Photograph courtesy of Reyna Photography.
The Katy Tigers took care of business on a short week in a 37-3 win over Paetow. The win brings Katy another step closer to securing the 19-6A district championship. The Tigers have two regular season games remaining against Tompkins and Mayde Creek before the state playoffs begin. Also, Katy’s win against the Panthers secures a top seed for the Tigers in the Division 1 bracket. Katy would be top seed in either bracket thanks to beating both Jordan and Paetow. This is meaningful in Division 1 as Paetow will play a most likely 10-0 Fulshear team in bi-district while Katy is projected to play Strake Jesuit. This should hold as long as Strake beats Alief Taylor this week and George Ranch doesn’t miss the playoffs. A rematch with Cy Fair in the second round looks increasingly likely by the week.
The Panthers gameplan
Paetow was a motivated opponent as expected and tried to use everything they had in the playbook on both sides of the ball to compete. However, Katy was dominant once again with its defensive front and immediately took away the Panther running game that has been their bread and butter all season. Katy’s run fits are looking really good right now.
As a result, the Panthers were forced to spread the field and try to pass on Katy. Paetow hit a few chunk plays in the air, but no touchdowns, and overall Katy’s secondary held up well downfield. The opponent is going to make plays, and the goal for the defense is to make sure those plays don’t result in touchdowns. Job done for Katy on all accounts once again after shutting out Jordan’s offense.
Next week, Katy will face a Tompkins running game that has gained significant momentum throughout the district. Katy will have to work hard to stop the Falcons’ powerful running attack.
What went right
I was pleased with the way Katy called this game against a strong Panther defense from the first playaction pass where Gunner found McCall for an immediate explosive play. Scoring on the opening drive of the game and also putting together a long touchdown drive to start the third quarter were big positives. Both drives helped Katy solidify control of the game which is where the Tigers need to be in order to succeed. Paetow is every bit of a playoff caliber defense like Jordan, so it was good to see Katy execute pretty well overall despite Hill not being able to play.
What didn’t
The fumbles are my only gripe with the ball hitting the turf a couple of times. Katy also had a bad end to the second quarter when it drove into scoring range, and then had two negative plays to go into the locker room with no additional points. Katy led 20-3 in that moment, and being greedy you want to see the hammer dropped in that spot. The Tigers made up for it by starting the third with a touchdown drive that ate half the quarter and put Katy in a commanding position at 27-3. The errors didn’t hurt Katy against Paetow, but against a North Shore or Atascocita those are very costly.
I thought this was Katy’s best four quarter effort of the season so far and clearly there still is room for this team to grow further if the Tigers can eliminate the turnovers, execute cleanly, and continue to improve the downfield coverage while stuffing the run.
It’s a wonderful luxury when you have a defense capable of making opponents one dimensional and we are seeing this Katy defense play at a level more in line with what we saw from 2020 and seasons prior in some of our better years as a program. I am seeing a real confidence and enthusiasm from the unit that has me very encouraged.
There’s business left to take care of these next two weeks before the playoffs, but I like what I am seeing and look forward to seeing this group continue to progress. It’s a great day to be a Katy Tiger.
