Another Katy gameday hits tomorrow, and the Tigers have a chance to not only earn an opportunity at the biggest goal of the season but also to make history if successful. The up-and-coming Vandegrift Vipers are standing in the way. At this same point last year, Katy ran into arguably the best high school football team Texas has ever seen, in my opinion, and simply wasn’t up to the task on the day. This Tigers – Vipers matchup has the potential to be different.
The 2022 Tigers started this journey in earnest the day off-season began after Westlake a year ago, and this is their opportunity go a step further this time and earn a date with history. After reviewing Vandegrift this week and taking stock of Katy, here are what I think will be the biggest keys to look for in the game outside of all the obvious stuff.
So much of this time of year comes down to the trench battles. We’ve talked about it the last couple of weeks, and it’s true again this week. Vandegrift prides itself on the size they bring to the table on the offensive line, and one of biggest match-ups in the game for Katy will be its defensive front finding a way to cause problems. The Katy front was not as successful against King as I expected after playing a great game against Summer Creek, so I’m not exactly sure what we are going to see here.
The Vipers have been an efficient, though not necessarily spectacular offense, this season. They have a flexible design which enables them to try and get the most out of what they have. The QB Brayden Buchanan is a reliable player overall, and I think he’d be a great Katy signal caller as well with his all-around skill. The talisman is clearly #1 Miles Coleman, who will move all over the field, and it will be on Katy to know where he is every snap and have a defender (or two) in his kitchen. Coleman opens everything up in this Viper offense.
As I’ve just discussed with the offense, Katy’s blocking against the Vandegrift defensive front is a huge key to the game. The play of the defensive front, particularly in the schemes Katy and Vandy employ, enable everyone else behind them to make plays (or not). If the Vandegrift defensive line is able to tangle up Katy’s blockers at the point of attack, this will allow all the other elements of their defense to make an impact. Watch this closely.
The Vipers play a more zonal / positional game defensively, so Katy will need to test different spots (or attack certain spots directly if it has identified something it really likes on film ahead of time) to see where the vulnerabilities may be. Just like on the offensive side, Vandegrift has a clear talisman here to everything they want to do in #8 Alex Foster. Foster, in his free role as a hybrid safety/linebacker, is the one they will rely on to make tackles against Seth to prevent big gains.
Katy faced one of the best players in the state earlier this season in Jadon Ducos (middle linebacker) for Atascocita and fared pretty well. Overall, Katy will get a very different sort of look in this game to what Summer Creek and King were both physically and scheme wise.
In my opinion, if this game is competitive, it will most likely be because the Vandegrift blocking is beating Katy’s defensive front and the Viper defense is doing just enough to take Seth’s home runs away. Everything about defending this Katy offense starts with taking 20-plus yard gains (explosives) away from Seth.
I believe Koger will have, and needs to take if allowed, opportunities down field if Foster is playing especially aggressively against the run. I see opportunities for both the fullback and tight end in addition to deep shots if Katy can catch them in the right moments. #99 is the big pass rush threat, and they will blitz linebackers.
If Katy takes the way it finished the King game and brings a similarly composed effort to what it showed against Summer Creek, I like the Tigers chances a lot. If the Tigers are all over the shop defensively and missing open players on offense, it’s going to get uncomfortable. When Katy plays Katy football in the playoffs, the results are really good.
I am amazed at how key the 13 or 14-0 juncture has been for Katy teams over the years early in games. Adding a score and going up three possessions doesn’t guarantee anything of course, but the odds of winning go up in a huge way if you take the opportunity to be ruthless. The odds slide back the other way if you give the opponent a reason to believe.
Vandegrift is fired up after they avenged their only loss of the season so far against Dripping Springs, and it was a very dramatic ending to that game with Drip fumbling a snap going in for a potential game winner. The Vipers believe, as any team would at this stage, they have a shot to win a seat at the big boy table. It will be up to Katy to show them otherwise by taking control of the game and putting its foot down if the opportunity arises. Championship caliber teams are clinical and ruthless, and that’s the personality I’m looking for from Katy tomorrow.
The ultimate opportunity is sitting right in front of the 22 Tigers. Go and take it.
