The Cooldown: Week 6
The lightest slate of the season might’ve packed the biggest punch. Two games I’ll recap below were thrillers of an unusual kind. Bridgeland and Cy Springs faced off in what might’ve been a de-facto district championship game, and only one offensive touchdown was scored. Cy Woods did something it has never done in program history. All that despite a third of the state having an off week.
Let’s recap, name a player-of-the-week and look ahead to a week seven that has the unfortunate duty of following up the absolute theatre that was week six.
Atascocita survives a Summer Creek rally for the ages
Coming into this game, Summer Creek hadn’t let up a point all season. Of course, Atascocita is far better than any team the Bulldogs had played and Atascocita was always going to score points, but I don’t think anyone expected 35 first half points for the Eagles.
If I could be a fly on the wall for any part of this season, it would be what happened in the Summer Creek locker room at halftime. Not even entirely for some rousing halftime speech. What did the coaches talk about, what did they see to make the adjustments they made to hold Atascocita without a second-half score until the final seconds?
The Bulldogs made a rally for the ages in the second half after trailing 35-7 at halftime. Summer Creek ripped off 32 unanswered points to take a 39-35 lead with under two minutes left. So naturally, Atascocita had to add even more drama by marching down the field and scoring with 12 seconds left to take a 42-39 lead – and that would be the final.
I previously dubbed Willis-The Woodlands as the game-of-the-year so far, and I spoke too soon. Summer Creek’s rally will be a top memory of this season for many, and the fun part is… both of these extremely talented teams still have to play North Shore.
For Summer Creek, Blake Thomas had a do-everything type of game. He completed 20 of his 40 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown and he ran 18 times for 112 yards and another touchdown. Braylin Causey ran 15 times for 81 yards and a two touchdowns, while Eugene Burnett ran 12 times for 84 yards and a score. Benny Easter Jr. caught the Thomas touchdown pass as part of his seven-catch, 89-yard performance.
Tory Blaylock had three rushing touchdowns for Atascocita, including the game-winner, while Cardae Mack and CJ Toney accounted for the Eagles other three touchdowns. Atascocita will face North Shore on Oct. 25 while Summer Creek gets the Mustangs for the regular season finale on Nov. 8. All three of those teams are a virtual lock to win every other district game.
North Shore handles Kingwood
Speaking of North Shore, the Mustangs handled a Kingwood team that has otherwise had a solid season. The Mustangs won 48-21, but that isn’t indicative of how dominant they were. The score was 48-7 after three quarters and North Shore mixed in backup quarterback Kaleb Maryland in the fourth quarter.
Kaleb Bailey had another stellar performance, finishing 12-of-15 passing for 242 yards, four touchdowns and an INT. Quanell Farrakhan Jr. caught four of Bailey’s passed for 103 yards and a touchdown; Deion Deblanc had 81 yards and a touchdown catch in addition to 69 rushing yards and another score; Dorian Barnes and Kendrick Deblanc had the other touchdown catches. Chris Thomas paced the Mustangs on the ground with 119 yards and two scores on 11 carries.
For Kingwood, Landon Hinson finished 6-of-9 for 111 yards and a touchdown through the air. That’s pretty good! Unfortunately, North Shore showed who the real Mustangs are. Kingwood mustered just 1.9 yards-per-carry on 34 rushes against North Shore’s dominant defensive front. Marquez Davis led the team with 19 carries for 51 yards and two touchdowns. Davis is a talented back, but a state championship-caliber defensive line often takes care of that.
As I mentioned above, this district is a three-way dogfight for the district title between a trio of top 10 teams in the entire state. That leaves Kingwood in a tough spot. The Mustangs are having a good year, but they’ll likely need to beat a good C.E. King team just to make the playoffs. That’s not an impossible task. However, Kingwood plays Atascocita, C.E. King and Summer Creek in consecutive weeks before closing out the season at Humble. That’s a pretty brutal stretch.
