Crosby crowns 2018 Homecoming King and Queen

Crosby High School announced Senior Dayton Berezoski as King and Senior Maggie Hearn as Queen of the Homecoming King and Queen contest. The halftime announcement was made at the annual Highway 90 Showdown football game between the Crosby High School Cougars and the Dayton Broncos. Crosby won 56 to 41. (Photo by Allan Jamail)
Crosby High School announced Senior Dayton Berezoski as King and Senior Maggie Hearn as Queen of the Homecoming King and Queen contest. The halftime announcement was made at the annual Highway 90 Showdown football game between the Crosby High School Cougars and the Dayton Broncos. Crosby won 56 to 41. (Photo by Allan Jamail)

CROSBY vs DAYTON 56-41

By Allan Jamail

Crosby, TX. – Friday, October 5, 2018 there was a rumble in “The Jungle” as the Crosby Cougars and Dayton Broncos displayed a thrilling offensive performance with 14 touchdowns to the near capacity crowd for bragging rights as it’s been billed as, “The Highway 90 Showdown.”

As you enter the new two year old Cougar stadium their welcoming message reads, “Welcome to the Jungle.

The Broncos came out ready to rumble scoring first, using just three plays in two offensive drives to lead 13 – 0 early in the first quarter.

At the end of the first quarter Dayton led 13 to 7. But then Crosby gained their composure, scoring four touchdowns in the second quarter to lead at halftime 35 – 20.

In the third and fourth quarter the rumble continued with both teams scoring three touchdowns each. A 97 point high scoring game ended with the Cougars remaining undefeated having 15 more points than the Broncos 56 – 41.

The rivalry matchup began in 1923 between the two Highway 90 rivals. Last year Crosby won at Dayton, again a high scoring game of 96 points, Crosby won 69 to 27.

Crosby’s Coach Jeff Riordan who in 2012 came from Sulphur Springs High School as offensive coordinator and now serves as both head coach and athletic director of the Cougars said, “We are 6 – 0 and not near where we can be,” Riordan said. “We have lots to fix and improve on. We are a really good football team that will only get better.”

The Cougars offense had 522 yards, junior quarterback Kobe Coker in his second game as quarterback due to starting quarterback Jaiden Howard’s injury last week passed for 253 yards and two touchdowns.

Cougar senior running back Zack Simon at left, scoring one of his three touchdowns on a 2 yard burst into the end zone in the second quarter. (Photo by Allan Jamail)

Leading the Cougar rushers was senior running back Zack Simon for 126 yards and three touchdowns. Simon has had five consecutive games where he ran for over a hundred yards, Caleb Clay ran for 87 yards and a touchdown. Leading the receivers was Matthew Fagnana for 106 yards and 1 touchdown and junior Noel Wright II had 56 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman Kicker Trevor Helburg was perfect kicking 8 extra points for the 8 touchdowns.

Dayton had impressive numbers too, senior quarterback A. J. Nail finished the game passing for 461. yards with four touchdowns. Sophomore Christian Olige finished the game with 272 receiving yards on 12 catches, including three touchdowns. Leading the rushers was junior Tyres Brooks with 111 yards and one touchdown and Zach Pike 3 yards and one touchdown. Junior kicker Jaime Pineda missed 2 of 5 extra point attempts.

Dayton’s Jeff Nations is both Athletic Director and Head Football Coach, winning games is one of his top priorities but winning games is not his sole priority.

Those who know Nations say he teaches players more than the game of football, he teaches them about the game of life. Nations recently said, “These young boys are becoming young men, when they leave this place, my whole goal is for them to become great fathers, husbands, and leaders. If we do the things we are supposed to as coaches, they’ll be those three things.”

The Cougars now possess a 6-0 record. They put it on the line next when they host Port Neches-Groves Indians at “The Jungle” for a 5A-2 Region III District 12 battle on Friday, October 12, at 7:30 PM. Both teams are undefeated in District games.

As for Dayton 0-7 they’ll travel to face off against undefeated Nederland Bulldogs that’s cruising on a five-game winning streak.