Katy's run to state championship falls just short
College Station - The state 7-on-7 Championships at Veterans Park was home to 128 teams and saw 3 champions crowned over the course of 3 days. Fans and media enjoyed a glimpse of what lies ahead in the fall and there were several interesting takeaways from the weekend.
Sixteen Houston area teams participated in the Division I tournament with Katy and Cy Falls advancing the deepest, each getting to the semi-finals. After going undefeated in pool play on Friday, Katy started their march to the championship on Saturday with a 41-33 win over a talented Beaumont West Brook Team. The next round presented another challenge as, they faced Arlington Lamar. The Vikings have the distinction of being the only school to qualify for every state tournament since its inception back in 1998.
Lamar built a 20-13 halftime behind the strength of quarterback Jack Dawson and OU commit Trevon West. Katy would respond in the 2nd half with junior quarterback Bronson McClelland working the Viking secondary over with his favorite target Jordan Patrick. Patrick was virtually unstoppable catching 4 touchdown passes, the last of which sparked a minor skirmish between the two teams.
Katy’s Jordan Patrick was virtually unstoppable at this weekend’s State 7-on-7 tournament. His ability to get in and out of breaks was impressive. pic.twitter.com/NDMmVOctUv
— Houston Inside High School Sports (@IHSS_Houston) June 30, 2019
From then on things got chippy and eventually led to the most bizarre ending of the weekend. With just under a minute to play, McClelland through what appeared to be the game winning touchdown to Fuller Shertz. On the extra point conversion, his pass was picked off and returned for what Viking fans believed was a walk-off game-winning score. After a post-game scoring audit it was discovered that the Tigers had won the game by a final of 37-33.
Fresh off an emotional win over Lamar, Katy took that momentum into their game with state power DeSoto and came up with just enough stops on defense to win another tight one, 28-26.
That set up a showdown with another Metroplex Powerhouse in Southlake Carroll. This game went back and forth with both teams playing at a high level. In the end the Dragons duo of Texas A&M commit Blake Smith and Clemson commit R.J. Mickens proved to be too much as they pulled away in the last minute of the game with Mickens grabbing the game-winner, 39-33. Despite the loss, the weekend was a great success for Katy as they went 6-1 and showed they can play with the best in the state.
They'll open the season against defending state champion North Shore on Friday August 30th at Galena Park Stadium.