ROSENBERG — Some people might be wondering if the La Marque Cougars have a good enough team to make a deep run in the playoffs this year. Just don’t count the El Campo Ricebirds among the skeptics — at least not anymore.
In the opening round of the playoff yesterday at Traylor Stadium in Rosenberg, the Cougars got a huge game from quarterback Jairus Kerlegan when they needed it the most. The senior connected on 10 of 12 passes for 197 yards, scored two touchdowns and passed for another.
And La Marque stepped up its game on both sides of the ball in the second half, turning a close game at halftime into a 31-6 rout over El Campo.
“This team is on a mission to prove it still belongs among the best in the state,” La Marque coach Chris Jones said. “They expect to be here this time of year. Making it out of (District) 23-4A is tough. And it toughens you up for the road ahead.”
Desmond Haynes caught five passes for 156 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter to give the Cougars a 28-6 lead.
“Desmond just did a fantastic job. He has been a real go-to guy for us all year,” Jones said. “And Jairus had a huge game passing the ball and with his running.”
Late in the first half, the senior wide receiver also helped the Cougars with his arm. Taking a lateral from Kerlegan, Haynes tossed a 32-yard pass to Ian Jackson to set up the Cougars at the Ricebirds 5-yard line with 49 seconds to play in the first half.
Shane Cams capped off a 10-play, 94-yard drive two plays later with a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Cougars a 14-6 halftime lead.
Cams’ run capped off an eventful — and controversial — first half.
With the Cougars holding on to a 7-6 lead, the Ricebirds were driving deep into La Marque territory with less than five minutes to play until halftime. El Campo running back Anthony Terrell’s seven-yard run got the Ricebirds to the Cougar 6-yard line. At the end of the play, the ball came loose, La Marque recovered — and the controversy began.
The El Campo side — fans, radio announcers, and especially the coaches — erupted, believing that Terrell was clearly down.
Ricebird coach Bob Gillis and his staff were called for 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty — an extremely rare occurrence.
The back judge signaled immediately that Terrell was down, but the umpire overruled him. Correct call or not, it was a turning point in the game, as the Cougars immediately marched 94 yards down the field to take a 8-point halftime lead.
After the game, Gillis had calmed down, but still didn’t sound convinced that the correct call had been made.
“The referees make the calls, not me,” Gillis said. “We can’t worry about it now.”
Terrell rushed for 197 yards on 27 carries for El Campo, accounting for nearly 75 percent of the Ricebirds’ (7-3) offensive output.
The Cougars (9-2) move on to face Lumberton next week in Baytown in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
“All the film we saw on this team, they didn’t run a one-back offensive set like they did today, so we had to adjust.” Jones said. “We forced some turnovers, and our kids played hard and stayed upbeat even when things weren’t going well in the first half. It was a great overall effort.”
