High School Football

Paetow tops Mayde Creek, moves to 2-0 in district play

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 9/16/22

“The main thing we talked about this week was needing to play well in all three phases,” said Paetow head coach Lonnie Teagle. “That’s the number one thing we want to do is play well in all thee phases at the same time and we took a step in the right direction tonight.”

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High School Football

Paetow tops Mayde Creek, moves to 2-0 in district play

Posted

Paetow started the year with some growing pains.

With a new coach, a new system on both sides of the ball and adjusting to the introduction of some new teammates in the jump to Class 6A, the Panthers needed time to adapt and get themselves ready for district play.

Two weeks in to District 19-6A play it’s safe to that the Panthers have done more than adapted, they have found a way to thrive and make a name for themselves as they navigate the Katy ISD district schedule for the first time.

The latest evidence of the Panthers (3-1, 2-0) rise was Thursday night, as Paetow stayed perfect in district with a 42-17 win over Mayde Creek (2-2, 0-2), putting Paetow in a good spot in the playoff race early in the district schedule.

“We knew heading into district that we needed to have a good start and we’ve done exactly what we needed to,” said Paetow quarterback Koby Truehill, ”There’s a lot of good teams in this district so and we know that you can get beat any time you step out on that field. You have to have an ‘Any given Sunday’ type of mentality so I’m glad we have started the way we have.”

The turning point for Paetow came in the teams second week of the season. After struggling against Conroe in their season opener, Paetow was beaten by Cy-Ranch 22-7 in the final week of non-district, giving the Panthers a lesson heading into district play.

Paetow took that loss to heart and has continued to improve in all three phases the past two weeks, leading to two straight wins.

“Everyone knew after that loss what it was,” said senior linebacker Alex Kilgore. “We knew we had to play together and not play as individuals. There’s no time for playing me ball, we have to play together, once we’ve done that it’s gotten a lot better and we’re just going to keep improving.”

Paetow played aggressively from the start, recovering an onside kick on the opening kickoff of the game and the offense capitalized of that, as Paetow scored on a 4-yard pass from Truehill to Justin Stevenson.

Mayde Creek answered back though, after trading 3-and-outs with Paetow, Tay’Shawn Wilson took a punt and returned it 63-yards for a score to make it 7-7.

Paetow’s offense took until the second quarter to heat up, but when it did, the Panthers scored in bunches. Derrick Johnson got Paetow back ahead on a 41-yard touchdown run and after another successful onside recovery, Jamarious Bates ran in his own score on a 45-yard run.

Then, the Paetow defense got involved, Kilgore had already forced one turnover in the first quarter, but Daymian Sanford stole the show, as he returned an interception 80-yards for another touchdown halfway through the second quarter. And Truehill capped the quarter off with a 43-yard touchdown pass to Johnson, making things 35-7 Panthers heading into the half.

“The main thing we talked about this week was needing to play well in all three phases,” said Paetow head coach Lonnie Teagle. “We played well on offense in some games, we played well on defense in some games, but we needed to play well in all three phases. That was the of the biggest things we talked about in our meeting on Monday heading into this week. That’s the number one thing we want to do is play well in all thee phases at the same time and we took a step in the right direction tonight.”

The Rams answered with a field goal to start the second half, but it was Truehill again who responded, throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to Carmelo Wilson, and Mayde Creek’s last score was not enough, as they got a 24-yard touchdown from Reggie McNeal Jr. to Zaylen Cornier midway through the fourth quarter.

“He’s just getting better and more confident each week,” Teagle said. “This game is hard and it’s not easy to play quarterback, especially not having experience and having to step in, but he’s learning as we go. He’s got a lot of talent and he’s just going to continue to get better.”

Paetow’s schedule only gets tougher from here, they take on Jordan (2-1, 1-0) in week five and then after a bye week take on teams that made the playoffs last year in two straight games in Katy and Cinco Ranch.

But Paetow isn’t about to let that get in the way of competing for a playoff berth, and the Panthers know they have to keep improving.

“We really all played together today and that’s what we continue to have to do,” Kilgore said. “Be one heartbeat and play together and feed off each other. The offense made the defense play better today and the defense made the offense play better. We just have to continue to get better week by week and not be satisfied.”

Paetow 42, Mayde Creek 17

Mayde Creek

7

0

3

7

 --

17

Paetow

7

28

7

0

 --

42

First quarter

P: Koby Truehill 4 pass to Justin Stevenson (Gabriel Schaeffer kick) 7:43

MC: Tay’Shawn Wilson 63 punt return (Jacob Campos kick) 4:14

Second quarter

P: Derrick Johnson 41 run (Schaeffer kick) 11:12

P: Jamarious Bates 35 run (Schaeffer kick) 9:37

P: Daymion Sanford 80 interception return (Schaeffer kick) 4:37

P: Truehill 43 pass to Johnson (Schaeffer kick) 2:06

Third quarter

MC: Jacob Campos 39 field goal, 10:55

P: Truehill 2 pass to Carmelo Wilson (Schaeffer kick) 1:53

Fourth quarter

MC: Reggie McNeal Jr. 24 pass to Zaylen Cornier (Campos kick) 5:41

Team stats

Mayde Creek

Paetow

  First downs

 7

12

  Yards rushing

15-39

34-191

  Yards passing

116

138

  Passes

16-40-1-3

11-16-3-3-0

  Punts

5-34

6-38

  Fumbles-lost

1-1

1-1

  Penalty-yards

6-28

9-105

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Paetow: Jamarious Bates, 7-70-1; Derrick Johnson: 8-57-1; Derrick Johnson 8-57; Koby Truehill, 7-31; Gene Kendall, 1-10; Jamaal Commine, 2-1; Brock Nichols, 1-(-4) Mayde Creek: Reggie McNeal Jr., 7-39; Kaleb Molina, 5-15; Alex Kilgore, 1-6; Deon Igbalajobi, 2-5; Jeremiah Hill, 2-4; Tavious Mitchell, 3-0; Carldell Beard 2-(-1) Eric Nelson, 1-(-3);

Passing – Paetow: Koby Truehill, 11-16-138-3-0; Mayde Creek: Carldell Beard, 12-29-60-0-1; Reggie McNeal Jr., 4-11-56-1-2

Receiving – Paetow: Van Keith Brown, 3-55; Derrick Johnson, 4-53-1; Jason Blue, 2-24; Justin Stevenson, 1-4-1; Carmelo Wilson, 1-2-1; Mayde Creek: Beau Bankson, 4-61; Zaylen Cornier, 3-37-1; Eric Nelson, 5-9; Trey Williams, III 1-5; Jeremiah Hill, 2-4;

Katy ISD, Paetow, Mayde Creek, District 19-6A, sports, football