Katy Taylor handled Katy Tompkins 35 – 18 in an uncharacteristic, one-sided offensive display Saturday night at Rhodes Stadium. Mustangs running back Ean Beek bruised his way to a mammoth 319 yards rushing on 37 hard-fought carries. Beek was also responsible for three of Taylor’s five touchdowns; all coming on the ground. Most of quarterback David Perkins’ workload came handing the ball off to Beek. Perkins was 2-8 passing for 50 yards and a touchdown to a defensive lineman. When asked if Beek would see less action as the regular season winds down, Katy Taylor head coach Trey Herrmann responded as if the thought had never crossed his mind.
“Heck no!” Herrmann exclaimed. “He gets better when he carries the ball more. If he was worn down, we’d take a look at it. But I think he’ll be good to go. We’re approaching next week like it’s one of the playoff games.”
If Beek continues to play like he has been all year, the Mustangs will have a shot to make a nice postseason run. Beek is the leading rusher in 19-6A, racking up nearly 2,000 rushing yards in nine games and averaging 197 yards per contest.
Defensive end and all-around weapon Max Wright led the way for the Mustangs defense. The 6’6”, 250-pound Wright was a fixture in several defensive categories. He totaled nine tackles, three sacks and one batted pass. Wright also made an appearance in the Mustangs offensive stat line with an incredible leaping grab for a touchdown on a fake field goal pass from Perkins. Coach Herrmann talked about what his team looks for when they decide to go for the fake.
“We kind of have a progression” Herrmann said. “This first one, obviously, is I look over to see who is covering Max. If they have the wide eyes on me, I’m going to give it a shot because it’s Max Wright on them and I feel pretty good about that. We can flip the ball over to big boy and just try to muscle it in.”
When Wright wasn’t catching touchdowns, he and the rest of the Mustangs defensive front were supplying plenty of pressure on Tompkins quarterback Ryan Schmidt. Schmidt was held to under 100 yards passing on 12 attempts, but his elusiveness allowed him to pick up 75 yards scrambling from out of the pocket. Among other offensive leaders for the Falcons was running back Chandon Porter. Porter ran for 98 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries.
Both teams were able to move the ball in the first half, but it didn’t lead to much on the scoreboard. After the first two quarters, Katy Taylor held a one-point lead over Katy Tompkins 7-6. The defenses of Taylor and Tompkins did their part to keep the game close, but most notable was the effort of the 2-6 Falcons. Taylor averaged 32 first half points against their last two 19-6A opponents, yet they were only able to score one first half touchdown against a Tompkins team with only respect to play for.
The five to six yard runs Beek was churning out in the first half started paying off and yielded breakout plays for the Mustangs in the second half. Beek scored all three of his rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter against a weakened Tompkins defense. Two of Beek’s touchdowns came on gashes of 38 and 61 yards. The Falcons team that held their own at the start of the game had fizzled out short of the finish line as the Mustangs rolled 35-18.
The Katy Taylor Mustangs improve to 7-2 and will look to continue cruising into the playoffs as they will play their final regular season game against the 5-4 Strake Jesuit Crusaders Friday, November 4th at Rhodes Stadium. The now 2-7 Tompkins Falcons will play their last game of the 2016 season against the third place, 6-3 Cinco Ranch Cougars on Saturday, November 5th at Rhodes Stadium.
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