By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
For the first time in his football career, Peyton “Pop” Houston was a secret weapon.
What a pleasant surprise he was.
Evangel’s senior quarterback came off the shelf Friday night, returning 14 days after suffering a sprained throwing shoulder, and ignited the Eagles.
The four-star LSU commit threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns, completing 18 of 30 without an interception, and sparked Evangel to a 52-42 triumph over visiting Airline that gives the Eagles (5-4, 4-1) a shot at defending their District 1-5A championship in Week 10 at Haughton (8-1, 4-1).
After sitting out last week, when previously winless Byrd shocked Evangel 28-24, Houston didn’t warm up Friday night with Evangel’s first-team offense. That was deceptive. He was starting, but only his coaches, including his father and offensive coordinator Shaun, and a handful of teammates knew.
Even his Airline counterpart, Chase Williams, was thrilled to see Houston take the field.
“I really wanted him to play,” Williams said. “It broke me when I heard he got hurt. I was happy he didn’t break (his collarbone). When I saw him warming up, I got excited.”
And Williams, who committed earlier in the week to Ouachita Baptist, went to work. He staged a Pop-type showcase, running for four scores (1, 12, 14 and 6 yards) and throwing for two more (35 yards to Chris Hart, 13 to Justin Woodfork).
It was an inspired effort that led the Vikings back from a 29-7 hole just 10 seconds into the second quarter. After Evangel ran off 22 straight points – including a 99-yard dash by Kionte’ Mims II — Airline answered with 28 in a row.
“We wouldn’t expect nothing less from Airline. This is Class 5A, the best competition,” said Houston. “When you get out on teams, they take it personal. So we didn’t expect anything less than them coming out trying to hit us back in the mouth.”
Airline scored on its first two possessions after halftime to snag a 35-29 lead on Hart’s TD. The lead changed hands on three straight series ending the third period and starting the fourth, with the 2-for-1 in the Eagles’ favor. Houston led a 49-yard drive that put Evangel on top for good when Mims sliced over left tackle for a 2-yard score and Houston ran a quarterback draw untouched for a two-point conversion and 45-42 edge with 7:19 left.
Yes, ran. With a still touchy shoulder. He wasn’t supposed to run, but ….
“I was under a strict program,” said Houston. “They were doing a good job of playing defense, which we expect from Airline, and I said, ‘you gotta let me go, you gotta let me free.’ Once they did, we were good.”
He only had two official runs, for 15 yards, a fraction of his pre-injury production (seven-game averages of 137 rushing yards on 11 carries, with 12 touchdowns; his career-best 956 yards ranking fourth among local ballcarriers). But once he scampered out of the pocket the first time, it dramatically ramped up the threat level for the Vikings defense.
On the third play after Evangel’s go-ahead score, the Eagles got the ball back. Linebacker Landon Mott pounced on an errant overhand pitch by Williams at the Airline 8.
“I’m always going to think it was a forward pass and it was just incomplete,” said Williams. “But you know, you just got to respect it.”
The Vikings didn’t make it easy. Houston had to convert a fourth-and-12 throw to Tikelon High for the clinching score, High’s third TD catch (the others covered 21 and 40 yards) that created a 10-point cushion with 5:05 left.
Airline (6-3, 3-2) couldn’t answer.
“It was amazing,” said High, “having Pop back there again throwing the ball to us. I knew (Thursday) night, but I had to keep it a secret.”
The path back to playing resulted from divine intervention, said Houston, along with steady rehab therapy.
“The separation was not bad enough for surgery, but it was pretty bad,” he said. “Every day I woke up, I had a little better mobility, and I stayed prayed up mostly, and put the work in because I knew I had to get back out there with my guys.
“Wednesday, our last day of full-up, I started doing routes on air. My dad told me just throw the intermediate routes. We got to throwing deeper routes – I never said anything, I’m gonna push it. I’m throwing just fine, and my dad sees it and says, ‘go put your pads on,’ and we did some 7-on-7 ….
“I wasn’t expecting to start, but Thursday night he said, ‘you’re starting.’”
His head coach, Denny Duron, knew how special it was for his star to get back into action and especially on Senior Night, for what could be his last homefield appearance.
“Coach Denny said, ‘take every moment in and enjoy it,’ ” said Houston. “When I came out, it was kinda surreal.”
Then he made the most of it.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com