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High-flying ’horns
Published September 19, 2009
HARPER — Quarterback Jake Whitten passed for 273 yards and three touchdowns to lead Harper past Junction, 36-23.
The junior signal caller overcame a 3-for-10 start to finish the game completing 15 of 24 attempts, leading the Longhorns (3-1) to their third consecutive win.
“Whatever’s working, that’s what we’re going to do,” Harper coach Cody White said of the team’s passing attack. “So that’s what we did, and (Whitten) made good decisions.”
Reagan Randle was Whitten’s favorite target, as the two connected six times for 127 yards in addition to a pair of two-point conversions.
“He’s a big weapon,” White said of Randle. “He can do anything, and I’m just glad he’s on my team.”
Harper broke the game open with a 60-yard reception by Randle on third and 15, giving the team a 28-10 lead with 4:25 to play in the third quarter.
The Longhorns added an insurance touchdown with nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Whitten found Johnny Martinez down the sideline on fourth down to put Harper ahead 36-16 following the two-point conversion.
“We’re just trying to grow up as fast as we can,” White said. “They’re learning to fight and they’re growing up, and that’s a good thing.”
The first half was one of missed opportunities for Junction. The Eagles’ average starting field position was the 50 yard line, but a turnover and three offensive penalties limited them to 10 first-half points.
“Penalties are a good thing when it’s the other team giving them to you,” White said. “Though I think they started inside the 50 every series. But our kids fought.”
Junction got on the board first with a 30-yard field goal from Luis Roman, but Harper responded on its next drive. After moving the ball inside the Eagles’ 20 yard line, the Longhorns appeared to have stalled out facing fourth and 20. But Junction bailed Harper out with a penalty — a 15-yard face mask — that set Harper up at the 10 yard line. Whitten capitalized, running the ball in from 8 yards out. After a blocked extra point, Harper was ahead 6-3.
On the Eagles’ next drive, Ty Stapp rumbled into the end zone from 5 yards out to cap a 46-yard drive, putting his team ahead momentarily.
The Longhorns went three-and-out on their next possession, but a fumbled punt return by the Eagles gave Harper its best starting field position of the game. Again, the ’Horns capitalized, and again, they received help from the Eagles’ defense.
Facing a fourth and 15 inside Junction territory, Whitten’s pass to Randle fell incomplete, but a defensive pass interference kept Harper’s offense on the field. Whitten scrambled in the backfield before lofting a pass to Randle in the back of the end zone. Just out of reach for a pair of Junction defenders, Randle corralled the pass to put his team back on top, 12-10. Harper went for two, and Whitten again found Randle to go up 14-10.
Harper’s first score of the second half came courtesy of a 65-yard interception return for touchdown by Taylor Brands. Brands stepped in front of a slant pass from Junction quarterback Jason McKinnerney and ran in untouched for the score.
Five Longhorns’ rushers combined for six yards of rushing on 25 attempts. Whitten was bottled up for negative 26 rush yards by a swarming Eagles run defense.
Harper has an open week before its District 27-2A schedule begins Oct. 2 at Johnson City.
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