Wharton coach Russell Roberts doesn't bother to tell his team to play hard for four quarters bec... Industrial pulls off high-w

Submitted by admin on Tue, 2006-11-14 08:00. ::

The Tigers went into overtime three times during District 24-3A play, the most recent being their 29-21 playoff clinching victory at Needville last Friday night.

Roberts had a team finish with three ties when he was an assistant coach before overtime was instituted by the UIL, but this was the first time he's coached in three overtime games in a season. The Tigers had a 2-1 record in those games.

Wharton scored with 2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter against Needville on a 20-yard pass from Joel Ansley to Kenneth Phynon but missed the extra point. The Tigers got the ball first in overtime and Ansley threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jamail Shelton on the first play and hooked up with Xavier Jackson for the two-point conversion. Wharton clinched the win when Donalton Haynes recovered a fumbled snap.

"I don't know why we were so unsuccessful in the third and fourth quarters and so successful at the end," said Roberts, whose team didn't score in the second half until the game-tying touchdown. "I think the players were pressing too hard trying to get huge gains. We were going for the goal line instead of the sticks. And to be honest, I think the coaches got too conservative.

"I don't know why but playing all out just seems to be the way this team is," Roberts added. "They play like their hair is on fire and they're going 90 miles per hour. It's kind of chancy and risky but that's the way it is."

"The kids are used to having to come back," Roberts said. "We can't play consistent defense because our kids are so small. We just don't have the physical size to stop people all the time. But we saw in 7-on-7 that we could come back."

Wharton's reward for finishing second in district is the second seed in Division II and a bi-district meeting against undefeated Giddings, which was ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll. Roberts previously coached at Giddings.

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