It may have been preached to the Katy players that Friday night was just another game, but for those on last year’s varsity team, that was never the case.

Not only was Friday’s game against Tompkins a chance to exact revenge for the Tigers sole loss last season, it was a battle between the two teams that sat on top of District 19-6A, with the winner being the clear front runner to become district champions.

The Tigers overcame a nervy start to the game and exploded in the second quarter en route to a statement victory over the Falcons, winning 56-14 in a battle between two top 10 state ranked teams.

“We wanted this bad,” said senior Katy wide receiver Antonio Silva. "We took this game personal and we came out and took the win, that’s exactly what we worked and planned for.”

It looked as if it was going to be a defensive slugfest to start the game as Katy and Tompkins both couldn’t get things going on their first drives, but that changed on the Tigers second drive, as they drove the ball down the field before Caleb Koger found Isaiah Smith for a 21-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

It was the first of five touchdowns for Koger, who threw for 331 yards in the game to lead the Katy offense, while the Tigers also had a 200-yard rusher on the night in Seth Davis, who finished with 212 yards on the ground.

“The run game really helped me,” Koger said. “The run game made them bite on play action and it made my job really easy. The lineman did their job and gave me the protection I needed to make throws and the receivers did a great job too.”

The first touchdown opened the floodgates for the Tigers as they put up 35 points in the second quarter. Koger threw a 47-yard pass to Antonio Silva after just over a minute had passed in the quarter. Tompkins looked like it would have an answer before Arian Parish made a diving interception to get Katy the ball back.

“It was everything we put into practice and what we’ve learned that came into play on that interception. It was just all the fundamentals,” Parish said. “There wasn’t anything different on it, I just made the read. We made sure to come out tonight and execute the same way we do for every game.”

Davis got in on the action after that, running in a 56-yard touchdown two plays later and further extending the Katy lead.

Tompkins finally got on the board as Cole Francis hit Josh McMillan for a 49-yard touchdown pass but Katy had an answer again as they drove the field and Koger threw his fourth touchdown of the game, this one to JR Ceyanes on a 19-yard fade route. Katy wasn’t done in the second quarter as with two minutes remaining in the half Koger and Nic Anderson hooked up for a 45-yard touchdown with two minutes remaining in the half.

Josh McMillan returned the ensuing kickoff 108-yards for a touchdown to try and bring Tompkins closer but Koger again answered back with a 53-yard touchdown pass to Anderson.

Anderson finished the night with 128 yards on six receptions and looked recovered from an injury that kept him out of the lineup throughout much of the season so far. Silva had a big night as well, catching five passes for 143 yards.

“It’s awesome,” Koger said. “He’s such a good playmaker, he’s a big dude, he’s 6-foot 4 and he’s fast, he’s just everything I could want in a receiver. Those receivers make my job easy. They make catches on bad throws and they always get open.”

Davis rushed for another touchdown in the second half and Dallas Glass also rushed for a score before Tompkins scored late in the fourth quarter on a 30-yard pass from Francis to McMillan.

McMillan finished the night with 112 yards on 6 catches to go along with his big return to lead Tompkins.

Limiting such a strong offense was key for Katy and head coach Gary Joseph was proud of his players performance.

“They did a good job,” Joseph said. “They gave up one big play in the first half on a double move but other than that they did well. They had their backs up to the wall at one point and responded like they’re supposed to and we got a couple turnovers which is always a good thing. They’re getting better and they’ve played pretty well all year long.”

The win puts Katy in the driver’s seat to bring home a district championship, but Joseph knows that the Tigers can’t lose its focus just because they beat a tough Tompkins team.

“I told the guys all along ‘this wasn’t the culmination of the season, this was the next game and if we are going to have a chance to put their names on a district championship trophy it had to start tonight."' Joseph said. "We still have four games to go through and we have to take it one at a time. We have to go in and prepare like we did this week for every week going forward.”

Katy 56, Tompkins 21

First quarter

Katy: Safety, Caleb Koger 21 pass to Isaiah Smith (Axel Robertson kick) 1:39

Second quarter

Katy: Koger 47 pass to Antonio Silva (Robertson kick) 10:08

Katy: Seth Davis 56 run (Robertson kick) 9:23

Tompkins: Cole Francis 49 pass to Josh McMillan (Mario Garcia kick) 6:43

Katy: Koger 19 pass to JR Ceyanes (Robertson kick) 3:49

Katy: Koger 45 pass to Nic Anderson (Robertson kick) :13

Tompkins: Josh McMillan 108 kickoff return (Garcia kick) 2:28

Katy: Koger 53 pass to Anderson (Robertson kick) 0:13

Third quarter

Katy: Davis 66 run (Robertson kick) 5:04

Fourth quarter

Katy: Dallas Glass 1 run (Robertson kick) 8:40

Tompkins: Francis 30 pass to McMillan (Garcia kick) 1:40

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- Katy: Seth Davis 15-212-2; Dallas Glass, 11-45-1; Chase Johnsey, 2-7; Isaiah Smith, 2-3; Tompkins: Caleb Blocker, 17-54; Julius Mourning, 4-17; Cole Francis, 3-9; Collin Marshall, 1-(-1)

Passing -- Katy: Caleb Koger, 14-17-331-5-0; Elijah Bowman, 1-2-33-0-0; Tompkins: Cole Francis, 22-33-245-2-2

Receiving – Katy: Nic Anderson, Antonio Silva, 5-143-1; Nic Anderson, 6-128-2; Isaiah Smith, 2-41-1; Adam Jackson, 1-33; Jr Ceyanes, 1-19-1; Tompkins: Josh McMillan, 6-112-2; Matthew Ogunrin, 6-46; Collin Marshall, 4-37; Wyatt Young, 2-28; Julius Mourning, 3-12; Lebechi Chidubem, 2-10;