10/11/22

The Cooldown: Week 7

With week seven wrapped up, we’ve got just about one month left before the start of the playoffs. District races are heating up and playoff contenders are starting to come into focus. Every week is becoming increasingly important, so let's catch up on week seven action.

Dawson continues impressive bounce back

After an 0-3 start due to a challenging district slate, Dawson is finding its stride and seems to be back to its normal, dominant form.

The Eagles are 3-0 in district play with shutout wins against Hastings and Alief Taylor, which set the stage for a big showdown with Strake Jesuit last week. Bryce Burgess played a huge role in the win, running 16 times for 202 yards and four scores. Colin Johnson added 182 yards and three touchdowns against one INT on 12-of-22 passing, and Burgess caught two of those touchdown passes for six total on the night. Burgess was the leading receiver with 56 yards; Braylon Howard hauled in 51 yards and the other Johnson touchdown pass. That resulted in a 52-45 win for Jesuit.

For Strake Jesuit, quarterback Bryce Fucik had a solid night 315 yards on 20-of-33 passing and four total touchdowns, but also with three INTs. Bryce Lanier caught eight of those passes for 161 yards and a score while Giacomo Valente was the leading rusher with 72 yards.

Dawson and Shadow Creek are the lone undefeated teams in district play at 3-0 while Strake Jesuit, Pearland and Alief Taylor are each 2-1. With Elsik, Hastings and Alvin each at 0-3, the playoff race will likely come down to those five teams.

Dickinson hangs on against Clear Falls

It was tough sledding on offense for the first three quarters between Dickinson and Clear Falls on Friday night, which set up for a fourth quarter track meet.

Dickinson led 14-7 entering the final frame before tacking on 17 points in fourth while Clear Falls added 15, adding up to a 31-22 win for Dickinson. Neither quarterback was very efficient, but both racked up plenty of yards on the passes they did complete. John Soloman completed just nine of his 28 passes, but those nine completions went for 205 yards and two scores. He also threw two interceptions. His counterpart, Landon Vessel, went 11-of-27 for 155 yards and two scores.

Dickinson did solid damage on the ground, with three rushers accumulating more than 45 yards apiece with Marquis Johnson leading the way with four carries for 85 yards. Johnson also caught two passes for 49 yards and a score. Jeremiah Scoby was the leading receiver with four receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown.

Coming off a late loss to Clear Springs by just three points, Dickinson needed a big win against Clear Falls. With those two out of the way, Dickinson could cruise into the playoffs, though they face 6-1 Brazoswood this week. For Clear Falls, the Knights beat rival Clear Springs, so we might wind up seeing a three-way tie for first between those two and Dickinson. The three best teams in 24-6A have played each other already, so the playoff picture looks pretty set. Brazoswood and Clear Lake are in the mix for the final spot.

Cy Woods picks up close win

There are tons of interesting teams in 16-6A and two of them faced off last week in a nail-biter game.

Cy Woods won a defensive slugfest, 17-16, against a good Langham Creek team. Cy Woods got it done on the ground, running 52 times for 222 yards and both touchdowns. Sophomore Bryant Thomas led the way with 18 carries for 91 yards and a score. Aiden Horton racked up 67 yards and the other Wildcats touchdown on 13 carries.The Wildcats finished with just 35 passing yards.

Cy Woods is now 2-1 in district while Langham Creek drops to 1-2 with those two losses coming by a combined four points. Cy Ranch leads the district at 3-0 while Woods, Cy Falls, Bridgeland and Cy Springs are each 2-1. Because Falls and Woods hold the head-to-head win over LC, it might be tough for the Lobos to get back in the playoff picture without some big upsets. However, the close losses indicate Langham Creek can play with anyone. That gives 16-6A a solid six playoff candidates for four spots, which should make for a thrilling end to the season.

News and Notes

In this section each week, I’ll do some bullet points to highlight the other games that caught my eye this week but didn’t have time to discuss in full detail like the games above.

  • North Shore held on to beat Summer Creek, 34-27
  • New Caney picked up a solid district win against Conroe, 50-28
  • El Campo took down Bay City, 37-27
  • Magnolia West won bragging rights in the Magnolia Bowl with a 26-21 win over Magnolia
  • Humble rallied to beat West Brook, 38-35
  • Cinco Ranch pulled away from Jordan in the fourth for a 53-41 win
  • Clements rallied from behind to beat Travis, 20-17
  • Seven Lakes picked up an important 24-13 win against Mayde Creek
  • Morton Ranch outlasted Taylor, 45-31
  • Klein raced past Klein Oak, 31-3
  • Willis lit up the scoreboard with a 49-24 win against College Park
  • Crosby eeked out a win against Porter, 26-21
  • Clear Springs dealt Brazoswood its first loss, 38-21
  • Clear lake squeaked past Clear Brook, 17-13
  • Cy-Fair took down Cy Creek, 35-21
  • Klein Collins won a foot race with Tomball Memorial, 61-49
  • Fulshear got back on track against Friendswood, 46-14
  • Bridgeland shut out Cy Falls, 16-0

Player of the Week

This is long overdue, and perhaps often overlooked because Katy has so many dominant individual performances and plays so many games in which the Tigers dominate. Rarely does Katy have to win a close game until late in the playoffs, so some of these performances go overlooked for POTW. That, and there are so many options.

So I’ll give a tip of the cap of the running back duo of Seth Davis – who has had an incredible season – and Dallas Glass, who ran 10 times for 119 yards and two scores in a 54-0 win over Paetow last week. However…

For my player-of-the-week, I’m going with the long-entrenched quarterback of the Tigers: Caleb Koger. He finished with 199 yards and two touchdowns on just 8-of-14 passing. Having a dynamic quarterback such as Koger helps the highly respected run game at Katy and it’s past time for me to give Koger his shine in this section – he’s my player-of-the-week!

What to look forward to

Here are the best games coming up in week eight with the playoff race heating up.

  • Travis looks to bounce back, taking on Austin (TH)
  • Klein Cain looks to get back on track against Klein Oak (TH)
  • Morton Ranch faces a big test in Tompkins (TH)
  • Foster faces Manvel as each fights for playoff seeding (TH)
  • Montgomery looks to bounce back against Randle (TH)
  • Cy Ranch takes on Bridgeland in a battle of top teams in 16-6A (F)
  • Dickinson battles a strong Brazoswood squad (F)
  • Summer Creek looks to bounce back against Kingwood (F)
  • Paetow looks to get back on track against explosive Cinco Ranch (F)
  • Jordan battles Seven Lakes with major playoff implications (F)
  • Klein Collins takes on upset-minded Klein Forest (F)
  • Dawson battles rival Pearland at The Rig (F)
  • Tomball Memorial battles rival Tomball for playoff seeding (F)
  • Lake Creek looks to keep it rolling against Rudder (F)