Football: Culture, moxie lift state-ranked Fulshear to dramatic area playoff win
Undefeated Chargers outlast Houston Lamar, showcasing the fight, grit and unconventional methods that make them a force to be reckoned with in their first year of Class 6A play
In an intense playoff affair, featuring big play after big play as minutes ticked off, Fulshear finished Friday night with what it has had in spades all year.
Grit, moxie and a heck of a lot of fight.
Senior fullback Zane Smith’s fourth and final touchdown of the evening, a 23-yard jaunt with 1:30 left, ultimately authored the game-winner for the Chargers as they eluded Houston Lamar, 54-48, in their Class 6A-Division I area playoff game at Rhodes Stadium in Katy.
No. 9 state-ranked Fulshear is 12-0 and in the regional semifinals for the second time in three years, though for the first time in 6A as it broadens its inaugural campaign in Texas’ largest classification.
The Chargers play No. 5 Atascocita (11-1) at 2 p.m. Friday at Thorne Stadium in Aldine. A win will send them to their first ever regional final.
“We’ve been talking about making history at Fulshear,” said senior defensive lineman Caleb Augustus, who had three sacks and was constantly in the Lamar backfield all night long. “Make people remember us.”
Lamar led 41-40 with 10:59 left, rallying to take the lead after trailing 34-20 early in the third quarter.
The slight edge didn’t last.
Fulshear freshman receiver Mike Brown ran a perfect route, executed a nifty double move and caught a 21-yard toss from sophomore quarterback Ryland Forks to put the Chargers up to stay with 5:28 left.
After Fulshear’s defense induced a turnover on downs, Smith’s TD pushed the lead to 54-41. It rendered a 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Lamar’s Dramarcus Bradford 26 seconds later meaningless.
The Chargers recovered the ensuing onside kick and improved to 3-0 in one-score games this season.
“We know our team is going to fight,” said senior lineman Chance Bryant, a University of Houston commit who played every snap. “But in the crucial moments, all of us stepped up together.”
The Chargers know who they are. Fulshear, Texas knows who they are. District 20-6A knows who they are. Perennial regional powers like Pearland, Ridge Point and, now, Lamar know who they are.
Fulshear plays to show everybody else what they already know, and what so many are finding out the hard way.
“You play us, you’re going to get a tough game,” Bryant said. “We may not be the best athletes or do the craziest things, but you come play us and we’ll fight.”
The full Fulshear experience was on display against Lamar, which was seeking a second straight trip to the third round.
Such as …
>> A dominant, prolific and diverse run game via head coach Nick Codutti’s beloved wide zone scheme. The Chargers had 43 carries to 10 pass attempts.
>> Eschewing extra point attempts for 2-point attempts.
>> Going for it on fourth down, early and often. Fulshear only punted twice on 11 possessions, and that was on its first two series’ of the game.
“This is a social experiment that has worked very well,” said Codutti, in his fourth year at the helm of the program.
Fulshear had 423 total yards, 291 rushing. Five of the Chargers’ seven offensive touchdowns were runs.
They averaged 6.8 yards per carry, paced by Smith’s 8.3.
A fullback, the 5-foot-9, 205-pound Smith also played a significant number of snaps at quarterback under center, covered returns on kickoffs, and served as a punishing blocker for fellow senior ballcarriers Patrick Broadway (98 yards, TD) and Damarius Froe (33 yards).
“We had to win,” said Smith, who has seven touchdowns this postseason and 22 overall this season. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight. Houston Lamar is an amazing team. People were doubting us.
“On a poll, people said there was an 80% chance we’d lose this game. But I think we really came out and showed everyone.”
Fulshear wasn’t perfect. Nothing was easy. It hardly ever is for the Chargers.
Lamar accounted for 485 total yards and scored touchdowns on four of its final five drives to make things more interesting than Fulshear cared for.
The Chargers only converted three of seven 2-point attempts. They also missed an extra-point kick and had a punt blocked that gifted Lamar strong field position at the Fulshear 32 midway through the first quarter (the Texans scored a touchdown).
The defensive front starred but the secondary had issues. Lamar quarterbacks Vaurice Young and Lawson Behan completed 23 of 35 passes for 396 yards and five touchdowns to no interceptions.
But, as been the case this whole season, Fulshear had enough. They always seem to.
And the Chargers were playing with a little extra oomph after falling in the area round last year, 31-19 to A&M Consolidated. It was their only defeat of the season.
“We knew coming into this year it was going to be different,” Bryant said. “Class 6A ball is the biggest it gets in Texas, obviously. But we knew who we are, we knew what type of team we were. That upset (in the second round) we had last year, it sparked a fire in us. We knew we couldn’t let it happen again.”
Codutti’s kids play hard, have fun and genuinely enjoy one another.
“They’re what makes this place fun,” he said.
The culture is different, eclectic.
The Chargers have affectionately branded themselves “Da Dirty F,” with a hand gesture and logo to accompany a battle cry that adorns athletic apparel they wear.
They are brash. Confident. Self-assured.
They scoff at the conventional, welcome the original.
The director of operations for the program is Micah Kowalski, a wife and mother who is also the assistant campus athletic coordinator and head girls cross country and track and field coach.
“I can’t express to people what this place is like,” Codutti said. “I think a lot of people might have a bad image of us at times, because of who we are. But, man, it’s a family. These kids love each other. These coaches love each other. I don’t know any other way to describe it, other than you have to be in it to understand it. I’ve never been to a place like this.”
The standard at Fulshear lies in the discipline and organization.
The junior high, located next door to the high school, is where things start. When freshmen arrive on campus, they already know what’s expected of them.
It works. Three freshmen and five sophomores played for the Chargers on Friday night.
If people transfer in, they learn quickly what is and what is not. No exceptions.
“The junior high kids are doing what the high school kids do,” Augustus said. “Everyone is held to the same standard. I transferred here as a junior, and from the first day they held me to their standard. It’s holding each other accountable, and the love to come out here and play with my brothers.”
If a player goofs around in class, they run and do up-downs as punishment. They’re not allowed to wear slides in school.
When the opposing team’s band plays its school song after a game, the Chargers stand, side by side, win or loss, facing the opposing team’s side of the field, at attention, “out of respect,” Codutti said.
“The culture is what you see and what you hear when you walk in the fieldhouse,” Codutti said. “These kids have set an example of what it’s supposed to look like. It’s the older kids carrying on tradition and an example to those young kids.
“When the players lead, things are exactly where you want them to be.”
Winners.
Relishing the chance to practice and play on Thanksgiving week, the reward of a win being playing in December for the first time.
“I’m just excited we get to go back to it,” Bryant said. “We have an opportunity to do something we’ve never done in school history.”