ALTAIR - The Rice High School football team hosted Brazos High School Oct. 16 at Rice Veterans Memorial Stadium in Altair and won by a final score of 54-31.
A back and forth game for it’s entirety led to Rice making big plays in the last few min- utes, offensively and defensively, it order to gain momentum and win handedly. "The guys believe in it," said Rice head football coach Brad Dumont. "Last year was a really tough year. We took it about midway through the season and we decided that we're gonna play with the youth and we're gonna get them better. It was like spring football for the last five games. It's made a difference. They're all playing together. They're playing hard. So proud of this bunch. Hopefully, we got a playoff spot with this win and we're hungry. I got an unselfish football team."
Rice’s Glenn Mills made big plays in crunch time on offense and defense in order help his team get the win. "Just came together as a team," Mills said. "Just trusting each other on the field and we knew we could do it together."
Brazos is still in great shape heading into the rest of the season and has been playing great football for the entire year. "We turned it over a few times," said Brazos head football coach Patrick Oliver. "I don't feel like we complimented each other very well. We would get a stop on defense, then we would kind of sputter on offense. Hats off to them, they played a good game. They're coached well and got some kids that are athletic. Turnovers. That was it to me." Brazos had a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter after a field goal, then Rice senior quarterback Kordae Johnson threw a pass to Mills in the left hand corner of the end zone for about 25 yards at the 8:47 mark in the second quarter to take a 6-3 lead after a missed extra point. This was followed by an interception for a touchdown from Rice's Jeremiah Grounds and two 40-yard touchdown catches from Brazos receiver Jevan Dickerson to give the Cougars a 16-12 lead at halftime.
Rice running back Terrell Tarver ran for a 50-yard touchdown at the very beginning of the first quarter, which was followed by a one-handed 50-yard catch from Mills and a 45-yard catch from Dickerson for Brazos, both for touchdowns to result in a 26-23 lead for Rice at the end of the third quarter. The Raiders punched in a goal line touchdown at the 11:58 mark in the fourth quarter, which led to a five-yard touchdown catch from Dickerson with 7:19 to go and an 80-yard touchdown catch from Rice's Duran Amos where he broke a tackle from midfield in order to run all the way down the Rice sideline and score to make it 39-31 in favor of Rice after a missed extra point. Mills then recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown to go along with a 40yard touchdown from Tarver at the 3:29 mark for Rice's final score and a 54-31 win.
