By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
*All Games District 19-6A
Thursday
Taylor (2-2, 1-1) vs. Tompkins (3-2, 1-2) , 6 p.m. at Legacy Stadium
Last year: Tompkins 52, Taylor 7
- Taylor and Tompkins kick off the week for District 19-6A on Thursday in a game where both teams are in need of wins as they continue to push to stay in the playoff race.
Tompkins had a huge week, bouncing back after two straight losses with a resounding 49-14 win over Seven Lakes for the Falcons first district win of the year.
It was much needed for the Falcons and they did it behind a huge performance from Wyatt Young and a dominant defense that took the teams loss to Cinco Ranch personally the previous week.
The Tompkins defense completely shut down Seven Lakes all night, limiting the Spartans to barely over 150 yards in the game and keeping Seven Lakes from ever having momentum in the game, while also coming away with an interception, forcing turnovers and stopping Seven Lakes even when they didn’t.
Offensively, Wyatt Young had a very strong day passing and running the ball, while the Tompkins run game kept was very strong behind Young, Caleb Blocker and Caleb Komolafe. That combo will be key the rest of the way as they look to lead the Tompkins offense and push towards the playoffs.
Taylor comes off a bye week, but got its biggest win of the season in the previous week as the Mustangs also played Seven Lakes and came away with a win.
Joe Jefferson was everywhere for Taylor on the day. The senior quarterback passed for 208 yards while also leading the way on the ground with 123 yards rushing. Dante Archie was also huge for Taylor, rushing for 51 yards and having 77 yards receiving to go with three touchdowns, as the Mustangs overcame a 21 point deficit to beat Seven Lakes for their first district win.
The Mustangs defense was great in the second half comeback but did struggle at times, giving up 270 yards through the air and over 300 yards overall.
Taylor’s defense will have to have a great game for four quarters and shut down Tompkins run game if they are to compete in the matchup while the offense will need to control the clock and keep the Tompkins offense off the field. For Tompkins, the Falcons will look to build off what they were able to do last week, dominating on defense and on the ground offensively and using the pass game off of that.
Katy (5-0, 3-0) vs. Jordan (3-1, 2-0) 7 p.m. at Rhodes Stadium
Last year: Did not play
- The last two undefeated teams in district meet this week with the winner coming out as the leader in the district pack the rest of the way, with Katy, the district power and the Jordan, the newcomer, facing off.
Katy comes off its biggest game of the season against Mayde Creek and seems to be finding that second gear as we near the midpoint of the district schedule.
Katy came away 59-3 winners over the Rams, behind a huge defensive performance from the Tigers and another balanced game on the ground.
Seth Davis and Dallas Glass were both huge in the run game and Davis became the fourth Katy Tiger to reach the 5,000 yard mark in rushing for his career in the win. Davis now only trails Aundre Dean, Deondrick Glass and Rodney Anderson in career rushing yards at Katy.
The Katy defense was fantastic in the win, allowing just three points in the game and 12 yards on the round for the night and only 101 yards in the air also forcing a turnover, with Mayde Creek’s longest play being only 39 yards on the night. The Tigers are now the last remaining team to be unbeaten for the entire season in District 19-6A after five weeks of the year.
Jordan comes into the matchup after winning the biggest game in the programs history, dispatching Paetow last week to move to 2-0 in district play.
It was the defense that led the way for Jordan, limiting Paetow all night and not allowing the Panthers to det into a rhythm at any point, holding Paetow to 50 yards on the ground and 159 through the air, with most of those air yards coming once the game was out of reach.
The Jordan offense, as it has been all season, was efficient and led by junior quarterback Colin Willetts, who threw for 176 yards and three touchdowns. The Warriors skill position players, Andrew Marsh at Zechariah Sample at receiver and Chad Gasper at running back provide plenty of weapons for the Jordan offense and the run game had a good balance for Jordan as well, as Gasper ran for 93 yards and the Warriors had 115 yards on the ground in total.
But as everyone knows, Katy is a different beast, especially for a program like Jordan that hasn’t had the experience of playing against the Tigers. Jordan will have to keep its composure and play its toughest, most hard nosed game for the year if they are to have a chance. While Katy will need to continue what has given it success all year, pounding the ball offensively and limiting big plays on defense, as Jordan has a tendency to rip off long plays, especially in the pass game.
