From the Houston Chronicle

Falcons-Oilers battle unheralded but big

By L. SCOTT HAINLINE
Chronicle correspondent
Oct. 10, 2001, 11:12PM

With Friday night's Alvin at Clear Creek battle of the unbeatens grabbing most of this week's District 24-5A football headlines, the undefeated Pearland Oilers (5-0, 2-0 District 24-5A) are looking to stay in a first-place tie in Saturday's 4 p.m. battle against the Clear Lake Falcons (1-1, 2-3) at District Stadium.

In a game that was moved from 2 to 4 p.m. due to Saturday's SAT testing, Pearland coach Tony Heath knows his Oilers better be ready for the Falcons, who are coming off a 10-0 blanking of Clear Brook.

"Clear Lake is very well-coached, and defense is their bread and butter," Heath said. "(Clear Lake) coach Troy Aduddell takes care of that defense first, and they've been playing good defense. Offensively, Clear Lake has been moving the ball up and down the field -- they had over 400 yards against Alvin -- but they haven't been able to punch it into the end zone. The yardage doesn't really bother me just as long as we can keep them from scoring.

"Clear Lake is coming off a shutout and that will help their confidence. They play real good defense. They've throw the ball almost 90 times, so they have a well-balanced attack on offense."

After trailing 7-0 late in the opening period, Pearland scored in every quarter in last week's 36-7 win at Brazoswood. The Oilers had stars on both sides of the ball, including junior linebackers Brandon Farran and Scott Derry and running backs Jeremy Brown and Brandon Roberson.

Derry ended up with 20 tackles, while Farran finished with 19 tackles and a sack.

"The defense played an excellent game," Heath said. "My two linebackers -- Farran and Derry -- stepped up and showed what kind of linebackers they can be. They played the caliber of ball they've been capable of playing for four full quarters. I was very proud of them. They really got after it. The key now is for them to come back and have back-to-back great games.

"Senior outside linebacker Clint McCelland had a good night, and senior free safety Jason Trahan played very well."

Pearland rushed for 323 yards against Brazoswood including 155 yards on only six tries (25.8 average) by the sophomore Roberson and 149 on 16 carries (9.3) from the senior Brown, who scored three times. Roberson recorded Pearland's final two TDs.

"Pearland is getting better and better and better every year," Clear Lake coach Troy Aduddell. "They have a lots of kids and coach Tony Heath is doing a great job. They have a great quarterback in Noah Allen who has already committed to Oklahoma, and they have a heck of a running back in Jeremy Brown who is just stepping right into Anthony Evans' shoes. In fact, Brown is faster than Evans. He's not as big, but he's faster and more shifty. And the Oilers are putting a lot of points on the board.

"Pearland's defense is ranked second in our district, and they're playing well. They're hitting people and they blitz well. Pearland does good things on both sides of the football."

The Oilers have scored 192 points in five games (38.4) and allowed 33 (6.6). Clear Lake has put up 48 points in five games (9.6) and given up 106 (21.2).

Neither coach is worried about a rare Saturday afternoon outing.

"We're going to have cool weather. We bumped the kickoff back to 4 p.m. because of SAT testing, so it gives us an extra day to heal," Aduddell said.

"We have a wide receiver (junior Chad Everett) and quarterback (senior Brian Howard) with bad ankles, but they should hopefully be ready to go."

"It's on the schedule and you just have to adjust your times for a Saturday game," Heath said. "I don't think it's going to create a problem. I think it's going to be fun. It will be the atmosphere of a high school playoff game. I sure would like to be playing in a Saturday afternoon playoff game later this season, and to do that, we have to win games against tough opponents like Clear Lake."

With a victory, the Oilers will be tied for the 24-5A lead with the winner of Friday night's Alvin at Clear Creek contest.

"I don't know if Alvin is a surprise because everyone said at the beginning of the year that anybody is capable of winning this district," Heath said. "It's a very well-balanced district. Clear Creek's still rolling, as they have been, and Alvin has done a great job. Obviously, they're undefeated. Alvin at Clear Creek will be an interesting game to watch on Friday night."

Pearland's upcoming schedule includes a home game with Ball on Oct. 19, at Clear Creek on Oct. 26, La Porte at home on Nov. 2, and at Alvin in the regular season finale on Nov. 9.

"Our focus is the Clear Lake Falcons on Saturday afternoon," Heath said.

Aduddell hopes the confidence from last week's shutout carries over against Pearland.

"Any win right now is a good win for us," he said. "We had four sophomores out there defensively, and only one senior, and we held Clear Brook to 54 yards of offense. It's a good confidence-builder. I think our defensive line and linebackers had a great game. They didn't let Clear Brook get out on the perimeter or into the secondary where most of our sophomores are.

"Pearland is a great football team, and we'd love to beat them. Anything can happen."

Pearland recorded a 41-6 home win against Clear Lake last season.

In other 24-5A matchups scheduled 7 p.m. Friday, La Porte (0-2, 0-5) is at Brazoswood (0-3, 3-2) at Hopper Field in Freeport, and Clear Brook (0-2, 0-5) battles Ball (1-1, 4-1) at Galveston's Kermit Courville Stadium.

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