New Georgetown QB Noah Booras has Eagle offense humming in only two starts

In what’s been nicknamed by several District 12-5A Division I coaches the “District of Doom,” an 0-2 start would be a near-death sentence for a team’s playoff hopes.

So Georgetown’s 70-28 win over Hendrickson on Thursday at the Pfield — in a battle of two teams that dropped their district openers last week — didn’t necessarily save the Eagles' season, but it does prevent them from having to undertake a massive uphill climb with little margin for error in the final half of the schedule just to make the postseason.

“It’s a big confidence-booster going into the rest of the year,” said Georgetown senior wide receiver Drayden Dickmann, a Rice pledge who torched the Hendrickson secondary for 135 yards and two touchdowns on eight receptions. “These next two games (against Leander and East View) are now really vital, but everything tonight was working well in the passing game. Things were opening up, we executed well, ran the right routes, and it all worked out big.”

It’s not quite a “Varsity Blues” situation at quarterback for the Eagles, but backup signal-caller Noah Booras — who took over under center after an injury to Tucker Griffin in the second half of a Week 3 game vs. Liberty Hill — has gone from relative anonymity to bursting onto the Central Texas football landscape in roughly seven days.

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Coming off a performance last week in which he completed 25 of 35 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns in Georgetown’s 48-34 loss to A&M Consolidated, Booras again threw darts all over the field Thursday, completing 19 of 22 for 256 yards and four TDs.

“Everything we worked on in practice all week was open,” Booras said. “We executed consistently and just kept it going all game in what was a must-win situation. … It’s been pretty fun playing the last two weeks; It’s also been a little nerve-wracking, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.”

Though 582 yards and six touchdowns — and, it should be noted, against good competition — in two games from a backup quarterback will raise several eyebrows around the district, Dickmann noted that the Eagles aren’t surprised by what Booras has done.

“Noah has a good arm,” he said. “I’ve been confident in him since spring ball, so I knew he’d get the job done.”

In what’s becoming a near-weekly case, Georgetown (3-2, 1-1) also received an exceptional performance from running back Andrew Petter.

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Perhaps hurting his own rushing stats with a couple of long kickoff returns, Petter ran for 164 yards and four touchdowns while finishing with more than 250 all-purpose yards. The Eagles totaled more than 300 yards on the ground.

“We feel like if we can run the football, then we can play with anybody,” Georgetown coach Chuck Griffin said. “Our offensive line played really well tonight, and obviously we had some bright spots at our skill positions, too.”

Petter had rushing scores of 17, 27 and 1 yard and Booras tossed scoring strikes to Dickmann (26 and 48 yards) and Marquis Dominguez (14 yards) as the Eagles built a 42-20 halftime lead.

With Hendrickson down to its third-string quarterback, Georgetown dominated the second half, as Petter reached the end zone from 5 yards out, Booras hit Dominguez on an 11-yard TD pass, and Isaiah Justice (5 yards) and Mason Mays (5 yards) had touchdown runs.

Carson Workman crossed the goal line on jaunts of 2 and 3 yards to lead the Hawks (1-4, 0-2), and Joseph Rodriguez (3 yards) and Jaylin West (11 yards) also ran for TDs to account for Hendrickson’s scoring.

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The rest of the district schedule will be a grind for both teams, but Chuck Griffin said that in the “District of Doom” any victory is notable.

“This was huge,” he said. “Winning is hard, so any time you get a win is big. I’m really proud of our kids for coming out and playing the way they did after two losses against two really good opponents. We challenged our kids to get the level we need to get to, and they responded.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Noah Booras, Andrew Petter drive Georgetown win over Hendrickson