The joy was palpable on the visitor’s sideline of Woodforest Bank Stadium. It later extended into the locker room at Conroe ISD’s southside football stadium and, certainly, that short bus ride north on Interstate 45 back to campus on West Davis Street was a fun one for the Conroe Tigers Friday night.
These Tigers are back in the playoffs for a third consecutive year out of District 13-6A.
The word ‘faith’ has been a common one used around the program this season. It’s been repeated a few times by the team for public consumption on social media. It was echoed in Conroe sixth year head coach Cedric Hardeman’s speech on the field after a 55-28 win over College Park Friday night. Hardeman talked about faith more in a postgame interview, as did one of his senior team leaders.
“It took faith,” Hardeman said of Conroe’s first three-peat run to the playoffs since 2007-09. “These kids learn what faith looks like. And they used it through the tough times. We had people counting us out. These kids never counted themselves out. As long as we had a small opportunity, they came to work. I couldn’t be more proud of the group.”
Senior wide receiver Nigel Leday, who’s 77-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter from the arm of junior quarterback Christian Nunley gave the Tigers a lead they would never lose the rest of the night, had a similar mindset.
“It took faith,” Leday said. “That’s all I can really say. It took everyone. Coaches, players, staff, fans, the band…it took everyone in this one.”
A month and three days earlier, Conroe (6-4, 4-4) dropped its fourth straight game and third straight in district play. Three consecutive losses to the eventual top three playoff teams (Willis, The Woodlands, Oak Ridge) in the nine-team league left Conroe tattered. A 10-point loss to New Caney that followed hurt just as much.
The Eagles were not only the defending district champion, but also a team Conroe really needed a leg up to keep any hope for the playoffs alive.
“Things work out,” Hardeman. “I told these guys after our New Caney loss that we’ve been beat up. We had guys out. Quarterback, running back out. Freshman quarterback in. We robbed Peter to pay Paul all year to try to stay afloat. These kids kept coming to work, they kept coming to practice. They kept coming on Saturdays.”
The Tigers broke the losing streak Oct. 19 with a confidence-boosting 35-6 win over Grand Oaks. They then throttled Cleveland 77-7 last week in their home finale at Buddy Moorhead Stadium.
The Tigers were beginning to resemble the team that started the year 3-0.
“Once we got back healthy, I knew we would be pretty good,” Hardeman said. “They kept the faith. Our seniors led. Our coaching staff did a great job. I’m just blessed.”
A week after beating Conroe, New Caney fell to 9-6 to a 1-6 Grand Oaks team. College Park then broke its own three-game slide on Oct. 27 with a touchdown in the final seconds for a 34-27 win over the Eagles at Randall Reed Stadium.
That set up Friday’s win-and-in showdown between two familiar foes.
Last year, Conroe beat College Park handily in Week 11. But the playoff berth wasn’t met that evening as Oak Ridge and Willis’ Saturday afternoon tilt at Woodforest Bank Stadium needed to play out to untangle who was in and who was out. Ultimately, things went Conroe’s way when Oak Ridge defeated the Wildkats.
A year later, not everything went Conroe’s way in its final week playoff pursuit. The Tigers turned the ball over five times, including twice on special teams. There were penalties at inopportune times.
But when things were going well, they were living up to their potential.
The defense, under the direction of coordinator Patrick Resby, flew around to get the backfield, sacking the College Park quarterback multiple times. Defense was a strength coming into the year and leaders Mitch Melton (Sam Houston commit) Matthew Westmoreland and Tate Trantham were among those acknowledged by the public address announcer who were making big plays.
The secondary was strong, too. TCU commit DeVondre McGee and Texas State commit Tice Williams held things down.
On offense, junior Dramekco Green had himself a night with over 200 yards rushing, four touchdowns from the ground game and a spectacular on-the-run juggling grab for a 31-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Nunley showed strides as well, using his arm and legs to churn out positive plays.
Off a 77-point night a week earlier, Conroe had nearly 600 yards of total offense against College Park.
“They showed me how lucky I am to have a tremendous group of kids and a tremendous coaching staff,” Hardeman said. “I’m blessed. It was faith.”
Back in the playoffs, Conroe once again has to play Westfield in the Region II-6A Division I bi-district round for the third straight year. Westfield has been a menace of a team for the Tigers, not only in recent years, but in distant past playoff games, too.
Westfield (8-2, 7-0) rolls out the welcome mat again, 7 p.m. this Friday at Planet Ford Stadium.
The Mustangs average 41.6 points per game and are led by a talented senior running back in Taji Atkins. Westfield’s defense is stingy with 15.5 points allowed per game with three shutouts this season.
Facts are facts. Westfield has eliminated Conroe in each of the Tigers’ last four playoff appearances dating back to 2009.
There’s substantial history with the Mustangs. Conroe regularly dominated them in the 1980s as the teams were district foes throughout that decade and into the 1990s. The teams were district foes briefly again for a two-year cycle 23 years ago. The Tigers’ last win over Westfield came during that time in 2000.
“I’ve seen them my sophomore year, my junior year,” Leday said. “Going to see them this year. I’m ready. Prepared.”
