Pearland comes up short in season opener 19-12

The Pearland Oilers entered the 2024 football season with high hopes after going 9-3 last year and a District 23-6A co-championship.
    Their opponent was the Fulshear Chargers who were in Class 5A last year. Fulshear, coming off an 11-1 2023 campaign and the District 10-5A title, was looking to make a statement as they enter their first season in the 6A classification.
    Pearland came out hot, as they received the opening kickoff and engineered a 10-play drive that stalled at the Fulshear 10-yard line. Zane Adler put a 27-yard field goal through the uprights to give the Oilers a 3-0 lead with 6:53 left in the opening quarter.
    On the ensuing kickoff, Adler’s pooch kick was muffed and recovered by Pearland, but the Oilers could not capitalize, as they ran four plays and turned the ball over on downs.
    After a three-and-out by Fulshear on the next drive, a mishandled punt attempt was recovered by Pearland’s Anthony DeLeon at the Fulshear 17-yard line. On the fifth play of the drive, Cam Bush dove across the goal line for a one-yard touchdown run to put Pearland up 10-0 with 1:17 left in the first quarter.
    Fulshear’s offense finally got something going early in the second quarter behind the legs of Patrick Broadway. On the sixth play of the next drive, Broadway bounced through the left side of the line and took it down the sideline for a 33-yard touchdown to get the Chargers on the board with 10:23 left in the second period.
    The PAT was fumbled and recovered by Pearland’s Quinton Murray and returned all the way to the endzone for two points the other way. That would make it 12-6 Pearland and that is where it would stand at halftime.
    After an interception on Fulshear’s opening second half drive and a turnover on downs by Pearland, it took Patrick Broadway one play to tie up the game. Broadway once again found a hole through the left side of the line and took it up the sideline for a 58-yard touchdown run with 2:43 remaining in the third quarter.  A failed two-point conversion kept it all knotted at 12.
    After the next three drives all resulted in punts, Fulshear got the ball with 9:20 remaining in the game at their own two-yard line.
    It was Zane Smith time, as the fullback had five carries on the drive for 70 yards, capping off the 10-play drive with a four-yard touchdown run. A successful PAT put the Chargers up 19-12 with 3:05 remaining in the game.
    Pearland was not done yet though. A couple of chunk plays from quarterback Jake Westmoreland to wide receiver Jordan Hernandez, with some runs sprinkled in, brought the Oilers all the way down to the Fulshear 10-yard line.
    But, a couple of big defensive plays from Air Force commits Jerome Drain and Ehimen Ediale in the endzone forced a turnover on downs with 16 seconds remaining and put a stamp on the game.
    Fulshear was able to survive Pearland 19-12.
    Leading the Pearland offense was junior QB Jake Westmoreland who was 7-of-18 passing for 104 yards.
    RB Tate Chisolm had 63 yards on 19 carries while RB Cam’ron Bush had eight totes for nine yards and one score.
    WR Jordan “Jet” Hernandez had 4 catches for 46 yards and WR Luca Sanchez had two grabs for 27 yards.
    Pearland finished with 180 yards of total offense.
    The Oilers next game will be Spring Branch Memorial at The Rig on Friday, September 6 at 7:00 p.m.