White House 49, DeKalb County 35 (10/17/08)

The White House Blue Devils took to the air to soar past an upstart group of Tigers from DeKalb County, scoring a season-high in points with a 49-35 win on the road.

Junior quarterback Trox Greenwade etched his name in the single-game record books at WHHS, setting all-time marks with 395 yards passing and five touchdowns. He completed 15-of-19 passes, although two were intercepted, with senior Matt Parker catching five of those for 197 yards and three scores. Parker also led the defense with 11 tackles and a sack to go with one of the top receiving performances ever by any Blue Devil.

White House actually trailed 21-14 with one minute to go in the first half when Hunter Poteete intercepted Greenwade and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown, but the Blue Devils made a quick march to tie the game going into the locker room and took control in the fourth quarter when DeMarqus Payne extended the lead to two scores with a 55-yard run.

White House improves to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in Region 4-3A, clinching a playoff berth for the 17^th year in a row and setting up a clash for the region championship at Station Camp in week nine. No matter the outcome of week 10, the winner of the matchup between the Blue Devils and Bison will be declared the title holder for 2008. DeKalb County (6-2, 2-2) is battling Sycamore for third.

“You hope to run the football, but when they put as many people in the box as they did and were determined to take away our running game, the potential opportunity is out there for the passing game,” said White House head coach Jeff Porter. “Our kids made some big plays and that’s the difference in winning and losing.

“Our quarterback had a hot hand and got into a good rhythm. The ball was spread out and it was just a good win, a hard win and it’s a win to get us to week 11 and that’s the most important thing.”

The Tigers have been the surprise team of the midstate and showed why on Senior Night in Smithville. Poteete, a junior, completed 20-of-34 passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns, and also scored on the interception return and a six-yard rush for five total trips into the endzone. The Tigers had 419 total yards, but White House countered with a season-high 501, despite being held to just 106 on the ground for the vaunted rushing attack.

Despite the lighting of the scoreboard, the game actually started on a slow pace and White House led 7-0 after a 44-yard completion to Parker followed by an impressive 42-yard touchdown catch by Chad Neal, who nearly dropped the pass before diving across the goalline and snaring the football. Neal’s two catches tied him with Adam Spivey for third all-time on the White House reception list.

After the teams punted on four straight series (two each), DeKalb tied the game with a six-play, 69-yard drive, aided by a crucial third down pass interference call when Poteete’s pass sailed out of the endzone on a deep drop. Poteete would then connect with Abram Edwards for 19 yards to knot up the score.

“I thought we did a good job of stopping him in the first quarter, but that pass interference on the goalline really gave them some momentum and they got into a good rhythm throwing the football,” Porter said.

Two drives later, Greenwade hit Chase Neal for 23 yards and then found DeMarrius Payne for 39 yards, as the senior cutback inside for the touchdown and a 14-7 lead with Matthew Gossett’s kick. DeMarrius had four receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Poteete led the Tigers to the scoreboard again with a clutch throw of 16 yards into the middle of the field to Travon Johnson, who bounced between two Blue Devils for the touchdown. On the ensuing series, Greenwade was picked off by Poteete and the return gave the Tigers their only lead of the night at 21-14.

But White House took just five plays, 58 yards and 53 seconds to make it a 21-21 game after a short kickoff by DeKalb County. Greenwade threw a pretty fade to the visitor pylon and Parker hauled in the reception before the half.

DeMarqus Payne rushed 16 times for 84 yards and two touchdowns, and the first gave White House a 28-21 margin on an 11-yard scamper, just two plays after Greenwade hit twin brother DeMarrius Payne for 41 yards on his best throw of the night.

Poteete was unwavering and marched his team 80 yards back to tie the game at 28, scoring on a six-yard quarterback draw with 7:23 left in the third quarter. Greenwade then connected with Chase Neal for 13 and pushed the lead to 35-28 with a 59-yard quick slant to Parker, who broke through two tacklers and headed to paydirt.

Despite a 10-play, 48-yard drive, the Tigers came up empty when Poteete was sacked for once of five times on the night, this time on third down by Zach Duty. DeMarrius Payne returned the punt 29 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter and his brother took it 55 yards to the house to extend the advantage to 42-28.

“Getting two scores up was huge for this game,” Porter said. “It seemed like all we did was trade punches for three quarters. Our kids will be tired after this game because they had the ball 24 more plays than we did, but that’s not an accurate reflection because we had some big plays. Our kids fought hard and expended a lot of energy in this game.”

Back to back sacks by Jonathan Duke gave the football back to White House, and Parker’s 60-yard touchdown catch gave the visitors their biggest lead at 49-28.

Poteete found J.J. Herriott for seven yards to cap the scoring when the drive was extended by a roughing the passer penalty.