La Porte runs over Barbers Hill 55-28

HOUSTON – Freshman running back Sean Simon rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns as La Porte rolled over Barbers Hill 55-28 on Friday night at Galena Park ISD Stadium in a Class 5A Region III Area Championship.  

The Bulldogs rushed for 327 yards as a team and finished with 415 yards of total offense.  

Leading 38-7 at the half, La Porte scored the first ten points of the second half to put the game on ice.  

Tyresse Barnes scored on a 23-yard run with 9:14 left in the third quarter to make it a 45-7 lead, and then a 37-yard field goal by Oswaldo Lopez increased the advantage to 48-7 with 5:10 left in the third quarter.  

Barbers Hill then went on a 67-yard six-play drive, with Brycen Wells hooking up with Kaegan Morton for a 30-yard score to make it 48-14.  

The Bulldogs made it 55-14 early in the fourth quarter with Alijah Bright scoring on a one-yard run.  

The Eagles answered right back as Cooper Lucas connected with Anthony Bonnet for a 75-yard score to cut the deficit to 55-21 with 10:00 minutes left. Barbers Hill would get the game's final score on a DJ Jordan 5-yard score with 5:28 left in the game.  

In the first half, the Bulldogs ground game was unstoppable to the tune of 243 yards rushing. Simon had 159 of those to go along with three touchdowns.  

La Porte marched 82 yards on nine plays on their first drive of the night, with Simon scoring on a 9-yard run to make it 7-0 with 4:55 left in the opening quarter.  

Three minutes later, Barnes scored from the one-yard line and the Bulldogs led 14-0.  

Still, in the first quarter, the La Porte defense got into the act as Bransen Shanley scooped up a loose football and raced 65-yard the other way for a touchdown and the Bulldogs lead was 21-0 with 10 seconds left in the first.  

Barbers Hill used a big play on special teams to draw closer.  Morton returned the following kickoff 100-yards for a touchdown and the Eagles trailed 21-7 heading into the second quarter.  

La Porte returned the favor on the ensuing kickoff as Trent Callies returned the Barbers Hill kickoff 92 yards to the Eagles three-yard line.  

Simon scored a couple of plays later from the four-yard line and the advantage was up to 28-7.  

Simon then made it 35-7 with 2:25 by busting loose on a 57-yard score. Lopez booted a 24-yard field goal with no time remaining in the first half to give the Bulldogs a 38-7 halftime lead.  
 

Wells finished with 176 yards passing. Bonnet was the leading receiver for the Eagles, with four catches for 119 yards. Nic Thompson also had four receptions for 44 yards.