The Houston St. Pius X Panthers have an All-American at quarterback, and Friday night he lived up to his pregame press clippings. Grant Gunnell threw for seven touchdowns and ran for two as the Panthers pummeled the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears 62-24 at Parsley Field in Houston.
On the season Gunnell now has 36 touchdown passes and thrown for close to 2500 yards. St. Pius X (6-0) is averaging over 50 points a game.
Little Cypress-Mauriceville (2-3) had its two-game winning streak snapped. This was the Bears’ final game before the start of district next week.
Turnovers dictated the first half scoring for both teams. Five interceptions all led to scores although one of them actually resulted in the team that threw it getting a safety.
The Bears grabbed the first interception on the first series by St. Pius X. Mark Netherly intercepted Gunnell’s pass setting up LC-M at the Panthers’ 43. Beau Bickham connected on passes with Ronald Guillory and Katon Brown for two first downs. Guillory gave the Bears a first-and-goal at the two on an 11-yard run.
A penalty pushed the ball back to the seven. Christopher Winters was stopped for no gain. On the next play Winters swept right end and scored practically untouched. LC-M went for two and got it on a pass from Bickham to Brown, and the Bears led 8-0 with 7:12 to go in the first.
St. Pius X would then reel off the next 34 points in the game. Sophomore quarterback Gunnell completed three of five passes for 47 yards and ran twice for 23 yards. He got the touchdown on a quarterback draw from the 11. The point after made the score 8-7 with 4:54 to play in the first quarter.
The three subsequent possessions by Little Cypress-Mauriceville all ended with interceptions. Gunnell working with short fields on each occasion engineered the Panthers into the end zone with touchdown passes of 4, 9, and 7 yards.
LC-M was flagged for a penalty on the kickoff return following the fourth Panthers’ score and was forced to punt from deep in its own end of the field. Brett Guy boomed a beauty of a kick good for 56 yards rolling dead at the St. Pius’ 30 yard line. One play after Gunnell under threw a wide open receiver for a potential score he found Bryson Jackson on a sideline route for good yardage to about midfield. Jackson then eluded two Bears at the sideline and pranced to a 70-yard touchdown. The point after was missed, but the Panthers led 34-8 with 4:38 left in the half.
A fourth interception by the Panthers defense gave them the ball back at their own 10. Two sacks of Gunnell forced a punt from the one, and the punter stepped on the backline resulting in a safety being awarded to the Bears.
On the ensuing free kick Dameon Morris took the ball at the 29, ran up the middle of the field, and then cut left and went down the LC-M sideline for the touchdown. John Gonzalez kicked the point after to cut the Panthers’ lead to 34-17 with 1:03 still left in the half.
The Bears threaten before the end of the half when they recovered the onside kick and produced two first downs to the St. Pius’ 22. With one second on the clock Bickham tried a “Hail Mary” to the end zone, but despite a couple of Bears in the vicinity the ball was deflected and fell incomplete.
The second half was dominated by Gunnell who ran for another touchdown while throwing for three more scores before sitting down late in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 25 of 37 passing for 485 yards to go with his seven touchdown passes.
The lone score of the second half for LC-M came on the Bears’ second possession. The Bears drove 57 yards on six plays. Guillory got two first downs, one running and one receiving. Winters carried the ball three straight times for 29 yards and got the touchdown from 11 yards out which made the score 41-24 with 4:12 left in the third. Winters finished the night as the leading ground gainer in the game with 67 yards on 16 carries.
The Panthers scored the last three touchdowns of the game. Gunnell connecting with three different receivers for the scoring plays.
Next week sees the opening games of District 10-4A. The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears go to Silsbee to play the Tigers. The kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
LCM 8 9 7 0- 24
SPX 14 20 7 21- 62
Social Media