When administrators were planning for the district’s second high school, they knew the annual football game between the two schools would become one of the area’s classic rivalry games.

It didn’t take long.

Tomball Memorial held on for a razor-thin win against Tomball in the second meeting between the schools, evening the series with a 49-47 overtime win Friday night at Tomball Stadium.

“It was the last game. The crowd went crazy,” said Cougar player Tristain Born. “Both sides of the stadium were full. Everybody putting in their best to help out the team, get them excited, help them work harder.

“But in those last three seconds, the game was gone.”

It was that last play of regulation that will haunt the Cougars during the long off-season. After a long pass set up the Cougars at the 15-yard line, the Cougars needed to spike the ball to stop the clock and give their special teams a shot at a game-winning field goal.

But somehow, time ran out on the Cougars, who then saw Memorial score first in OT and add a two-point conversion. Tomball answered with a touchdown but came up short on the conversion attempt.

“It’s definitely hard to lose against your rival, especially since it was our last game,” Westin Shattuck said. “Personally, it was the most exciting football game I’ve ever been a part of. … It was a blast playing.”

For the seniors, it was a bittersweet moment as they walked off the field for the final time.

“It feels like it wasn’t so much long ago that I was putting on pads as a freshman, and now it’s all over,” Shattuck said. “I enjoyed it while it lasted.”