Shadow Creek and quarterback Tavis Coleman end Pearland's 19-game winning streak in regular season

IOWA COLONY – Shadow Creek quarterback Tavis Coleman hasn’t made many mistakes this season.

But when his first pass of the game on Friday night was intercepted, he understood exactly how he needed to respond. He wasn’t going to hang his head or get frustrated. He was going to use it as fuel.

On the Sharks’ very next offensive snap, the senior signal-caller delivered. He threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to sophomore sensation B.J. LaFell, shrugging off the early miscue and igniting a Shadow Creek fireworks show.

“You have to have a dog mentality,” Coleman said. “I told myself that was personal, so I went back out there, executed and threw a touchdown to my teammate, so that’s all that matters. It was good.”

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Coleman was lights-out the rest of the night, completing 19-of-23 passes for a season-high 361 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for a score during the Sharks’ 55-35 victory over Pearland at Freedom Field, a triumph that clinched at least a share of the District 19-6A championship with one game remaining before the playoffs. Shadow Creek (8-1, 7-0), which entered the night No. 9 in the Class 6A state rankings, has won seven consecutive games since dropping a non-district contest against No. 4 Ridge Point early in the season. The Sharks also avenged a 21-14 loss to Pearland (8-1, 6-1) from last year and ended the Oilers’ 19-game regular-season winning streak.

Shadow Creek has now won seven district championships since its inaugural season in 2018. But while that’s certainly a goal every year, making a deep push in the playoffs means even more. In a game that had its share of ups and downs, Sharks coach Tyrone Green was pleased with how his team responded to some of the adversity and believes his group has what it takes to make some noise once the calendar flips to November.

“I took away that they pull for each other,” said Green, now in his third season at the helm. “We had some things that happened early on with Pearland scoring. But we were able to come back offensively and get scores, get scores. So they pulled for each other, they’re together, and that’s the biggest thing that I saw from this game.”

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Pearland and Shadow Creek combined for 209 yards of offense and three touchdowns over the first three minutes of the game. After Coleman’s early interception – his first of the season after 162 pass attempts – he responded with seven consecutive completions. He hit LaFell in stride for the 60-yard bomb to get the scoring started for the Sharks and later found him for a 56-yard touchdown. LaFell, the son of former NFL receiver Brandon LaFell, was a star of the show in his own right with five catches for 166 yards, plus a rushing touchdown. He also had a 60-yard punt return and finished with 251 all-purpose yards. With the game tied late in second quarter, Coleman engineered a 63-yard scoring drive, which culminated with a 16-yard touchdown pass to his twin brother, tight end and Louisiana commit Bryce Coleman, with 13 seconds to play. That score gave the Sharks a 35-28 halftime lead.

Shadow Creek kept its foot on the gas as LaFell reached the end zone for a third time on a 7-yard run midway through the third quarter. Coleman then connected with Jaylen Addai, the son of former NFL running back Joseph Addai, for a 63-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. That gave the Sharks the lead for good. Addai finished with five catches for 106 yards, and running back Julian Mathis helped the cause with two rushing scores.

“It’s a blast because we’ve got so many electrifying guys,” said Coleman, whose offense is averaging more than 400 yards per game. “Running backs, receivers, O-line is playing well, so it’s exciting. I love these guys.”

Coleman, who has committed to McNeese State, is now over 2,300 yards with 30 touchdowns this season. He is completing nearly 70% of his passes and has continued to grow in his second year as the Sharks’ starter. According to Green, Friday’s performance was a perfect display of how his quarterback has matured and stepped up for his teammates.

“Tavis is a great leader,” Green said. “He’s a great leader, and he corrals all those guys on the offense. Besides the arm talent that he has, he’s a student of the game. He’s a very coachable kid, he has a high football IQ, and he loves playing football. He loves playing football. So he means a lot to this group. The kids love him and rally around him.”

After adding three to his total against Pearland, Coleman now has 67 career touchdown passes for Shadow Creek, which is just four shy of tying former four-star recruit Kyron Drones for the program record of 71. Drones, who went on to play at Baylor and Virginia Tech, led the Sharks to their lone state championship in 2019, when Green was an assistant under former head coach Brad Butler. Coleman is trying to duplicate that team success and has every intention of helping Shadow Creek push past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

“It’s been special coming back,” Coleman said. “I love these guys so much, and I want to keep fighting for them. The goal remains the same – win a state championship – so we’re going to keep fighting.”

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This article originally published at Shadow Creek and quarterback Tavis Coleman end Pearland’s 19-game winning streak in regular season.