“We prepared this week to have our best game of the year, and I think we did that. The defense played unbelievable and the offense made plays when it needed to. To come out with this win was huge.”
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Katy blocked out all the noise this week.
The Tigers weren’t interested in what was going on outside of their walls, what other teams were saying, the pressure of a big game or how hungry other teams were to go after the Tigers District 19-6A title or any other implications that came with this weeks game against Jordan.
Katy was only interested in itself and making sure they weren’t affected by any uncontrollables and the Tigers came out on Friday night and put together the exact type of performance they were looking for, downing Jordan (7-1, 5-1) 17-7 behind a huge defensive effort and a strong running game.
“We knew that today was going to be our biggest tests of the season, but we wanted to come out and show the entire district what we are about and that we can do anything with a good week of preparation and dedication,” said senior defensive lineman Adam Carter. “We prepared this week to have our best game of the year, and I think we did that. The defense played unbelievable and the offense made plays when it needed to. To come out with this win was huge.”
Katy’s defense put together arguably its best performance of the season in the win. The defense did not give up a single point to an explosive Jordan team, completely shutting down both the run and pass game and not allowing the Warriors to even pass midfield until the second half. Overall, the Warriors finished with under 150 yards of total offense and for the first time all season weren’t able to overwhelm another team through four quarters. It was the polar opposite of the Katy-Jordan game last year, where the Tigers won, but did so with a strong offense and had a hard time stopping Jordan’s offense.
“The guys on defense, they were embarrassed a bit by the way we couldn’t stop them last year and when we went back to watch that film, it just lit a fire,” said Katy head coach Gary Joseph. “We told the kids that they have the capability to stop anyone, they knew that we had to get this win if we want to try and defend our district championship and I’m proud of how prepared they came out.”
Katy got the ball first in the game and drove down the field before settling for a 38-yard field goal, which gave the Tigers the lead. Katy’s defense forced a three and out and Jordan shanked the punt, only sending it one yard, which set Katy up just 25 yards from the endzone. The Katy offense made no mistake from there, scoring on a screen pass from Gunner Nelson to Israel Olotu-Judah on the first play of the drive that put the Tigers up two scores.
Katy’s defense kept stopping Jordan and early in the second quarter, Katy’s offense added to the lead when Tremayne Hill ran in a 26-yard score that made it 17-0.
“We worked all week and we knew we could put together a performance like this ,” said junior defensive back Isaiah McMillan. “We grinded and we got ourselves ready and then turned that into what we needed to on the field. We never let up, we have this saying, ‘all gas, no brakes’ and that’s what we did tonight. We played like it was 0-0 and we didn’t let up until the end of the game.”
Katy moved the ball and drained the clock on offense through the second half but couldn’t add on to the teams lead. Katy’s defense continued to make plays though, Stopping Jordan every time they would put together a successful drive, getting a turnover early in the third when Isaiah McMillan made an interception and forcing multiple turnover on downs, including in the fourth quarter when Jordan had driven down to the one-yard-line. Katy only made one big mistake on the night, when Nelson threw an interception to Rocky Alo-Perry, which Alo-Perry returned 82 yards for a touchdown with 4:25 remaining in the game, but Katy took the ball over from there and drove down the field to seal the game, only giving the ball back to Jordan with under a minute remaining with no chance for the Warriors to get back into the game.
Katy’s run game led the way. Hill finished the night with 126 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, while Aqualis Jordan had 20 carries for 103 yards. Nelson threw for 58 yards, with both Olotu-Judah and Cade McCall catching two passes for 29 yards each.
Katy will face the only other undefeated team remaining in district next week, when the Tigers take on Paetow. But Katy isn’t worried about any other opponent, they are just focused on continuing to get better, like they did this week.
“We just have clicked these last few weeks and we have to keep building off that,” Carter said. “It’s all about getting better every week and that’s what we are trying to do. We want to keep the Katy train going.”
Katy 17, Jordan 7
Katy |
10 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
-- |
17 |
||||||||||||||||||||
Jordan |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
-- |
7 |
First quarter
K: Giovanni Moreno 38 field goal, 7:26
K: Gunner Nelson 25 pass to Israel Olotu-Judah (Moreno kick) 5:54
Second quarter
K: Tremayne Hill 26 run (Moreno kick) 7:09
Fourth quarter
J: Rocky Alo-Perry 82 interception return (Sebastian Baptista kick) 4:25
Team Statistics
Katy |
Jordan |
|
First downs |
17 |
8 |
Yards rushing |
50-251 |
22-65 |
Yards passing |
58 |
82 |
Passes |
4-12-1-1 |
12-23-0-1 |
Punts |
2-57.5 |
6-22.5 |
Fumbles-lost |
1-1 |
0-0 |
Penalty-yards |
5-28 |
3-34 |
Individual Statistics
Rushing – Katy: Tremayne Hill, 22-126-1; Aqualis Jordan, 20-103; Joshua Smith, 5-13; Gunner Nelson, 3-9; Jordan: Chad Gasper, 1-38; Beau Bryant, 11-21; Zion Jones, 8-5; Tanner West, 2-1;
Passing – Katy: Gunner Nelson, 4-12-58-1-1; Jordan: Beau Bryant, 12-23-80-0-1;
Receiving – Katy: Israel Olotu-Judah, 2-29; Cade McCall, 2-29; Jordan: Tanner West, 3-28; Andrew Marsh, 3-23; Zion Jones, 1-19; Landon Williams, 1-12; Benedict Okwura, 3-0;