SULPHUR — Sam Houston’s high-flying offense got off to a slow start, so the defense and special teams picked up the slack Friday at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium.

Sam Houston won 46-7 in the District 3-5A opener for both teams.

Sulphur (2-2, 0-1) dominated the time of posession in the first half and slowed the game down. Sam Houston ran just 17 plays in the half and held the ball for just 5 minutes and 50 seconds.

“The offense got off to a slow start to start the game off,” Sam Houston head coach Chad Davis said. “The defense played really well, forced a turnover, only gave up seven tonight and scored.

“They (Sulphur) kept the ball away from us in the first half. I thought they did a really good job of that, but I was proud of the guys for how they responded throughout the game. They really controlled the time of possession.”

Sam Houston went three-and-out on its first possession, but Drew Dronet ripped off an 85-yard punt return to put the Broncos (3-1, 1-0) up 6-0 with 9:20 left in the first quarter.

Holding onto a 13-7 lead, and the Tors in the red zone, the Broncos forced a fumble to stop the Tors with 7:40 left in the second quarter. The defense came up with another stop with 2:57 left in the first half after forcing the Tors to turn the ball over on downs. That led to a 60-yard drive and a 20-7 lead as quarterback Gavin Stout scored on a 2-yard run 23 seconds before halftime.

The defense provided one more jump start in the third quarter when Phillip O’Neal scored on a 9-yard fumble return 1:36 into the second half.

From there, the offense took off with three touchdowns on a 2-yard run by Drew Bailey, Dronet’s 34-yard reception from Stout and a 49-yard run by Emmanuel Hanney.

Stout completed 15 of 21 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns. Dronet had five receptions for 103 yards, and Ayden Rose grabbed five for 90 yards and a touchdown.

Sulphur held the ball for 18 minutes and 10 seconds in the first half and used an 81-yard drive to take its only lead of the game on a 9-yard pass from Brodie Depriest to Jordan Jardneaux with 1:45 left in the first quarter.

The Tors reached the red zone one more time but fumbled the ball away. Depriest was injured on the same play and did not return to the game. They had 134 yards of total offense at that point but managed just 22 the rest of the way. Depirest finished the game with 41 rushing yards and 58 passing yards (7 of 11).

Sam Houston 46

Sulphur 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

SHHS 13 7 20 6 — 46

Sulphur 7 0 0 0 — 7

SCORING SUMMARY

SH: Drew Dronet 85 punt return (kick failed)

S: Jorden Jardneaux 9 pass from Brodie Depriest (Paxton VanMetre kick)

SH: Ayden Rose 19 pass from Gavin Stout (Wilson Bell kick)

SH: Stout 2 run (Bell kick)

SH: Phillip O’Neal 9 fumble return (Bell kick)

SH: Drew Bailey 2 run (kick failed)

SH: Dronet 34 pass from Stout (Bell kick)

SH: Emmanuel Hanney 49 run (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — Sam Houston: Drew Bailey 7-69, Gavin Stout 3-(minus-6), Emmanuel Hanney 6-58. Sulphur: Tyler Joubert 14-24, Luke Clark 6-11, Brodie Depriest 8-41, Noah Courtney 3-(minus-14), Cole Trahan 1-(minus-9), Sawyer Kippers 3-(minus-6).

PASSING — Sam Houston: Gavin Stout 15-21-0—246, Gavin Breaux 1-1-0—4. Sulphur: Depriest 7-11-0—58, Kippers Courtney 5-10-0—45, Kippers 0-4-0—0.

RECEIVING — Sam Houston: Drew Dronet 5-103, Ayden Rose 5-90, Bailey 2-15, Ty Stout 1-19, Emmanuel Hanney 1-20, Andrew Peloquin 2-3. Sulphur: Jordan Jardneaux 5-27, Cole Trahan 4-49, J.D. Lafleur 1-16, Mason Leblanc 1-4.

RECORDS — Sam Houston: 3-1, 1-0. Sulphur: 2-2, 0-1.