Friday
Cinco Ranch (3-2, 2-1) vs. Mayde Creek (2-3, 0-3), 6 p.m. at Legacy Stadium
Last year: Cinco Ranch 45, Mayde Creek 14
- Cinco Ranch comes off a shock loss to Morton Ranch and will be angry heading into this week.
The Cougars did everything they could offensively in the game, but couldn’t put together any stops defensively to come away with the win, as the game ended with over 1,200 yards of total offense.
Gavin Rutherford was his usual excellent self, passing for 464 yards and five scores while also running in two touchdowns and Seth Salverino and Noah Abboud were also excellent, going for 228 yards receiving and 131 yards receiving. But the run game struggled for Cinco all night, gaining just 96 yards, and the defense was unable to put together any stops, as Morton Ranch dominated on the ground and was efficient and strong in the pass game as well without turning the ball over once throughout the entire night.
The offense has been there for Cinco the entire season, but the defense has only shown up in spurts. Just the week before, the defense put together a terrific performance against Tompkins, as Cinco looked like a challenger in district, but it did not look like the same defense in the game against Morton Ranch, and Cinco will need to find a way to get them to play at a high level again.
Mayde Creek meanwhile has continued to struggle through district play, falling to 0-3 against District 19-6A opponents last week with a loss to Katy.
The Rams only mustered three points facing a team that was determined to stay unbeaten on the year. Reggie McNeal Jr. completed seven out of 16 passes for the Rams but also threw an interception, while Carldell Beard went two of six through the air.
The Rams also only rushed for 12 yards in the game, with Jerimiah Hill leading the team with 19 yards on the game.
The Rams will offense and defense will need to be at a higher level to compete against Cinco and they will try to be better especially against the run game.
Cinco meanwhile will be hoping to clean some things up defensively and come away with a win after last weeks loss while using the run game more than they did in the loss where they fell behind to Morton Ranch.
Seven Lakes (0-4, 0-2) vs. Morton Ranch (3-2, 1-2), 7 p.m. at Rhodes Stadium
Last year: Seven Lakes 21, Morton Ranch 18
- Morton Ranch and Seven Lakes clash with each other in a game where the teams are on opposite ends of the spectrum heading into the week.
Morton Ranch comes off its biggest win of the year after an offensive explosion against Cinco Ranch where they came away with a victory.
Josh Johnson and Santana Scott again starred for the team. Scott rushed for 219 yards and had 86 receiving yards while coming away with five touchdowns. Meanwhile Johnson threw for 243 yards, rushed for 53 yards and made a number of clutch plays to help lead the Mavericks to an extremely important win after they had started district play 0-2 against two very tough opponents.
Seven Lakes on the other hand continues to falter and is still in search of its first win this year.
The Spartans come off a very tough loss to Tompkins in which they scored only 14 points and struggled to move the ball both on the ground and the air.
Tanner Perez passed for just 83 yards and threw an interception, while Jake Farris couldn’t get anything going, finishing with 42 yards on the ground. Marcel Davis did finish with 44 yards receiving and also threw a touchdown pass to Evan Tomalty.
But the defense for Seven Lakes struggled mightily, giving up 49 points and not being able to slow down the Falcons in either the run or pass game.
That challenge will not get any easier this week either with Morton Ranch’s high powered offense and the Spartans will have to try to hone in on the Mavericks run game while also pounding the ball on the ground themselves, while Morton Ranch will try to continue its offensive success and build to another district win.
District 19-6A Standings
|
Team
|
W
|
L
|
District W
|
District L
|
District PF
|
District PA
|
1
|
Katy
|
5
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
114
|
36
|
2
|
Jordan
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
83
|
28
|
3*
|
Cinco Ranch
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
154
|
119
|
3*
|
Paetow
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
89
|
87
|
5
|
Taylor
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
63
|
77
|
6*
|
Tompkins
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
76
|
70
|
6*
|
Morton Ranch
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
126
|
138
|
8
|
Seven Lakes
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
42
|
84
|
9
|
Mayde Creek
|
2
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
35
|
114
|