hightower elected to kick a 42-yard field goal instead of go for it on 4th and 4 and the decision paid off as 6’5 kicker Andres Agwunobi split the uprights extending the Hurricanes lead to 24-20. After an exchange of the three and out’s the Hightower defense made another monster play as S Michael Amey made a great read and picked off Summer Creek QB Blake Thomas and returned the interception 45-yards for the score and Hightower held a 35-31 lead with 6:46 left in the game.

Summer Creek on their next drive moved with a different sense of urgency being down two scores and that tempo got them into a rhythm that had been lacking for the entire second half, the Bulldogs were able to find the end zone with just under five minutes remaining as Blake Thomas connected with Kordell Rogers for a 15-yard touchdown and after Avant’s two-point run the Hightower lead was trimmed to 31-28.

Summer Creek’s defense would hold near midfield and apparently forced Hightower to punt, but Hightower gambled on 4th and 4 running a fake punt with the pass falling incomplete and totally shifting momentum over to Summer Creek at that point as the Bulldogs had the ball back with 2:44 left and two timeouts on their own 48.

After two first downs, Thomas would scramble for 17 yards down to the Hightower five yard line with just over a minute remaining, on third and goal at the one with just 0:25 left in the game Avant would barrel in from one yard out to give Summer Creek the lead for good at 35-31.

Hightower would run a couple of desperation plays to no avail after receiving the kickoff and Summer Creek would escape with their first regional title in school history with a sensational rally in the fourth quarter.

Summer Creek would finish the season at 14-2 falling in the 6A-Division II state title game to DeSoto, while Hightower’s season would end at 12-2 with their only two losses of the year coming by a combined eleven points.