The Cooldown: Week 6
Week six is the other most popular bye week in the state, with nearly one-third of teams taking the week off. That didn’t mean the playoff race in the Houston area was any less interesting, with several results factoring into top and bottom-end playoff pictures.
Check out our week six recap, player-of-the-week and more after a wild week of action.
Tomball picks up a massive win
The race for a playoff spot in 15-6A is chaotic as usual. The former seven team district is now up to eight with the addition of previously 5A Waller, though the Bulldogs are 0-2 in district thus far and don’t figure to make a ton of noise in the race for a playoff spot.
First things first: Klein Cain and Klein Collins have looked great this season and figure to lock up the top two spots. Everything after that is anyone’s guess. Klein Oak looked great early on, but are now 0-2 in district play. The Panthers need a lot of things to break right, but I think they can still compete for a playoff spot. Klein is also 0-2 while Klein Forest and Tomball Memorial are each 1-1. Tomball is off to a 2-0 start in district play after a slow start to the season, which is why the Cougars’ showdown with Klein Oak was so important.
It was a back-and-forth affair with Tomball ultimately coming out on top, 34-31. Christian Womack proved he’s one of the best backs in the area, rushing for 206 yards and two scores on 30 carries. Quarterback Carter Noyes added 180 yards, a touchdown and an INT on 6-of-12 passing. Womack caught the lone touchdown pass, a 79-yard strike, while Carson Monrad added two catches for 67 yards.
For Klein Oak, quarterback Lucas Scheerhorn hardly had a pass hit the ground all night. That is both good and bad: Scheerhorn was an efficient 16-of-20 with 158 yards, but also threw two interceptions. Scheerhorn carried 14 times for 69 yards and two scores; Jacob Everson added 44 yards and a score while Austin Heflin paced the receivers with eight catches for 68 yards.
Klein Oak has the talent to secure a playoff spot, but the Panthers will face an uphill battle in doing so, now at 0-2 in district play. The Panthers will need to beat Tomball Memorial, Klein Forest and Klein to gain the upper hand. As for Tomball, the Cougars are now in the drivers seat for third in the district, though there is still plenty of football left to play.
Magnolia West upsets Foster
Speaking of shuffling the playoff order, how about Magnolia West’s big upset of Foster?
A trendy pick to win Region III and make a run at state, Foster got off to a blazing start this season behind an explosive offense led by JT Fayard and Ashton Ojiaku. That same offense mustered just seven points in a 12-7 loss to Magnolia West, a team who was coming off a 30-14 loss to Manvel.
With nine teams, district 10-5A-I is one of the deepest and most talented districts in the entire state. Manvel, Friendswood, Foster and Angleton are all known for making deep playoff runs in the last decade-plus, the Magnolia schools are typically competitive and Fulshear has yet to score less than 40 points in a game this year.
With all that talent has come a lot of carnage. Just 3-4 games into district play, all nine teams have at least one loss. This is likely going to be a messy, confusing playoff picture down to the final quarter of the season and I love it.
Magnolia West was able to pull off the upset with a stellar defensive performance, racking up 12 TFLs and three sacks. Jackson Blank added an interception and a forced fumble as well. Most of the offesive damage came from running back Terry Daniels, who carried 23 times for 137 yards and a touchdown. For Foster, Ojiaku was limited to 97 yards on 26 carries while Fayard completed 7of-17 passes for 119 yards, a touchdown and a pick.
I’m not even going to try to make sense of what is going on in 10-5A-I, so here is the easiest way to put it: With Fulshear’s narrow 44-41 loss to Angleton last week, every team in the district has a loss. Angleton, Manvel and Foster are each 3-1 while Fulshear and Magnolia West are each 2-1. Friendswood might be able to make some noise at 2-2, while Magnolia (1-3), Kempner and Terry (0-3) are likely out of the race.
If I had to pick four right now, I’m probably going with Foster, Angleton, Fulshear as the top three and the winner of Manvel and Magnolia West grabbing the last spot. But who knows! That’s the great thing about this district.
