Sam Houston made big plays and came up with critical turnovers and stops in a thrilling 32-27 win over Harlandale on Thursday in a District 14-5A-II game at SAISD Sports Complex.
Multiple players made significant two-way contributions in Sam Houston's win as the Hurricanes (7-2, 6-1) knocked Harlandale (5-3, 5-1) out of first place in District 14-5A-II. The defending district champion Hurricanes are now tied with the Indians for second in the loss column with two weeks left in the regular season.
With Harlandale losing its first district game, that leaves McCollum as the sole undefeated team in district play at 5-0. McCollum plays Burbank on Friday.
Treston Zacharie, who had the game-winning reception and a critical interception in the fourth quarter, said Sam Houston is focused on repeating as district champs.
"Very important," Zacharie said. "That's been the goal since day one. Go back-to-back. It will be great for our school, great for us, just keeps us motivated to go into the playoffs and just keeping the energy going."
Sam Houston won despite scoring only one offensive touchdown in the second half, as the opportunistic Hurricanes got the other two touchdowns on an interception return and kickoff return.
"Just extremely proud of our boys and our team and our coaching staff and the way we came out tonight against a good Harlandale team," Sam Houston coach Rashard Colquitt said. "We knew it was going to be this type of game."
The Hurricanes had 398 yards of total offense, led by Jaidon Hamilton, who rushed for 238 yards and had two long touchdown runs of 33 and 74 yards in the first half in staking Sam Houston to a 12-0 lead. Harlandale's Jacob Schindler caught a 3-yard touchdown reception from Gabe Salazar to narrow the Sam Houston lead to 12-7 at halftime.
"This game wasn't going to be over until the last whistle," Colquitt said. "I know even though we were up by two scores, I knew this Harlandale team wasn't going to stop fighting, and so the message to our boys, ‘We got to play to the last whistle' and our boys did that tonight."
Hamilton said the win over Harlandale will provide a big boost for Sam Houston as it keeps the Hurricanes in the running for a repeat title.
"To come out here and win like this, it gives us more confidence to come out here and just score and do whatever we have to do," Hamilton said. "It's going to put us where we need to be, go (into) playoffs, win playoffs hopefully and just start from there. This is the start right here."
Defensively, Sam Houston held Harlandale to 238 yards of total offense, below its season average of 361 yards per game, and limited an Indians squad which had been averaging 202 yards rushing per game to 98 yards on the ground.
While Sam Houston allowed Harlandale quarterback Gabe Salazar to throw three scoring tosses, they also picked him off twice and forced him to fumble once, which the Hurricanes recovered to seal the game. In addition, Sam Houston sacked Salazar three times, with Aidan Ward getting in on two of those sacks.
"Our defense played lights out tonight," Colquitt said. "Even though we gave up some points and then the big kick return, our defense continued to play lights out, and the defense gives the offense chances to go down and score and we just took advantage of it."
The tempo of the game picked up in the third quarter, as the teams combined for 32 points in the frame. The frantic pace started when Sam Houston linebacker Daron Gardner scored on a 45-yard interception return, putting the Hurricanes up 18-7 as extra point kick failed.
Salazar atoned for the pick six when he led the Indians on an eight-play, 66-yard drive capped off by his 19-yard touchdown pass to Armando Munoz on fourth down with 4:45 left in the third quarter, getting Harlandale within 18-14.
The two teams then traded kickoff returns for scores, with Sam Houston's Mario Ringo finding a lane in the middle for a 76-yard touchdown and Munoz receiving the ball on the ensuing kickoff on an end around for an 80-yard score to keep Harlandale in the game.
After holding Sam Houston to a three-and-out, Harlandale took advantage of a poor Hurricanes punt to start a drive deep in Sam Houston territory. Salazar connected with Miles Gallardo on a 33-yard touchdown pass to give Harlandale its first lead of the game at 27-24 with 2:32 left in the third quarter.
Sam Houston scored the game-winning touchdown on an 8-yard pass from Xavier Youngblood to Treston Zacharie with nine minutes remaining in the game. The two then connected again on the two-point conversion to put the Hurricanes up 32-27.
Later in the fourth quarter, Zacharie came up with a critical interception at the goal line, but Sam Houston gave the ball right back. Harlandale defensive back Christian Reyna recovered a Youngblood fumble at the Sam Houston 39 with over three minutes left in the game.
Five plays later, Aidan Ramirez got the ball back for Sam Houston when he recovered a Salazar fumble at the Hurricanes 32. Sam Houston converted a first down and then run the clock out to seal the win.
Sam Houston completes its regular season next Friday against Highlands while Harlandale hosts Brackenridge next Friday at Harlandale Memorial Stadium.
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There’s more to San Antonio with the Express-News. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Sam Houston rallies to beat Harlandale and stay in hunt for district title.