Through at least the first two rounds of the Class 5A Region II playoffs, the Tomball Cougars were still very much alive and just two wins away from a state playoff appearance.

The Cougars won their area round match-up against a 10-1 Austin Anderson Trojan team, 40-20, Nov. 19 at Cub Stadium in Brenham to advance to the regional round. Tomball took on Longview, 11-5A second place finishers, on Nov. 27. Results of that game were unavailable at press time.

Against the Trojans, the Cougars established their dominance early, going up 10-0 in the first quarter. After a 27-yard Dillon Duarte field goal, Brandon Green scored on an 18-yard touchdown run to give Tomball the early lead.

The Trojans got on the board for the first time in the second quarter when Devonte Dewitty found the end zone on a 5-yard run to cut the Cougar lead to 10-7.

But the Cougars’ offense caught fire in the second quarter as Duarte connected on his second field goal of the night, this one a 32-yarder, and quarterback Justin Dvorak scored on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs to put the Cougars on top, 27-7.

In the final seconds of the first half, Trojan quarterback Sam Wehmeyer hit Dewitty on a 21-yard scoring strike, but the extra point failed. The Cougars went into the locker room with a commanding 27-13 lead.

Things got interesting midway through the third quarter when Anderson’s Connor Sheehan scored on a 3-yard touchdown run. The extra point cut the Cougars’ lead to 27-20. But that was as close as the Trojans would come.

Malcolm Scott, who was named the Houston Chronicle’s Boys Athlete of the Week, put the nail in the Trojan’s coffin when he returned an Anderson punt 76 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter to put the Cougars up 34-20.

Scott also picked off a pair of Wehmeyer passes.

In the closing minutes, the Cougars added to their winning margin when A.J. Matthews returned Weymeyer’s third interception of the game 20 yards for a touchdown.

With both teams putting up similar offense numbers, the four Trojan turnovers turned out to be the difference.

Anderson actually picked up more first downs (17) than did the Cougars (11), and ran for more yards (165) than Tomball (106).

After qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in nine years, the Cougars won their first playoff game since 1988 against Kingwood in the bi-district round.

They faced a Longview team last weekend that is 8-4 overall and has defeated Belton and South Garland in the playoffs. The winner of the Longview-Tomball match-up will take on either Mesquite Horn or Leander in the state quarterfinals.

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