Davis Roup was thrown into the fire last week.

The sophomore quarterback was tasked with a big job, jumping up from junior varsity to starting for the varsity team with little time to get ready for the jump. Making things harder, the sophomore would be doing it as Cinco Ranch was going right into the heart of District 19-6A play.

But Roup didn’t blink, last week the sophomore mounted a 21 point comeback against Tompkins with a big performance and this week, he stepped up even further, putting together a record tying performance in Cinco Ranch’s 49-42 win over Morton Ranch.

The sophomore was phenomenal leading the Cougars to their second straight win, completing 23 of 27 passes for 388 yards and tying Gavin Rutherford’s single game school record by throwing for six touchdown passes.

“Davis is such a smart kid, and he’s obsessive about the quarterback position and it shows because he’s so good with the details,” said Cinco Ranch head coach Chris Dudley. “He’s really taken advantage of this opportunity he has right now and even with some of the hits he’s taken he gets right back up and makes big time throws, some of those throws he made tonight we really difficult. This is a kid who was playing freshman football last year and he’s stepped in and not missed a beat, he didn’t even need time to get in sync with his receivers and it just speaks to his preparation.”

Roup got started on the first drive of the game, taking Cinco down the field and throwing a 38-yard touchdown to Matthew Courtois. He added to it just minutes later, throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Beavers before Morton Ranch answered back with a 1-yard touchdown run.

The teams traded scores in the second quarter, Cinco scored three times, with throws from Roup to Nathan Olivier and Taytum Johnson and a Tessiah Young touchdown run while Morton Ranch stayed in fighting distance with touchdown runs from Ryan Hall and Mike Gerald, with Cinco going into half leading 35-20.

“This team has really just treated me like family,” Roup said. “I came in and immediately all of these guys believed in me, the coaches, the players all of them. They’ve loved on me and even when I threw an interception tonight, they just calmed me down and told me we were good, they knew we would win this game and told me not to worry about it. It’s just been really welcoming and its made this transition so easy for me.”

Roup ran into trouble early in the second half, throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Dai’Shawn Overstreet. But Cinco came right back with a scoring drive, with Roup finding Johnson for the second time in the game.

Morton Ranch though wasn’t done. The Mavericks mounted a comeback with Mike Gerald throwing a 41-yard touchdown to Markel McNeal and Hall running in a 3-yard score before Morton Ranch got the ball back with under two minutes to go, having a chance to tie the game.

But it was Cinco Ranch’s defense that stepped up, stopping the drive by forcing a fumble, recovering it and being able to kneel out the clock for the win.

“The goal was to get that takeaway and get the offense off the field, cause it would end the game,” Johnson said. “Our offense held it down the hold game and it was time for the defense to do its part. They scored two times back to back so we knew it was important for us to step up. Thankfully we took advantage of it and sealed the win.”

Cinco will take on Mayde Creek next with a chance to start to cement themselves in a good position with a win. The Cougars though, know you can’t take anything for granted in District 19-6A.

“It’s the toughest district in the state of Texas and you have to take this thing one game at a time,” Dudley said. “We’re going to enjoy this one, but we’re going to get right back to it and prepare for Mayde Creek. We’ve got some good momentum but there are no gimmies, we have to bring it and not look ahead.”

Cinco Ranch 49, Morton Ranch 42

First quarter

CR: Davis Roup 38 pass to Matthew Courtios (Noah Machart kick) 10:00

CR: Roup 11 pass to Gavin Beavers (Machart kick) 7:03

MR: Ryan Hall 1 run (Kason Martinez kick) 4:09

Second quarter

CR: Tessiah Young 7 run (Machart kick) 10:35

MR: Mike Gerald 21 run (Martinez kick) 8:12

CR: Roup 3 pass to Nathan Olivier (Machart kick) 4:25

MR: Ryan Hall 1 run (Martinez kick) 8:12

CR: Roup 13 pass to Taytum Johnson (Machart kick) 4:25

Third quarter

MR: Dai’Shaun Overstreet 41 interception return (Martinez kick) 4:30

CR: Roup 12 pass to Johnson (Machart kick)

Fourth quarter

CR: Roup 24 pass to Beavers (Machart kick) 9:05

MR: Mike Gerald 41 pass to Markel McNeal (Gerald pass to Jerome Ryans) 8:06

MR: Hall 3 run (Machart kick) 5:28

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Cinco Ranch: Tessiah Young, 23-71-1; Davis Roup, 11-25; Marcus Gadlin, 6-29; Morton Ranch: Ryan Hall, 17-59-3; Mike Gerald, 11-58-1;

Passing – Cinco Ranch: Davis Roup, 23-28-388-6-1; Morton Ranch: Mike Gerald, 11-14-258-1-0

Receiving – Cinco Ranch: Gavin Beavers, 9-167-2; Matthew Courtois, 3-72-1; Scott Eckel, 4-63; Taytum Johnson, 3-49-2; Tessiah Young, 1-20; Kellen LeCronier, 1-9; Drew Tureau, 1-5; Nathan Olivier, 1-3; Morton Ranch: Markel McNeal, 5-133-1; Tyler Williams, 5-83; Kelvin Malone, 1-42;