Houston Academy earns road win at Elba

By Ken Rogers

Published: October 11, 2008

ELBA — Subtle, it isn’t, but Houston Academy’s offense is effective.

The Raiders’ offensive line gradually took its toll on Elba Friday night. HA pounded running backs Andrew Dauphin and Seth McGowan between the tackles most of the game and nearly all of the second half until the Tigers broke.

Dauphin twice escaped on long touchdown runs to help the Raiders defeat Elba 17-6. Dauphin finished with 169 yards on 17 carries, with touchdowns of 43 and 39 yards. McGowan had 21 carries for 55 yards. HA improved to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the region. Elba, which struggled to convert yardage into points, is now 4-3 and 2-3 in the region.

“In all three of our losses we’ve turned the ball over and teams have shortened the game on us,” Elba coach Scott Rials said.

It certainly happened Friday night. HA coach Jimmy Addison kept the time clock on the sidelines and pointed to his offense when it was time to run a
play. The Raiders managed the game impressively.

“I’m really proud of our guys for coming to Elba and beating a good football team,” Addison said. “We wanted to take them out of the running game and make them throw the ball. They were still able to move it, but we played with a lot of effort.”

Elba gained 323 yards. But its lone score came with 48 seconds left in the game on quarterback Michael Lindsey’s fade pass to Richard Cooks in the end zone from 3 yards out.

But this game turned when Houston Academy’s defense twice kept the Tigers out of the end zone when it looked like they were about to score.

HA’s Will Andre put the Raiders ahead 3-0 with a 27-yard field goal with 8:27 left in the second quarter.

Elba then drove from its 20 to the HA 19 in 10 plays. On first down, Lindsey threw a pass intended for Dylan McCollough around the 5-yard line. The pass was a bit high, but McCollough got his hands on it as Travis Gardner hit him hard from behind. McCollough tipped the ball, which floated to Jo-El
Bennett, who picked it off at the 4 and returned it 43 yards.

“That was huge,” Addison said. “Travis made a nice play to break it up, and Jo-el finished it.”

“I saw the pass was high, and I hit him hard in the back,” Gardner said.

“I was about to hit him and Travis got there,” Bennett said. “The ball just came right to me.”

“If we get in there and go up 7-3, who knows what happens?” Rials said. “That was a big play.”

HA took its 3-0 lead into halftime.

The other big stop came late in the third quarter, after Dauphin’s touchdown run made it 10-0. Elba’s Lindsey hit Gavin Respress for 26 yards and Cooks for 34 as the Tigers marched to a first-and-goal at the 8. Three plays later, on fourth-and-goal from the 4, a swing pass to the right flat to Kendrick Robertson came up two yards short of the end zone as HA’s Marco Pena, who recovered a fumble in the first quarter to stop another Elba drive, Jared Metcalf and Bennett flew to the ball and made the play.

“We had a lot of guys spend a lot of time on the field,” Addison said. “Littleton Flowers and Stehle Kornegay were on the field almost all night.”

HA’s clinching touchdown came with 2:19 left in the game. On third-and-5 from the 39, Dauphin darted off left guard and Elba’s Colton Vaughan met him at the line of scrimmage with a big hit. Dauphin never stopped, running through the hit and motoring to the goal line for a 17-0 lead.