The Woodlands Beats Grand Oaks Behind Mettauer's Arm, Legs

SHENANDOAH, TX — Mabrey Mettauer has options.

The Woodlands’ sophomore quarterback used just about all of them Friday, accounting for six touchdowns and completing passes to six different receivers to lead the Highlanders to a 49-20 win over Grand Oaks in a District 13-6A tilt at Woodforest Bank Stadium.

The victory puts The Woodlands (6-2, 3-0) alone in first place in 13-6A with two games left, while Grand Oaks (5-3, 0-3) saw its chances at a playoff berth all but end.

Mettauer completed 16 of 23 passes for 393 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions and rushed for a pair of touchdowns. Three of those touchdown passes went to senior receiver Ben Ferguson, who had a game-high 184 yards on six catches. Senior Parker McGill had five catches for 107 yards.

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The Woodlands had nine pass plays longer than 25 yards.

“It’s great to have all these weapons and different people around me to make me better,” Mettauer said. “I just know our guys are faster, so that means the deep ball is going to be open.”

The Woodlands kept the pedal down in the fourth quarter. The Highlanders saw a 28-0 lead dwindle to 28-12 late in the third quarter thanks to a 24-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Smith to Quanell Farrakhan Jr. and a 74-yard scoring run from running back Brandon High on consecutive possessions.

The Woodlands reeled off 21 straight points in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

After The Woodlands sacked Smith and recovered a fumble, Mettauer wasted no time hitting Ferguson for a 36-yard touchdown on the first play to extend the lead to 35-12 with a little over 10 minutes left in the game.

Defensive back Harrison DiPasquale intercepted Smith in the end zone on the next possession, and Mettauer came back with completions of 33 yards to Jason Williams and 40 yards to McGill, setting up a 5-yard touchdown run from Williams to extend the lead to 42-12.

Mettauer later threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tobin Miller with 3:36 left.

“[Mettauer’s] still young so we’re trying to take care of him and be smart with him,” The Woodlands head coach Jim Rapp said. “We decided we were going to do some stuff with him and scale back and do some things that are a little bit easier. I thought he did a good job. He adjusted, and I thought the coaches adjusted well. The receivers made some great plays.”

Grand Oaks ended the Highlanders’ barrage with a 71-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Farrakhan on the first play of the next drive.

The Woodlands outgained Grand Oaks 527-473. Despite the yardage total, the Highlanders bottled up the Grizzlies’ offense for most of the night, especially in the first half. The Woodlands also forced three turnovers.

“That’s a tough offense to defend,” Rapp said. “We’ll have to tighten up with some of the throw game stuff that they did, but other than that, I was pleased with the way that we played defensively.”

The Woodlands started fast, scoring touchdowns on three of its four first-half drives for a 21-0 lead. The Highlanders’ other drive went deep into Grand Oaks territory before a fumble inside the 10-yard line kept them from adding to their lead.

Mettauer completed 7 of 9 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown in the first half and added a pair of rushing scores.

Mettauer went 3 for 3 on The Woodlands’ first drive, finishing it off with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Ferguson on an inside receiver screen to give the Highlanders a 7-0 lead with 7:01 left in the first quarter.

Mettauer extended the lead to 14-0 on a 7-yard scramble with 8:22 left in the half and went around right end and jaunted for a 2-yard score with 3:43 left to make it 21-0.

Grand Oaks got its offense going on its final drive of the half, sparked by a 24-yard run from High. A fumble on first-and-goal from the 5-yard line squashed the Grizzlies’ scoring chance with 34 seconds left.

High led all rushers with 144 yards on 19 carries, and Farrakhan had seven catches for 168 yards. Smith completed 16 of 25 passes for 261 yards.

Mettauer and Ferguson connected on a 54-yard touchdown early in the third quarter to push the lead to 28-0.