Cinco Ranch knew how important this Thursday’s game was.

A win, and the Cougars would cement themselves in second place in district, a win clear of any team and a game back from Katy for first place in the standings as we head into the last month of the regular season.
But a loss and the Cougars would drop into a chaotic field among District 19-6A teams of three teams all fighting and four teams all within a game of each other all fighting to get into position to push for a playoff spot.

And the Cougars (5-2, 4-1) found a way to get that done, as Cinco Ranch (3-3, 2-2) used a strong offense and timely defensive stops to beat Jordan 53-41, moving to 4-1 in district play and securing a hugely important win.

“This was a huge win,” said senior receiver Noah Abboud. “I’m so glad that we were able to accomplish it and get it because we fought tonight. It’s a team win and there’s a lot of joy here. I just think we deserve it with all the hard work we put in tonight.”

It was a battle to get the win for Cinco, who had a back and forth first half with Jordan and fell behind early in the third quarter before stringer together scores and stops on defense to pull away as the game got further into the second half.

The Cougars struck first on their first drive of the game, as Gavin Rutherford hit Abboud for a 46-yard touchdown pass, but Jordan immediately responded with a drive that led to a 2-yard score from Chad Gasper.

Cinco scored twice more in the first quarter on a field goal and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Rutherford to Abboud but Jordan was not fazed.

The Warriors came back to make things a three point game in the second quarter on a 14-yard pass from Colin Willetts to Andrew Marsh before Rutherford threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Seth Salverino to make things a two possession game once again. Jordan trimmed it back to three on a 10-yard run from Ifeanyi Monye though and then Zion Jones made an interception in his own endzone shortly before halftime as Cinco only led 24-21 with Jordan getting the ball to start the second half.

“We didn’t feel like it was a bad first half even though we definitely could have ended it better,” Rutherford said. “We just knew that we had to come out even better in the second half and push ourselves. And we did that, we came out wanting to score every drive, nothing changed. We weren’t happy about things but we knew going into the second half, if we play our game then nobody can stop us.”

Things looked to be heading in Jordan’s favor early in the third quarter, the Warriors came out with their first drive in the second half and marched down the field, scoring on a 1-yard run from Gasper.

But Cinco immediately responded, Sam McKnight scored on a 1-yard run on the Cougars next drive before Cinco’s defense forced a three and out and McKnight again scored with no time left in the third quarter to give the Cougars a 39-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“A huge part of the game was the way our defense stepped up for us in the second half,” said Cinco Ranch head coach Chris Dudley. “First half, Jordan had four possessions and scored three touchdowns and then they come out and take the lead in the second half. Our defensive guys could have folded right there, but instead they bowed up and got stops when they needed and got them off the field. The biggest thing was the takeaways. That was a huge part of our success last year but we haven’t had many this year, so to get those was huge.”

Cinco scored twice more in the fourth quarter on a Rutherford 16-yard pass to Abboud and a Rutherford 27-yard run to but things away. Jordan scored with under a minute left to trim the lead but it wasn’t enough for the Warriors as the Cougars were able to hang on for the win.

And now Cinco will turn the page to the last three games of the district season, as the Cougars still have a chance to battle for a district title.

But the first step towards that is a tough Paetow squad next week, and the Cougars know that they cannot take a team with that much talent lightly.

“We can’t do this without each other,” Rutherford said. “We have to trust each other, everyone on both sides of the ball. It’s a brotherhood out here, our motto is ‘I am because we are.’ We just have to keep that mentality going into next game and every game after that.”

Cinco Ranch 53, Jordan 41

First quarter

CR: Gavin Rutherford 46 pass to Noah Abboud (Santiago Taborda kick) 8:52

J: Chad Gasper 2 run (Jake Kilander kick) 7:11

CR: Santiago Taborda 23 field goal, 4:12

CR: Rutherford 15 pass to Abboud (Taborda kick) 0:53

Second quarter

J: Colin Willetts 14 pass to Andrew Marsh (Kilander kick) 6:40

CR: Rutherford 69 pass to Seth Salverino (Taborda kick) 5:13

J: Ifeanyi Monye 10 run (Kilander kick) 2:19

Third quarter

J: Gasper 1 run (Kilander kick) 7:47

CR: Sam McKnight 3 run (Taborda kick) 2:50

CR: McKnight 11 run (Taborda kick) 0:00

Fourth quarter

J: Colin Willetts 1 pass to Marsh (pass failed) 8:18

CR: Rutherford 16 pass to Abboud (Taborda kick) 6:50

CR: Rutherford 27 run (Taborda kick) 2:29

J: Colin Willetts 41 pass to Zechariah Sample (Kilander kick) 0:55

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Cinco Ranch: Sam McKnight: 16-66-2; Gavin Rutherford, 10-59; Eric Eckstrom, 5-0; Jordan: Chad Gasper, 13-45-2; Ifeanyi Monye, 9-37-1; Zechariah Sample, 4-16; Colin Willetts, 2-(-5);

Passing – Cinco Ranch: Gavin Rutherford, 16-22-3-1; Jordan: Colin Willetts, 20-25-287-3-1; Zechariah Sample, 2-2-71-0-0;

Receiving – Cinco Ranch: Seth Salverino, 3-194-1; Noah Abboud, 4-95-3; Fischer Reed, 4-75; Sam McKnight, 3-65; Colten Michalec, 1-14; Eric Eckstrom, 1-5; Jordan: Zechariah Sample, 7-147-1; Andrew Marsh, 8-140-2; Chad Gasper, 2-56; Deacon Stanfield, 1-10; Connor Babin, 1-5;