“These past two games really helped us,” Davis said. “It gave us good experience going into district. I’m glad we had that Dickinson game last week too because it made us face adversity and we did this week to but we came and we did good.”
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After a Katy fumble late in the second quarter, Brady Englett knew that the Tigers defense needed to make a play.
With the game tied at seven against The Woodlands and the game nearing halftime, Enggett intercepted a tipped pass with a diving catch and changed the momentum of the game, helping spark the team on both sides of the ball, as Seth Davis took a handoff 49 yards for a score on the very next play.
“It changed the momentum,” Englett said. “our offense was able to get a nice touchdown at the end of the half and it was just a great opportunity for us to get ahead in the game.”
Davis’ run gave Katy a 14-7 lead, and the Tigers (4-0) never lost that lead for the rest of the game, as they went on to win 21-14 over The Woodlands (2-2) on Friday at Rhodes Stadium.
It was a nervy start for the Tigers, as the Highlanders went on a 10 play, 75 yard drive to start the game and sophomore quarterback Mabrey Mettauer connected with Ben Ferguson on a 21-yard pass to open the scoring. But Katy responded, as Davis took his second run of the night 49 yards and then ran in a six-yard touchdown to tie the game.
Katy continued to pound the run game and got back into field goal range on its next drive, but after a fumble stalled the possession a missed field goal left things tied.
Things remained tied until the Davis’ 49-yard run late in the second as the Tigers took the lead until half time.
“I was able to see some holes and break through them,” Davis said. “I just tried to run it hard, they have a really good defense and so I just kept trying to run it hard every time I got it.”
The Tigers were forced into a bad situation to start the second half as they fumbled the kickoff and The Woodlands recovered and took over at the Katy 25-yard-line. But the Tigers didn’t allow anything on the drive and the Highlanders missed a field goal of their own.
The turnover was Katy’s ninth of the season, a number that the team knows they will need to work on.
“It’s always concerning, but you can’t dwell on the negative either,” said Katy head coach Gary Joseph. “Sometimes you start doing that and it becomes paranoia. We’ll get it corrected, we worked on it this week and it’s something we’re working on.”
Neither team scored again until the fourth quarter as it became a defensive battle. But Katy went up two scores on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Koger to Isaiah Smith as it looked as if the Tigers took control of the game on a nine play, 71-yard drive.
But as soon as the Tigers seemed to pull away, the Highlanders came back, as Mettauer took the team on another scoring drive and he ran in a 2-yard quarterback sneak to bring things back to a one-score game.
“These past two games really helped us,” Davis said. “It gave us good experience going into district. I’m glad we had that Dickinson game last week too because it made us face adversity and we did this week to but we came and we did good.”
Katy took over five minutes off the clock on its ensuing drive, but was unable to convert on a final fourth-and-two run that would have sealed the game, leaving the Katy defense to make another stop to ice the win.
The Tigers defense wasn’t fazed as they forced a turnover on downs and Katy came away with the victory.
“it was big for us to do that,” Englett said. “It was a good momentum changer late in the game to get that turnover on downs, we just didn’t want to give them that first down.”
The Woodlands came into the game averaging over 34 points per game and Joseph was happy with the entire team’s effort to limit that.
“It was a big accomplishment for us, but it wasn’t just the defense,” Joseph said. “It was the offense too and it really was a team win. They really complimented each other.”
Davis finished the night rushing for 225 yards on 31 carries while Koger was an efficient 8-11 for 97 yards.
The Tigers kick off district next Thursday against Seven Lakes, which comes off a 28-6 win over the Heights.
“They’re starting to build a bit more chemistry and trust with each other, “Joseph said. “If they can continue doing that, they’ll continue getting better.”
Katy 21, The Woodlands 14
The Woodlands |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
-- |
14 |
||||||||||||||||||||
Katy |
7 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
-- |
21 |
First quarter
Woodlands: Mabrey Mettauer 21 pass to Ben Ferguson (Robertson kick), 8:30
Katy: Seth Davis 6 run (Axel Robertson kick), 6:07
Second quarter
Katy: Davis 49 run (Robertson kick), 2:10
Fourth quarter
Katy: Caleb Koger 23 pass to Isaiah Smith (Robertson kick), 11:10
Woodlands: Mettauer 2 run (Sims kick), 6:58
Team stats
The Woodlands |
Katy |
|
First downs |
15 |
15 |
Yards rushing |
27-119 |
42-248 |
Yards passing |
166 |
97 |
Passes |
19-30-1-1 |
8-11-1-0 |
Punts |
4.33 |
2.35 |
Fumbles-lost |
0-0 |
2-1 |
Penalty-yards |
3-40 |
3-25 |
Individual Statistics
Rushing -- Katy: Seth Davis, 31-225-2; Isaiah Smith, 5-24; Chase Johnsey, 4-5; Dallas Glass, 2-6; The Woodlands: Mabrey Mattauer, 7-51-1; Jo’Barre Reed, 11-39; Tobin Miller, 1-12; Jason Williams, 3-11; Jacoby Mitchell, 3-6;
Passing -- Katy: Caleb Koger, 8-11-97-1-0; The Woodlands: Mabrey Mettauer, 19-30-166-1-1;
Receiving – Katy: Isaiah Smith, 3-40-1; Antonio Silva, 3-38; JR Ceyanes, 2-19; The Woodlands: Ben Ferguson, 6-71-1; Parker McGill, 2-25; Tobin Miller, 1-24; Jo’Barre Reed, 4-16; Camden Cash, 4-14; Jason Williams, 2-12;