Seth Davis has taken a step up this year.

The Katy running back knew he would be needed more this year and would be the No. 1 back for the Tigers, but he has taken it in stride, as the junior has taken the role and ran with it.

But if you ask Davis, all the credit goes to his offensive line.

“The offensive line just opens up every hole for me, they’re improving so much and I love my offensive line, I couldn’t do anything without them.”

After rushing for 149 yards in Katy’s opening win over Clear Springs, Davis wasn’t satisfied. It showed as he rushed for 178 yards and three scores as the Tigers ran over Cypress Woods in a 42-7 victory on Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.

The Tigers used a balanced offense and strong defense to slowly pull away from the Wildcats, scoring 28 points while holding Cy-Woods scoreless in the second half to keep up their perfect start to the season.

Cy-Woods had scored on its last possession of the first half to trim Katy’s lead to seven, but it only took a minute and 20 second into the second half for the Tigers to get back on track, as they forced a fumble from the Wildcats and Davis ran in an eight yard touchdown to start the second quarter.

“It was huge to get that turnover to start the half,” said senior linebacker Ty Kana. “We made adjustments at halftime and it was great to start off the half by giving the ball back to the offense with a short field and the way it led to a score.”

Katy started the game strong, as Davis broke off a 51-yard score to give the Tigers the lead and Caleb Koger made it a 14 point game after finding JR Ceyanes on a 10-yard pass early in the second quarter.

But Katy turned the ball over in its next possession and Cy-Woods found success in the intermediate pass game, driving the length of the field before Wildcat quarterback Trey Craft ran in a touchdown with 21 seconds left in the half, making things a one score game.

“We just had to settle down,” Joseph said. “We were trying to do too much and when we’ve been successful its when they’ve done their jobs and taking care of their stuff first. We had too many of them trying to make big plays and wanting things to happen right now. We just had to settle down and play football.”

After Davis’ touchdown to start the third quarter, The Tigers forced another fumble on the next Cy-Woods drive and the offense again capitalized as Davis scored on a two yard touchdown run.

“We knew that we were better than how we had been playing,” Davis said. “we just had to stop playing down to their level and play up, we did that and were able to play a lot better in the second half.”

Chase Johnsey and Dallas Glass both scored on runs in the fourth quarter as both played in relief of Davis at the running back position.

Johnsey had himself a good game last week and it was the shifty Glass who had a strong showing this week, as he rushed for 121 yards on eight carries to go with his score.

“It’s really nice how good they’ve played,” Davis said. “It’s nice to have a break sometimes and I love it when they come in and show out the way they did.”

The Katy defense only allowed 40 yards on the ground in the win, and Kana feels that while the front seven is strong now, they can continue to get even better.

“We are a good front seven but I think where we are going to be is going to be even better as we go throughout the season,” Kana said. “I feel like we can be more dominant making plays behind the line of scrimmage. I think moving forward there’s so much more stuff that we can accomplish and I feel like that’s where we’re headed.”

One player that stood out to Joseph was kicker and punter Axel Robertson, who made all of his extra points and kicked a number of touchbacks.

“Im so proud of the job Axel did tonight,” Joseph said. “He did a great job of kicking off and did a good job punting too. He had a really good night and that was good to see. I’m proud because he’s got to this point because he works at stuff and that’s always a good thing.”

Katy will take on Dickinson at 7 p.m. Friday at Sam Vitanza Stadium as the Tigers continue their march towards their district schedule.

“We can get better in all areas,” Kana said. “We’re going to have. A full week of practice focusing on getting better. We’re going to take our mistakes from this game in the first half and continue to improve.”

Katy 40, Clear Springs 7

First quarter

Katy: Safety, Seth Davis 51 run (Axel Robertson kick), 5:50

Second quarter

Katy: Caleb Koger 10 pass to JR Ceyanes (Robertson Kick), 10:25

Cy-Woods, Trey Craft 1 run (Maximilian Nowak kick), 0:21

Third quarter

Katy: Davis 8 run (Robertson kick), 10:25

Katy: Davis 2 run (Robertson kick), 4:46

Fourth quarter

Katy: Chase Johnsey 1 run (Robertson kick), 8:10

Katy: Dallas Glass 7 run, (Robertson kick) 3:12

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- Katy: Seth Davis, 17-178-3; Dallas Glass 11-121-1; Chase Johnsey, 8-35-1; Isaiah Smith, 3-12; Justin Jurek, 1-9; Caleb Koger, 2-4; Elijah Bowman, 1-(-3);  Cy-Woods: Trey Craft, 14-32; Connor Morris, 8-15; Myles West, 6-3; Javarian Stewart, 2-(-9);

Passing -- Katy: Caleb Koger, 8-16-94-1-2; Cy-Woods: Trey Craft, 11-21-120-0-0;

Receiving – Katy: Antonio Silva, 3-52; Isaiah Smith, 3-24; JR Ceyanes, 1-10; Ronnie Schneider, 1-8; Cy-Woods: Javarian Stewart, 3-25; Myles West, 1-27; Braedon Dodson, 2-25; Phillip White, 3-20; Connor Morris, 1-12; Charles Bain, 2-11;