The Cooldown: Week 13
Round two brought plenty of great playoff action. Here, we recap CE King’s phenomenal rushing attack, Spring’s nail-biting win against Klein Cain, Cinco Ranch’s big win, player of the week and more!
CE King literally runs past Shadow Creek
One of the most intriguing games in the area last week was a showdown between previously 9-2 CE King and 9-2 Shadow Creek. The two shared a common loss against North Shore, while CE King additionally lost to Atascocita while Shadow Creek’s other loss was to Bridgeland – all state ranked teams at the time of the loss. What could have been an even matchup quickly favored the King Panthers.
CE King attempted just four passes in the game, with quarterback Nehemiah Broussard and running back Jerrell Wimbley each going 1-of-2; Wimbley’s completion going for 26 yards and Broussard’s going for seven yards. As a team, that’s 2-of-4 for 33 yards through the air. So, obviously, it was the rushing attack that got the job done.
Wimbley carried 29 times for 323 yards and five scores. D’Koreion Hammond added 19 carries for 204 yards and two additional touchdowns. That equals out to a team total of 48 carries for 527 yards and seven touchdowns; an average of 11 yards-per-carry. It also equaled a 52-34 win against the Sharks.
That rushing attack will meet its’ match next week against one of the best rushing teams in the state in Katy, who have been ranked top three in the state all season. If there’s a team that can beat Katy (other than two-time defending state champs Austin Westlake) CE King might be it. The Panthers spent part of the season ranked in the 6A top 25 and have been playing great football lately, as evidenced by last week. Those two will face off at Katy’s Legacy Stadium at noon on Friday.
Spring survives shootout with Klein Cain
Spring and Klein Cain have been two of the most explosive and fun-to-watch teams in the Houston area all season. It’s fitting that their second round playoff game came down to the wire, with Spring prevailing 56-53.
As the score suggests, the offenses were fantastic on Friday night. Bishop Davenport was the key cog once against for the Lions with his dual-threat ability on full display once again. Davenport threw for 284 yards, two touchdowns and an INT on 19-of-26. He was also Spring’s leading rusher (barely edging out Joey Fussell, Jr. in that category), rushing 15 times for 121 yards and another score. Fussell, Jr. racked up 119 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries.
Fussell also paced the receivers with seven catches for 83 yards and two more touchdowns. Davenport did a good job of spreading the ball around; Isaiah Johnson caught two passes for 52 yards, Josh Lopez caught two for 51, Cadyn Bradley caught three for 38 and Travis Sims caught five for 60. The scary thing for Spring is that every player I just named off are seniors.
The reliance on seniors carries over to the opponent. Carson Roper tossed 352 yards, three touchdowns and one INT on 16-of-30 while adding 15 carries for 51 yards and one TD. Ramir McCray paced the team on the ground with 24 carries for 132 yards and two scores. Matthew Golden went out with a bang as well in his swan song as a Hurricane, catching seven passes for 265 yards and three scores, while adding one completion for 43 yards as a passer. All three are graduating seniors for Klein Cain.
Each of these teams have been extremely fun to watch this season. Unfortunately, it’s the end of the road for Klein Cain. Fortunately, we get to see if Spring can make a run at state. The Lions continue that quest on Saturday night at 7 against Duncanville at Frisco’s Ford Center.
Tomball topples Willis
Many people picked Cy Park to make a deep run in these playoffs. The Tigers didn’t make it past round one and instead it is Tomball – who beat Cy Park in round one – moving onto round three.
The Cougars dominated start-to-finish in a 37-7 win against Willis last week in a game I attended in person. Willis struggled to move the ball for much of the night, and standout sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway fought through injury for most of the game. Lagway finished 4-of-8 for 33 yards passing and ran eight times for 35 yards. Backup quarterback Colten Bearden played much of the second half with Lagway dealing with what looked like a back injury, and threw for 99 yards, a touchdown and two picks on 8-of-15. Devon Lovelady caught the lone touchdown pass, with his final line coming out to three catches for 75 yards.
For Tomball, Army commit Cale Hellums was outstanding again. He threw for 97 yards, one touchdown and one INT on 11-of-15. Hellums added 13 carries for 110 yards and another score; Christian Womack scored two touchdowns on his 14 carries for 83 yards, and Evan Alaniz also received 13 carries with his going for 106 yards.
Hellums did a great job spreading the ball around, with five receivers – Womack, Jayden Gray, Derrick Taylor, Andrew Wint and Colson Snyder – each catching between 18-20 yards apiece. Grey caught the lone touchdown pass.
Tomball travels down to San Antonio’s famous Alamodome for a round three matchup with Rockwall-Heath from the DFW area. Heath beat Bridgeland in last years’ playoffs, and Tomball will look to get some revenge on behalf of the Bears. If they can’t do that, Bridgeland will have another crack at Heath if the Bears can take down Cedar Hill next week. Tomball and Heath will play on Saturday night at 8.
Player of the Week
This weeks’ player-of-the-week is more accurately a unit-of-the-week award. The Katy Tompkins defense held high-flying Jersey Village to just 14 points and picked off the (other) Falcone six (!!!) times!
The player-of-the-week goes to the entire Tompkins defensive unit, but the five players who racked up interceptions deserve a shoutout. Cody Chapman tallied two interceptions while Tyler Collins, Malik Edwards, Samuel Kalu and Evan Tymon tallied one apiece. The Tompkins defense had as many INT’s as the Tompkins offense had touchdowns in a 42-14 win.
Tompkins faces North Shore next in a rematch of last years’ third round Region III matchup. The Falcons take on North Shore at 1 p.m. Friday at Galena Park ISD Stadium.
What to look forward to
At this point, every game is important here’s the matchup info for the entire Houston area in round three.
Schedule for 6A-I
- Spring vs. Duncanville at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Frisco’s Ford Center
- Spring Westfield vs. DeSoto at 4 p.m. on Saturday at San Antonio’s Alamodome
- Tompkins vs. North Shore at 1 p.m. on Friday at Galena Park ISD Stadium
- Ridge Point vs. Atascocita at 7 p.m. on Friday at Houston’s TDECU Stadium
Schedule for 6A-II
- Bridgeland vs. Cedar Hill at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Waco ISD Stadium
- Tomball vs. Rockwall-Heath at 8 p.m. on Saturday at San Antonio’s Alamodome
- Katy vs. CE King at noon on Friday at Katy’s Legacy Stadium
- Cinco Ranch vs. Summer Creek at 1 p.m. on Friday at Houston’s TDECU Stadium
Schedule for 5A-I
- Katy Paetow vs Cedar Park at 1 p.m. on Friday at Waller ISD Stadium
- Manvel vs. Hightower at 7 p.m. on Friday at Sugar Land’s Hall Stadium
Schedule for 5A-II
- Crosby vs. A&M Consolidated at 7 p.m. on Friday at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium
Schedule for 4A and below
- El Campo vs. Little Cypress-Mauriceville at 6 p.m. on Friday at Shenandoah’s Woodforest Bank Stadium (4A-I)
- Bellville vs. West Orange-Stark at 6 p.m. on Friday at Porter’s Randall Reed Stadium (4A-II)
- Columbus vs. Lorena at 1:30 p.m. on Friday at San Marcos’ Bobcat Stadium