CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The two best teams in District 15 in 5A-Division 2 squared off for the district title in the final game of the regular season. 2022's game was a nail bitter, but this year Flour Bluff left no doubt who the better team was.
In the final Thomas J Henry Game of the Week, Flour Bluff Hornets went wire-to-wire against the Gregory-Portland Wildcats, winning 56-21. It was the second consecutive district title for the Hornets.
The Hornets dominant offense showed up in the first quarter putting up 21 points. The first being a 38 yard strike from quarterback Jayden Paluseo to Andre Mimms over the middle.
Hornets next possession, On a simple "go" route, Paluseo dials it up again to connect with Cameran Dickson for a 44 yard catch and run down the sideline.
14-0 Hornets.
Then the Wildcats finally turn it on. The very next play after the kickoff, Cody Adame finds a seam down the right side of his offensive line and busts out a 56 yard touchdown run.
However, the Flour Bluff offense was on another level Friday night. Facing third and long just into Wildcat territory, Paluseo finds Mimms running across the middle. Defenders would meet him around the 10 yard line, but Mimms pushed his way nearly into the endzone. Officials would call him down at the one yard line and Paluseo capped off the the drive with a short run into the endzone.
Into the second quarter and the Wildcats forced Flour Bluff into a fourth down. On fourth down and two yards to go, Paluseo and Dickson ran almost the exact same play that Dickson scored on earlier and it worked again. The 26 yard passing touchdown put the hornets up 28-7.
The Flour Bluff Hornets defensive line was menacing. They really disrupted Gregory-Portland's flow on most drives. Senior Kairee Tmolinson had a couple batted passes as well as a few other Hornets. Quarterback Reed Dooms had very little time to pass or develop a rhythm for that mater.
On Offense, the Hornets showed no mercy. Their next possession, Paluseo calls his own number, sees green space and scampers for the 28 yard score to go up 35-7.
Then the defense finally got to the Wildcat offense. On the ensuing drive, Dooms pass over the middle was picked off by Dickson. With the help of some great blocking he returned it 51 yards for the pick six.
Flour Bluff riding high at 42-7 may have gotten a bit comfortable. The next play, Wildcats connect on another long play. Dooms hits Brodie Mitchell on a screen pass, but the junior would sprint his way down the field for a 76 yard touchdown.
That only fueled the Hornets to keep pushing.
With just over two minutes they marched down the field once more. Paluseo capped off his four passing touchdown half with one to Jayce Raines. They went to the locker room up a commanding 49-14.
The second half was much slower both teams.
Paluseo made his first mistake and throw an interception to a leaping defender, who returned it to the Hornets 30 yard line.
Gregory-Portland gets all the way down to the five, but penalties stalled them. Then a high snap over Dooms head was recovered by the Hornets to end the drive.
Flour Bluff did not score in the third quarter as they tried slowing the game down to drain the clock.
The game was well in hand for Flour Bluff by the fourth quarter. For the cherry on top of his night, Dickson took an end-around hand off for a 58 yard score.
Wildcats would add one more long touchdown play.
Both teams now head to the UIL 5A-Division 2 Playoffs.
Flour Bluff will host Pharr San Juan Alamo on Friday 7 p.m.
Gregory-Portland will host Roma at the same time.
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