Cy-Fair uses explosive third quarter to beat Jersey Village
As much fun as it is to look ahead and try to see who might make the playoffs in what spots, this game was fantastic and needs no analysis of the future added in. It felt like a winner-take-all for 17-6A title and these are likely the top two finishers in the district.
Jersey Village entered ranked No. 22 in the state by the AP/DCTF and have been considered as the favorites to win the district, but there might not be a hotter team in the Houston area than Cy-Fair: It was anyone’s game.
Cy-Fair held a one-score lead at the break but pulled away in the third before Jersey Village closed up the gap in the fourth. Cy-Fair ultimately won, 61-49 in a shootout. Trey Owens finished 10-of-17 with 359 yards and three touchdowns through the air while Zaccheas Baynes ran for 125 yards and three scores on just 13 carries. Baynes also caught two passes for 92 yards and a score, just behind Cooper Stevens who racked up 95 yards and a score on just two catches.
The Jersey Village offense was just as explosive, but turnovers ultimately cost the Falcons. Adam Tran was fantastic again, going 25-of-41 for a whopping 506 yards and four touchdowns, but also threw two costly INTs. Quinton Jones ran eight times for 81 yards and two scores while Arbrie Carter paced the receivers as usual with 10 catches for 213 yards and a score. Jarius Matthews also went over 100 receiving yards with 110 yards and a score on four catches. Brandon Phan and Josh Nunez added touchdown receptions as well.
The scoreboard was lit up and there were highlights galore. These two are unquestionably the best teams in the district and both have the ability to make a deep playoff run.
News and Notes
In this section each week, I’ll do some bullet points of other games that caught my eye but didn’t have time to discuss in full detail like the games above.
- Travis picked up a big 24-19 win over Elkins
- Katy blew out a good looking Jordan squad, 70-21
- Kingwood Park kept it rolling with a 34-13 over a solid La Porte squad
- Cy Falls survived an OT thriller with Langham Creek, 39-36
- Oak Ridge raced past Conroe, 49-35
- Morton Ranch survived a slow start to beat Seven Lakes, 41-28
- Tomball Memorial picked up a huge 15-12 win over Klein Forest
- Lake Creek beat Montgomery 80-55… yes, 80!!! To 55!!!
- Clear Falls toughed out a 21-14 win over Clear Springs
Player of the Week
Ridge Point got off to a woefully slow start this season by virtue of a tough non-district slate. The Panthers were out-scored 58-14 by Austin Westlake and Dickinson to open the season before a tough win over Hightower coupled with blowouts against Bush, Dulles and George Ranch.
It’s not easy losing your top two quarterbacks. Bert Emanuel is now at Central Michigan University while backup D1 recruit Karson Gordon transferred to Episcopal. That left sophomore Austin Carlisle next-up and he has hit his stride in district play. Carlisle completed 17-of-24 passes for 284 yards and three scores against ont INT, as well as two short touchdown runs in a 61-0 win over George Ranch.
After a rough first two weeks for the team, Carlisle has answered the call for Ridge Point, making him my player-of-the-week!
What to look forward to
Here are the best games up for week seven! The playoff race is starting to heat up, and as last week showed us… anything can happen.
- Jordan looks to bounce back against an explosive Cinco Ranch squad (TH)
- Paetow gets its first taste of Katy in a matchup of recent state champions (TH)
- Conroe looks to get back on track against New Caney (F)
- Langham Creek looks to bounce back against Cy Woods (F)
- Clear Falls battles Dickinson for playoff positioning (F)
- Summer Creek looks to top North Shore (F)
- Kingwood looks to keep it rolling against CE King (F)
- Klein Oak battles Klein in a huge game for the playoff race (F)
- Pearland battles Alvin in what should be a good game (F)
- Dawson faces a big district test in Strake Jesuit (F)
- Bridgeland looks to keep it rolling against Cy Falls (SAT)
- Cy-Fair takes on Cy Creek (SAT)