High School Football

Katy survives stiff test from Tompkins in district opener

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 9/10/22

“It all started with our defensive line,” said junior linebacker Connor Johnsey. “They had to be physical up front and make gaps for our linebackers and safeties to fit into. We prepared every day this week hard, and so we were ready for this."

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High School Football

Katy survives stiff test from Tompkins in district opener

Posted

Katy knew how much of a battle this weeks district opener would be against Tompkins.

Both teams have battled over the course of the past few years in close matchups and with the teams starting District 19-6A play against each other, the Tigers knew how important this game would be.

Just like in week two of the season, Katy (3-0, 1-0) went back and forth with a state ranked team as both traded blows, and just like in week two, Katy managed to come away with a victory, narrowly beating a very strong Tompkins (2-1, 0-1) squad 14-13 on Saturday night at Legacy Stadium.

The win kept the Tigers perfect on the season and gave them the start they needed in district play, as the Tigers look to repeat as district champs.

It was the defense that led the Tigers on the night, as they came away with two key takeaways and stopped the Falcons from gaining any momentum offensively, stalling drives repeatedly before it could result in touchdowns.

“It all started with our defensive line,” said junior linebacker Connor Johnsey. “They had to be physical up front and make gaps for our linebackers and safeties to fit into. We prepared every day this week hard, and so we were ready for this, we know how important it was and what we had to do.”

Johnsey set the tone early in the first quarter, picking off Tompkins on the Falcons first possession of the game, but it was the Falcons who would strike first, after recovering a Katy fumble, the Falcons drove down the field and getting a 31-yard field goal from Andrew Horner to take the lead.

Katy then had another miscue offensively, throwing an interception to Cody Chapman, but after getting the ball back, Seth Davis got the Tigers on the board in the second quarter with an eight-yard touchdown run.

“We had to keep reminding ourselves that we didn’t have to hit the big plays every time,” Davis said. “We just had to keep driving down the field, keep going yard by yard and wearing them down. That’s how we’re successful and we knew if we did that everything was going to be okay.”

Tompkins was not going to go down easy though, after Katy muffed a punt return, Tompkins trimmed the Katy lead to 7-6 on another field goal and then took a 13-7 lead just before the half on a Chris Gilbert fade throw to Wyatt Young, who came down with the touchdown in the back of the endzone.

Katy went into the locker room knowing that the first half wasn’t good enough, and the Tigers came back out and didn’t turn the ball over or give up another point the rest of the way.

“The most important thing for us coming out of the half was to just take care of the football,” Davis said. “We knew that we couldn’t turn the ball anymore and for the rest of the game we had good ball security and took everything right to them.”

Both teams continued to battle through the second half until Davis got Katy back in front late in the third quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run, making it 14-13.

Davis didn’t have his usual dominant night running the ball, but the senior and the Katy offense did just enough, as Davis rushed for 117 yards on 24 carries and both of Katy’s scores.

The one point advantage would be just enough for Katy the rest of the way. Both teams couldn’t get anything more going offensively and on Tompkins last chance late in the fourth quarter, Micah Sweats jumped a comeback route and intercepted a pass on fourth down to seal the game and give the win to the Tigers.

“They had been running lots of stop routes and I knew that since they needed four yards, that’s what they would go to,” Sweats said. “I trusted the front seven to the quarterback and I just read the route and was able to make the play. I was just doing my job and I’m glad I could make the play.”

Katy held Tompkins to 237 yards of offense on the day and only 60 rushing yards, and the defense stepped up in a big way.

“We improved and did a lot better than last week defensively,” Sweats said. “We gave up less points than last week and that’s the goal to keep improving on that. We just continued to do our job and make the plays we needed to.”

Katy moves on to play Morton Ranch (2-1, 0-1) next, and the Tigers know that although they’ve beaten two very good teams in the last two weeks, they have to keep improving.

“We have to practice even harder and push ourselves even more,” Davis said. “We’re winning these close games but we can be better and we know that we have to keep improving every day we go out there.”

Katy 14, Tompkins 13

Katy

0

7

7

0

 --

14

Tompkins

3

10

0

0

 --

13

First quarter

T: Andrew Horner 31 field goal, 3:12

Second quarter

K: Seth Davis 8 run (Hunter Ondrusch kick) 9:59

T: Horner 25 field goal, 4:42

T: Chris Gilbert Jr. 11 pass to Wyatt Young (Horner kick) 0:11

Third quarter

K: Davis 2 run (Ondrusch kick) 2:48

Team stats

Katy

Tompkins

  First downs

 9

11

  Yards rushing

32-166

28-60

  Yards passing

56

177

  Passes

3-8-0-1

20-30-1-2

  Punts

4-41

4-35

  Fumbles-lost

2-2

0-0

  Penalty-yards

7-60

5-45

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Katy: Seth Davis, 24-117-2; Dallas Glass, 5-26; Micah Koenig, 1-16; Chase Johnsey, 1-5; Caleb Koger, 1-2; Tompkins: Wyatt Young, 8-30; Caleb Komolafe, 14-30; Chris Gilbert Jr. 4-1; Caleb Blocker, 2-(-1);

Passing – Katy: Caleb Koger, 3-8-56-0-1; Tompkins: Chris Gilbert, 18-28-1-2; Wyatt Young, 2-2-0-60

Receiving – Katy: Oliver Ginn, 2-35; Chase Johnsey, 1-21; Tompkins: Wyatt Young, 8-63-1; Alejandro Alvarez, 2-60; Matthew Ogunrin, 8-54;

Katy ISD, Katy, Tompkins, sports, football, high school, District 19-6A