This one hurt for Humble’s playoff chances.
The Wildcats were in it at halftime before C.E. King – a playoff experienced program that has reached the past six years – started rolling.
Up a point at the break, the Panthers scored on their first four drives out of halftime, running back Dionne Sims rushed for four touchdowns and they won 49-27 Thursday night in District 23-6A at Turner Stadium.
Humble (4-3, 1-3) dropped its second straight and now won’t have a tiebreaker on C.E. King (4-3, 2-2) if its needed later in the season.
“We had plenty of opportunities,” Humble coach Rob Murphy said. “Schematically, I thought we had a great game plan. We just didn’t execute. I didn’t do a good job of having those guys ready to step in and play a certain way. It just didn’t go our way tonight.”
Injuries factored on the defensive side of the ball and on the offensive line as senior Jalen Lolesio played both ways. His older brother Juan Lolesio was out.
The Wildcats trailed 14-13 at halftime, but led most of the first half, including right from the start.
Humble produced some fireworks on the second play from scrimmage, but this turned out to be the biggest play of the half.
Senior quarterback Tristian Bernard – on a nice inside fake to McArthur Baker III – kept it for himself and ran it for a 69-yard gain and the early 7-0 lead.
“I’m so proud of him because of the adversity he’s had to overcome this year,” Murphy said. “Then, our kids were already down because we were without Juan Lolesio…the kids were already kind of down and out. For us to come out and do that and make plays at the beginning was huge.”
Humble had some positive drives that resulted in a pair of Ernesto Avila field goals. He hit a 34-yarder to make it 10-0 at the 3:21 mark of the first quarter. The senior then put the Wildcats up six points in the second quarter with a 26-yarder with 4:11 left before halftime.
The second Avila field goal came off a fumble recovery on a muffed punt by King. Humble senior Jalen Lolesio – the long snapper – pounced on the ball at the 29.
“We had some missed opportunities that first half and had to settle for some field goals,” Murphy said.
King had two second-quarter touchdown runs by Dionne Sims.
Sims put the Panthers on the board with an 11-yard run at the 9:03 mark to trail 10-7.
Sims then put his team ahead at halftime with an 18-yard run with 59 seconds left.
Prior to that Sims scoring run, there was a long break in action as athletic trainers tended to Folau Finnau, who was carted off.
“The kids were worried about their brother and that had some effect on them,” Murphy said. “We wanted to rally around that.”
King marched 14 plays out of halftime with Sims scoring on a 42-yard run at the 5:52 mark. He later added a 71 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and finished with 243 yards on 26 carries.
“Dionne Sims is a special back,” Murphy said. “With him one-on-one in the hole, you have to make a decision. He did what great athletes do. He made some guys miss, so kudos to him.”
A 49-yard touchdown by Jairreus Smith from TImothy Potts put King up 28-13.
Humble cut the deficit to eight points twice in the second half, but never got closer.
Bake had a 9-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds left in the third quarter and Jayden Heaton snagged a nice 31-yard throw by Bernard with 8:01 to play.
Ja’khovie Lee had a fumble recovery to set up the Baker score.
The Panthers had a 48-yard touchdown reception to start the fourth quarter as Potts hit Braylon Lane, who had 115 yards on five receptions on the night.
After Heaton’s score made it 35-27, King pulled away for good with Sims’ fourth touchdown and a fumble recovery and return for 21 yards to the end zone by Dominic Toulon.
Baker finished with 89 yards rushing. Bernard had 68 rushing yards and was 10-for-22 for 119 yards passing. Heaton led in receiving yards with 42.
The Panthers have now won five straight over Humble and are 9-1 in the past 10 meetings. King won a close one last year in game where Baker threw for 171 yards, two touchdowns and rushed for another.
“Hats off to C,E, King,” Murphy said. “They executed and came away with some big plays. “Coach Young and his staff — all the best to them.”
Entering Week 9, Humble is now a game out of the playoff picture. The three state-ranked teams (North Shore, Atascocita, Summer Creek) and now King will be hard to reach.
The Wildcats will try next Saturday when it meets state-runner up Summer Creek, 1 p.m. at Turner Stadium.
King hosts Kingwood in another game with playoff implications next Friday at Panther Stadium.
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