by Hunter Dawkins
Even with Pirates senior athlete Andrew Moffett stepping in place for injured quarterback Dustin Allison and running a Wildcat offense, Pass Christian (1-8, 0-4) was shutout again 32-0 by Vancleave for the third time this season and has not scored any points since the third quarter of their game against East Central on October 5. The Pirates had four turnovers, including a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown.
“We had the game in reach in the first half and then a touchdown called back,” said Pass Christian Head Football Coach Casey Wittmann. “We just didn’t do a good job of overcoming adversity in the second half.”
Pass High won the toss and elected to receive, as they came out in the Wildcat offensive scheme. Moffett ran his first of a ten-play drive for 37 yards until the Pirates turned the ball over on downs in the red zone with 6:58 left in the first quarter.
The Vancleave Bulldogs stomped down the field, putting together a 13-play drive before settling for a 28-yard field goal from Bulldogs quarterback/kicker Rov Johnson with 2:21 left in the first quarter, leaving the score at 3-0 Vancleave lead.
Pass Christian and Vancleave switched possession twice before the Pirates organized a ten-play drive with 2 seconds left in an attempt to tie the game.
The 24-yard attempt was blocked and returned by Bulldogs safety Christian Kell for an 86-yard touchdown with the clock expired for the half. After the extra point, the halftime score was 10-0 with the Vancleave Bulldogs leading.
Getting the ball to open the second half, the Bulldogs drove nine plays and scoring 10-yard touchdown run by Vancleave running back C.J. Johnson. Once the two-point conversion occurred with 7:49 left in the third, the Pirates had no answer for the 22 consecutive second half points.
Two Pass turnovers led to two more touchdowns for the Bulldogs and securing the game.
When asked about the final game of the season next week against cross bridge rival St. Stanislaus, Coach Wittmann said it will be “a game of pride.”
The Pirates offensive statistics were Wildcat Quarterback Andrew Moffett rushing for 23 attempts for 95 yards.
Pass Christian’s other running back Gordon Ward had 8 rushing attempts for 69 yards.
Pass Christian High School plays their final game against St. Stanislaus at Brother Phillip Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m.
