Katy Outlasts Clear Springs in Season Opener

Season openers are a pretty big unknown

Even with experienced teams. Until the real games start and we kick off for real, there’s no telling how the team as a whole and players individually will respond under the lights. Katy entered this season with more unknowns that I recall since maybe 2016 or 2013 in more recent times. In the end though, Katy outlasts Clear Springs to take the W.

In the first quarter, Katy started a bit rough defensively against the apparent speed of Clear Springs across all of the skill positions. Perimeter tackling was an issue from the first series. Katy looked overmatched by the speed. The Tigers did well to only allow a field goal initially after what was a 13 play opening drive by the Bolts.

The Tiger offense started about as you’d expect strategically by working the fundamental set of plays early on, and trying to work its way into the game without being particularly explosive until hitting the nice TD pass from Gunner to Izzy. Yep, I’m going to have to use the first names for this combo all season. Too good.

One thing I noticed about Romel Jordan’s running was his leg strength and drive. Clear Springs defenders were getting up awfully slow after hitting him.

Katy’s offense appeared to have most of it’s success attacking the left side of the Charger defense. The Tiger blockers did a great job of completely wiping that side out on a few occasions during the game. Echols at center looked good. I’m not sure when Katy last had its best lineman at center.

Gunner’s execution at quarterback, and Jackson’s when he got work, looked quite good for the first time out. He executed the offense without any big mistakes and was accurate on his passes. I loved seeing the tight ends and fullbacks involved. That will make any Tiger old timer’s heart flutter. The only real miss for the offense passing wise was the wide open look to Ginn right before half that would have made it 20-3 going into the locker room.

Defensively, Katy made quick adjustments personnel wise to try and counter Springs. The Tiger defense appeared to get a good feel for the game during the second and third quarters and looked more like I would expect from our units traditionally. Jeremiah Smith and Dak Brinkley stood out in the front seven. They both had really good varsity debuts in Tiger jerseys.

I thought Katy was helped by the fact that neither one of the Clear Springs QBs looked particularly ready for prime time. This nullified the speed advantage somewhat. The Bolts best player was the running back 24, and they went away from him too much until later. The bulk of their offense should focus on that kid, and then work to the wide out speedsters.

With Katy up 27-3, the Chargers showed visible frustration with their sideline after Katy stuffed them on a 3rd and long zone read attempt (strange call down 24) and sent the field goal unit out. Katy got an unsportsmanlike penalty on the attempt, and the Bolts ultimately punched it in with the RB.

Even though Katy answered to extend the lead out to 34-10 right after that Springs score, Clear Springs appeared to gain confidence by speeding up their offense and Katy could not deal with the RB. After scoring to make it 34-16, Katy subbed back in players on offense who’d been sidelined for a couple series to try and regain control. Instead, the Katy RB Jordan was stripped and Springs returned it inside the red zone. 34-22 now.

Katy punted back to Springs after a beautiful kick downed inside the Bolts’ 1 yard line. Springs launched a pass on the first play that should have been completed for a 99 yard touchdown. Receiver wide open and dropped it. They dropped another sure TD later in that drive after getting out to about midfield before stalling out ahead of the final whistle. If they score that, obviously you are now looking at an onside kick with the score at 34-29 or 34-30.

I don’t know if Katy switched off a little mentally at 34-10 or right around the time of the unsportsmanlike just before that, or if it was more fatigue related. After two solid quarters, Katy was all of a sudden out of position, missing tackles, and on skates. We’ve seen it multiple times in the past, if you give talented teams a reason to believe and gain confidence, they will make life difficult for you in a hurry. This game reminded a little bit of the playoff contest against Summer Creek in 2021 where you go from being in control to losing that control due to a combination of factors. It is a very tenuous thing in a football game. All it takes is one moment; penalty, turnover, missed opportunity, etc and the game can change.

Katy will need to evaluate this film closely and analyze how they went from in total control up 27-3 to not in control. Again, fine margins in the game. From a physical perspective, the most worrying item are always any injuries first. Hopefully, nothing major there. Match-up wise, Springs had a definitive speed advantage over Katy at the skill positions on offense. The Tigers are going to need to find the right combo of personnel in the secondary to try and match-up as good as it can because this will be a theme all year. You will see it next week in Humble.

Atascocita has a much more polished QB than Springs in Zion Brown, so Katy will need to get to work quickly if it is to have a chance of going on the road and beating a very talented and high quality team. Atascocita will not be nearly as forgiving as Springs were on a few plays tonight. Their backfield combo of Brown and Blaylock is one of the best in the state.

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