Blue Devils score 28 in second quarter to advance to Class 3-A quarterfinals

By Luke Williams

Connection Sports

When the White House Blue Devils played the entire second quarter on the DeKalb County side of the field, the writing was on the wall and 28 points went on the scoreboard.

White House jumped out to a 36-point lead and cruised to a 42-20 victory at home in the second round of the Class 3-A playoffs, ensuring a quarterfinal rematch against Station Camp at Dewey H. Whitson Stadium Friday night.

The Blue Devils scored three touchdowns off Tigers turnovers in the second period, intercepting junior quarterback Hunter Poteete twice and causing a fumble on the home sideline. All three short drives were converted to points and a 35-6 halftime lead.

“(Matthew) Gossett’s kick off putting them on the 20 and then getting the three and out was huge,” said White House head coach Jeff Porter of the start of the game. “We played better defensively and got some turnovers and all of those turnovers were inside their territory. To have the short field was big and the last two weeks our kids have done a great job there.”

The hosts continued a perfect mark in the 2008 season in the red zone, scoring on all six trips, and converting 7-of-9 third downs en route to the big win. But the story of this turnaround was the White House defense, who held DeKalb County to just six points and 174 yards through the start of the fourth quarter.

The Tigers added two late touchdown passes, including a sentimental strike to Abram Edwards, whose father passed away on Monday. He was a volunteer assistant to the team and after the game, his memory was honored by a post-game gathering of both teams at the center of the field – and out of respect for the Tigers, the Blue Devil seniors voted to honor the request of allowing them to wear black uniforms on a road game.

“Our kids were very aware of the tragedy that happened, and our seniors were very respectful of them,” Porter said. “Regardless, there was still a game to be played but I was very proud of our kids in how they handled this with respect, and very proud of our student body for the work they did to raise money for the family. It was the seniors decision to wear white uniforms tonight and allow DeKalb County to wear black and honor their coach.”

Junior quarterback Trox Greenwade shattered school records in the first meeting of the season in week eight against DeKalb County, throwing for 395 yards and five touchdowns. Though the yardage numbers were limited with good field position, Greenwade was just as efficient on this night, completing 11-of-12 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns, including a beautiful corner fade route to Chad Neal who tip-toed inside the pylon on the visitor sideline.

Senior DeMarqus Payne caught a first-half interception and rushed 14 times for 99 yards and a touchdown, and also caught a bubble screen for 50 yards on the first play of the third quarter. That pass set up Bryan Dixon for the second of his touchdown runs, as Dixon led all scorers in the game with two trips to the endzone on eight carries.

“Our kids had another good week of practice and their focus was really good and they worked hard on the practice field,” Porter said. “They translated that to the field.”

Senior Matt Parker led all receivers with four catches for 36 yards and a touchdown, hauling in the second quarter strike from Greenwade in the middle of the endzone. He also set up another score with an interception that he returned 45 yards for an apparent touchdown, but a blocking penalty reduced it to a 16-yard return.

Chad Neal caught three passes for 28 yards and recovered a fumble on defense, caused by DeMarrius Payne who led the team with seven tackles followed by Zach Byrd with six.

Poteete completed 17-of-31 passes for the Tigers for 194 yards and three touchdowns, cutting the margin to 7-6 in the first quarter on a 28-yard pass to Travon Johnson. But that was as close as DeKalb County would come, as the Blue Devils ripped off the next four touchdowns in under 11 minutes. White House finished with 43 plays for 306 yards in the contest.

Poteete, a candidate for Mr. Football back in Class 3-A, hit J.J. Herriott and Abram Edwards in the second half for touchdowns after a botched punt put the Tigers in scoring range. DeKalb County had 49 plays for 240 yards with Poteete also the leading rusher with 15 carries for 45 yards.

Matthew Gossett was again the huge weapon for White House, kicking all but one kickoff into the endzone and forcing the Tigers to start six possessions at the 20-yard-line. Gossett also connected on six consecutive PATs.

White House will play its final home game of the season Friday night at 7 p.m., no matter the outcome. If the Blue Devils are victorious over Station Camp, they would travel to Knoxville to face Catholic or Austin East in the semifinals. It will be the final home game for the senior class.

The Blue Devils won the Region 4-3A championship in week nine with a 21-20 triumph on the road at Station Camp, with the Bison missing an opportunity to tie or win the game when a botched PAT attempt ended the threat with 1:04 remaining. Neither team has lost since.

“It looked like that game was headed to overtime and could have gone either way,” Porter explained. “We were fortunate to come out on top and four weeks later, here we are again.”