Mayde Creek has had a goal to make history all season.

The Rams could have been satisfied with a bi-district win, advancing to the third round for just the third time since 1982.

But the Rams wanted more, a win on Friday would make this the first team to make the regional quarterfinals in Mayde Creek history.

The Rams accomplished just that with a 63-48 win over Stratford in the area round. Using a suffocating defense and free flowing offense to beat the Spartans 63-48.

“It means everything to get this win,” said junior guard Angel Sonnier. “The whole team has come together from day one and put everything we got into it. It shows on the floor when we play like we did today.”

Mayde Creek and Stratford battled through the first half as Stratford led 15-14 lead after the first quarter, but Mayde Creek battled back to take a 25-23 lead at half.

“We knew the most important thing for us would be to lock in on defense and communicate,” Sonnier said. “That lets us get up and down and get good possessions. That’s when we play our best game.”

Stratford heated up early in the third quarter and took the lead, but the Rams had an immediate response, as Sonnier scored seven in the quarter and Jamal Chretiene II hit two three pointers in the quarter to give Mayde Creek a 46-38 lead heading into the final quarter.

Chretiene is only a freshman but kept his composure after missing a couple of looks in the first half, it paid off as he scored 13 in the second half and finished the night with 19 points in total.

“I want these young guys to have confidence at all times,” said Mayde Creek head coach Anthony Fobb. “He’s a good shooter, those were good shots he was taking, they just weren’t going in. He knows he can keep shooting, because that’s what he does.”

Sonnier led the team with 20 points on the night, while also taking on the assignment of shutting down Stratford’s biggest and strongest player in the post, despite a size disadvantage.

“Angel is the strongest guy in the program, and he has a six-foot-six-inch wingspan, which is huge on the defensive end,” Fobb said. “He is our leader and he’s a guy that really wants to play in college as well. He’s taken it to heart when I tell him the way you get there is showing that you can defend, because when coaches see he can defend the scoring is just extra. He took on that challenge and he said, ‘I want to guard their best guy tonight.’”

Mayde Creek is excited to advance to the regional quarterfinals for the first time in history, but at the same time, they know the job isn’t done.

“This was huge,” Chretiene said. “But we have to stay locked in, we can’t get ahead of ourselves and start celebrating too much.”

The Rams have waited all year for a chance to play in the Merrell Center. They lost to Westfield on a last Second shot in the Katy ISD tournament, keeping them out of the championship game that was played there and it stung for the every player.

Fobb told his players that he would push to get a chance to play there, but only if the team got to the third round of the playoffs and made history. They did just that, and now on Tuesday they will get there chance to play at Merrell when they face off against Fort Bend Kempner at 7:30 p.m.

“I told them if they wanted to get back there, they had to take care of business,” Fobb said. “That’s exactly what they did.”

Class 6A Area

Mayde Creek 63, Stratford 48

Points: (MC) Angel Sonnier 20, Jamal Chretien II 19, Landon Bean 9, Christian Jones 8, Larison Lamette 7; (S) Luke Hatcher 19, Everett Bates 9, Deanu Davies 8, Keshawn Bell 4, Triston Williams 3, Caden Francis 3, Cameron Cronin 2

Halftime: Mayde Creek 25-23; 3-Pointers: Chretien II 4, Sonnier 3, Jones 2, Bean, Lamette; (S) Bates 3; Records: Mayde Creek 25-10, Stratford 27-6