Katy Tigers 28 / Clear Springs Chargers 13
Last week, we profiled the Katy Tigers (CLICK HERE for the article) and said that we think they have a great chance to win a state title this year, though we did think their opening game would be tougher than most expected. It was. Last year, Katy won 49-7. This year, Clear Springs hung tough with Katy and it signaled that Clear Springs should have an over .500 season this year. Though the game was close, Katy showed why we expect they will have a strong chance at going undefeated this year.
The defense, led by linebackers Shepherd Bowling and Ty Kana, is a big reason we expected the Katy Tigers to be a dominant team this year. The Tigers held the Chargers to just 39 yards in the first half. They had 6 sacks, three by Cal Varner and two by Cohen Dearman. However, the Tigers offense was short-handed.
Quarterback Bronson McClelland did not play, for undisclosed reasons. Katy turned to Bryce Nirider, before replacing him in the second quarter with Sophmore Kaleb Koger. Combined between the two, Katy had only 26 yards of passing. Running back Jalen Davis came to the rescue. David has 123 yards and three touchdowns. Katy took control of the game in the second and third quarter and was up three scores but Clear Springs went to back up Quarterback Cody Kuhlmann helped the Chargers cut the lead to 21-13 late in the third. The game was a defensive battle from there, with both Jalen Davis and his younger brother Seth continuing to run the ball well and helped Katy hold on for a 28-13 win.
The MVP of the game was probably the Katy Tigers Punter, who punted 9 times for an average of 41.3 yards and consistently pinned Clear Springs deep in their own territory. A dominating defense and great running game makes Katy a solid team, but they’ll need to get a bit more out of the passing game if they want to make a run at a state title this year.
Katy will play at Cypress Woods next week while Clear Springs will play at Katy Tompkins.
To see the final scores of all games, CLICK HERE.
