Katy withstood a haymaker on Friday.

Katy had a gameplan coming into the Class 6A-Division II Region III Final to contain the King run game and the teams biggest threat in Keith Willis Jr., but King knew that Katy would be prepared and countered with something unexpected.

Instead of leaning on their workhorse like they had all season, King went away from him and instead attacked solely through the air, throwing a wrench into everything Katy had planned for.

But The Tigers weathered the storm, adjusted and attacked, like so many of the great Tigers teams have done, and in the end came out 56-34 winners, advancing to the Class 6A-Division II state semifinal.

“We had a gameplan coming in, but they did the exact opposite of what we had planned for,” said senior safety Johnathan Hall. “But we stayed calm with it, we know how good we are as a team and we got to halftime made the adjustments and then found a way to come out and execute in the second half to get the win.”

The game couldn’t have started in better fashion for Katy. Seth Davis took a handoff 69-yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game and then after Katy forced a punt, Davis took a handoff on the Tigers next offensive snap and ran in a score from 42-yards out to make things 14-0 Katy with less than a minute off the clock in the first quarter.

But King came right back with punches of their own. Denim Johnson ran in a nine yard score late in the first quarter to trim the Katy lead to seven before Rae’G Dailey took a punt return 89-yards for a touchdown in the second to make things a one-point Katy lead.

But Davis had the answer again, running in a 26-yard touchdown, and after King made things a one-point game again Davis ran in a 40-yard score to increase the Katy lead again before King once again trimmed the lead down to one point at half.

Davis carried the Tigers offensively throughout the night, carrying the ball 23 times for 293 yards and six touchdowns to lead Katy to the win.

“That kid is just a special, good football player,” said Katy head coach Gary Joseph. “I think a lot of people are seeing that right now, you don’t see people in a state quarterfinal game score that many times and break that many runs the way he did. They were a good defensive football team and for him to do that is just phenomenal. But I’m so proud of our offensive line as well and the job they did.”

King came out and took the lead on the first play of the third quarter, as Dailey took a screen pass 70-yards for a score, but from there on out, the Tigers defense stood strong against the King attack, not allowing a point the rest of the way.

“We didn’t expect them to throw so much,” Joseph said. “We felt like we had to come in and stop their big running back, but we had been stopping the run well this year and I think King knew that. So second half we went to dime more and the kids also just executed better. We missed tackles in the first half and hit us with so many hitch routes. We just had to come up and make tackles better and we did that.”

Davis scored late in the third quarter as Katy regained the lead and the Tigers scored three more times in the fourth, twice on Caleb Koger quarterback sneaks and once on a 49-yard run by Davis, to put things away.

“Being in games like this makes you better,” Davis said. “This is what you want. To play in big time games and get these wins. It brings you closer together, it shows your character and that us. We’re going to keep fighting and find a way to win.”

Katy advances to face Vandegrift in the state semifinals 2 p.m. Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. It’s the third straight year in the semifinal for Katy and they’re hoping this time it leads to a victory.

“We’re going to be ready,” Hall said. “We know how big this game is, we’re excited, motivated and we’re going to get to work to make sure we play our best game.”

Katy 56, C.E. King 34

First quarter

K: Seth Davis 69 run (Hunter Ondrush kick) 11:45

K: Davis 42 run (Ondrush kick) 11:02

CE: Danim Johnson 9 run (Christopher Bronilla kick) 2:56

Second quarter

CE: Rae’G Dailey 89 punt return, 9:20

K: Davis 26 run (Ondrush kick) 8:17

CE: Keith Willis Jr. 5 pass to Mekhi Emerinini (Bonilla kick) 7:57

CE: Johnson 26 pass to Dailey (Bonilla kick) 3:19

Third quarter

CE: Johnson 70 pass to Dailey (Bonilla kick) 11:50

K: Davis 1 run (Ondrush kick) 7:14

Fourth quarter

K: Caleb Koger 1 run (Ondrush kick) 11:55

K: Davis 49 run (Ondrush kick) 8:48

K: Koger 1 run (Ondrush kick) 4:02

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Katy: Seth Davis, 23-293-6; Dallas Glass, 16-68; Chase Jonsey, 3-6; C.E. King: Keith Willis Jr., 5-23; Denim Johnson, 6-11; Jermaine Franshaw, 2-9;

Passing – Katy: Caleb Koger, 7-13-77-0-0; Adam Jackson, 0-1-0-0-0 C.E. King: Denim Johnson, 31-47-472-2-1; Keith Willis Jr., 1-1-5-1-0;

Receiving – Katy: Chase Johnsey, 5-45; Adam Jackson, 2-22; Micah Koenig, 1-10; C.E. King: Rae’G Dailey, 13-190-2; Elias Dejean, 9-187; Mekhi Emerinini, 3-45-1; Keith Willis Jr., 3-20; Vincent Jones, 3-20; Duaine Harris, 2-15;