Houston Christian had erased North Texas’ 14-0 lead with Maddox Kopp’s 26-yard touchdown run, pulling the Huskies even at 14 with 11:58 left in the second quarter.
Jahiem White helped North Texas reclaim the lead on the next possession. The Mean Green would not give it back in a 63-14 victory Saturday in Denton.
North Texas began the next possession with Tayven Jackson’s 15-yard completion to Corri Milliner. White followed with runs of 7 and 5 yards, the second moving the chains from the North Texas 47. Jackson then hit Max Reese for 24 yards and Josiah Martin for 21, putting the Mean Green at the Houston Christian 3.
White finished the drive from there.
The 3-yard touchdown was his third of the night, and it restored North Texas’ lead in a game that had briefly threatened to become a negotiation. It also showed a different side of the senior running back than the one responsible for the evening’s first two scores.
Those had covered considerably more ground: a 24-yard touchdown on third-and-8 from the Houston Christian 24, followed by a 47-yard burst from the Huskies’ 47.
His first two touchdowns covered a combined 71 yards. The third required only the last three yards of a drive on which Jackson had already thrown for 60. White had supplied the earlier long gains; this time, the passing game delivered him to the doorstep.
The tie-breaking drive lasted six plays and covered 75 yards in 1:52. White accounted for 15 rushing yards and the touchdown, but the more telling detail was how naturally his work fit around North Texas’ passing game. His carries kept the drive on schedule while Jackson found the openings downfield. The back did not have to dominate every snap to control the possession.
Houston Christian had earned the tie with two competent scoring marches. The first covered 75 yards and ended with Jett Runion’s 2-yard touchdown catch. The next traveled 80 yards and finished when Kopp ran 26 yards for the score. For that stretch, Houston Christian had answered North Texas’s early scores with enough offense to stay level.
White changed the conversation immediately.
Keshawn Davila then intercepted Kopp. North Texas scored again in three plays, though White’s contribution on that series was a 6-yard reception before Chris Jimerson Jr. connected with Justin Stevenson for a 41-yard touchdown. The offense was finding ways to punish Houston Christian without asking White to be the answer on every possession.
