Sam Rayburn drove for touchdowns on their opening two possessions and the Alvin Yellowjackets were unable to recover from a slow start in a 16-7 Homecoming defeat to the Texans, Friday at AISD Memorial Stadium.

After Alvin (2-4 overall, 1-3 in 22-6A) went three-and-out on their opening possession, the Texans marched 69 yards in six plays with Malachi Rivas hitting Wesley Austin with a 16-yard touchdown pass with 7:56 left in the opening period. Rivas and Austin teamed again on a two-point conversion pass for an 8-0 Rayburn lead.

While Anthony Desanto connected with Kollin Breaux for 14 yards to get Alvin to midfield on their next series, the Yellowjackets were ultimately forced to punt again and a 42-yard run by the Texans’ H`rei Jones set up Javier Estrada’s 3-yard scoring run. Jermyrion Youngblood then added a two-point conversion run to increase the Texans’ lead to 16-0 with 9:45 remaining in the second quarter.

The Yellowjackets’ defense stepped up a little later to keep the game from getting out of hand, though, stopping the Texans on downs at the AHS 25-yard line, six plays after the Texans had recovered an onsides kick.

Alvin finally got on the board late in the period with Desanto completing first down passes to JJ Raasch (21 yards) and Jesus Marroquin (11 yards) to move the Yellowjackets into scoring range. Alvin also  benefitted from a roughing the kicker penalty on Rayburn on a 35-yard field goal attempt by Enrique Garza and a defensive pass interference call near the goaline.

Desanto then motored five yards with a keeper and Garza added the PAT to close the gap to 16-7 at the break.

Despite the Yellowjackets’ defense continually delivering defensive stops during the final 24 minutes, however, Alvin was unable to get any closer. Among those missed opportunities came following a fumble recovery by linebacker Joshua Hidalgo at the Rayburn 28-yard line in the third period.

Alvin has a bye this week and next plays Manvel, Oct. 17 at AISD Freedom Field in Iowa Colony at 7 p.m.

Manvel 58 South Houston 7 – The Mavericks cruised to an easy Homecoming victory, Friday at Freedom Field.

Xaiden Brown scored on a 14-yard run on Manvel’s first series, while quarterback Cam Renfro hooked with Carter St. Junious for a 33-yard scoring strike a few minutes later to increase the Mavericks’ lead to 14-0.

Brown added a 2-yard trip to the end zone in the opening period, while back-up signal caller Dante Mayes found Donovan Tolbert (14 yards) and Xavier Green (18 yards) with second quarter touchdown passes to help Manvel take a commanding 36-0 cushion into the dressing room at halftime.

Mayes completed 10 of 11 passes for 77 yards and three TD’s with Jordan Jackson hauling an 8-yard TD toss from Mayes late in the contest. Keith Williams also delivered an 13-yard scoring run in the second half for Manvel and Karnell James blazed 65 yards with a punt return.

The Mavericks (3-3 overall, 2-2 in 22-6A) next play Sam Rayburn, Oct. 11 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Pasadena at 2 p.m.

Shadow Creek 47 Dobie 24 – The Sharks bounced back from their heartbreaking double overtime loss to Dawson with a dominating performance against the Longhorns, Thursday in Pasadena.

Nicholas Sanez booted a 30-yard field goal through the uprights to get Shadow Creek on the board in the opening period, while the Sharks (4-2 overall, 3-1 in 22-6A) exploded for 31 points in the second period to put the game out of reach.

Tommy Baker provided a pair of fumble scoring returns from 25 and 42 yards, respectively, while Tavis Coleman hit Maddox Pitre (41 yards) and Bryce Coleman (22 yards) with TD passes and Samuel Delgado drilled a 43-yard FG to help the Sharks take a comfortable 34-3 lead into intermission.

Coleman completed 16 of 25 passes for 219 yards and four TD’s with the other two going to Aden Starling and Jacier Pace.

Shadow Creek next hosts Pasadena Memorial, Friday at Freedom Field at 7 p.m.