Pearland wins bragging rights in the Pear Bowl
Similar to the Atascocita-Summer Creek game, Pearland jumped out to a big lead before Dawson mounted a rally to make this one close.
Pearland led this game 35-9 in the third quarter before Dawson ripped off 20 unanswered points to make it a one score game. Unlike Summer Creek, who completed the rally and took a brief lead, Dawson couldn’t cap the comeback. Pearland tacked on a late touchdown to win the Pear Bowl, 42-29.
Tate Chisolm was nearly unstoppable for the Oilers. He finished with 26 carries for 227 yards and five touchdowns, accounting for nearly two-thirds of Pearland’s offense.
Jake Westmoreland had an efficient night, completing 9-of-12 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Hernandez caught eight of those passes for 142 yards and a touchdown.
Dawson’s offense was a two man show. Quarterback Max Zavala finished 19-of-31 for 190 yards, while running back Jerimiah Treadaway totaled 160 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Zavala also scored a rushing touchdown.
Pearland has ripped off five straight wins and faces Dobie next. A game at Shadow Creek on Oct. 25 should decide who wins the district. Dawson is firmly in the playoff picture with a 2-2 district record, but the Eagles have already played the two toughest teams in the district. Their playoff hopes hinge on the next game against South Houston, and the season finale at Manvel.
Player of the Week
My player-of-the-week has helped his team through its best start in school history. Cy Woods has never been able to say it owns a record of 5-0, until now.
Darien Rogers sliced up the Langham Creek defense in a 38-21 win. He finished 19-of-26 passing for 301 yards and four touchdowns to help the Wildcats pull away in the second half. Cy Woods trailed at halftime before out-scoring Langham Creek 28-7 in the second half, in large part due to Rogers.
Cy Woods is still unbeaten halfway through the regular season for the first time ever and Darien Rogers is my player-of-the-week!
What to Watch for
Strake Jesuit (3-2, 1-0) at Alief Elsik (1-5, 1-1) – Thursday
District 20-6A is a little funny at the moment. In this seven team district, four teams (including Elsik) have just one win. However, Elsik is the only one of those four teams that has a district win. This district also includes state ranked Fulshear. Though Strake Jesuit will be favored in this game, it should be a close game and the outcome will likely have a big effect on playoff seeding order. Currently, Fulshear and Strake Jesuit are the only teams with winning records. Elsik and Foster are also in the playoff picture, and those two along with Strake Jesuit should be jostling for spots 2-4. That starts this week.
Conroe (5-0, 3-0) at Grand Oaks (4-2, 2-2) – Friday
District 13-6A might wind up being one of the most competitive in the entire area. Currently, six teams have a district record of 2-2 or better. Willis and The Woodlands should take the top two playoff spots, and it will be a great fight to determine the other two playoff teams. Conroe is having its best season in a while and the Tigers already have key wins against College Park and Oak Ridge. A win would all but lock up a playoff spot for the Tigers, while Grand Oaks playoff odds would significantly increase with a win.
Klein Oak (4-2, 3-1) at Tomball (5-0, 3-0) – Friday
It has become an unwritten rule of this blog that at least one game from district 15-6A has to make “what to watch for” each week. Tomball is just doing Tomball things, again. The Cougars are undefeated and have won close games, blowouts, low-scoring games, high-scoring games, you name it. But the wins keep piling up – classic Tomball. Meanwhile, Klein Oak has been one of the biggest surprises of the season behind freshman running back Micah Rhodes. With Magnolia and Klein Cain having solid seasons as well, every game is important in the district title race and playoff race. This game is no different and should be a lot of fun.
Huntsville (3-2, 1-1) at Montgomery (5-0, 2-0) – Friday
Montgomery is undefeated and Huntsville is a very deceptive 3-2. The Hornets have lost to Brenham, who has scored at least 37 points in every game this year, by four points, and to defending state champion Port Neches-Groves by three points. While Port Neches-Groves is the favorite in this district, I wouldn’t be surprised of any outcome when these three teams wind up facing each other. This game will be massive for playoff seeding, and I’m looking forward to it.