Two weeks ago, the Katy Tigers were at a crossroads for their 2016 season. They were off to a rocky start at 1-2 heading into a game on the road against Cinco Ranch. The season up until that point was in disarray with a team that was lucky to not be 0-3 after starting their ’16 campaign as the number one team in the state.
The team was struggling with inconsistent play with the defense failing to appear in their double overtime thriller where they snuck by Klein Collins. The next week the offense was smothered, and only scored three points against The Woodlands.
It would have been understandable if the team folded up to their rival when they went on the “road” (both teams play their home games at the same stadium) against Cinco Ranch after scoring only three points the previous week. That performance led to one particular writer putting out a column that said the team had a lot of questions that needed to be answered.
Well, I will say that I was wrong to think that this team was going south.
Tigers head coach Gary Joseph has done a magnificent job at turning this squad around over the last two weeks. Katy has looked like a completely different team; getting a dominating performance from both sides of the ball.
However, this rebound should have been expected. This team is loaded with college prospects on offense and defense. Dean Bisceglia pointed out in his Katy’s shutout victory over Katy Taylor on the number of future players who’ll suit up on Saturdays.
“Defensive end Corey Bethley , offensive lineman Hayden Howerton (Rice commit), tight end Parker Eichenberger (Houston commit), linebacker Breydon Boyd (Boise State commit), defensive end Ryder Anderson (Arkansas commit), wideout JC Santana , linebacker Raymond Randle (Houston Baptist commit), 2018 offensive lineman Connor Galvin , 2018 defensive end Michael Matus, 2018 kicker/punter Seth Small , and 2019 running back Deondrick Glass.”
Katy is off this week, which should give this team time to catch its collective breath after such a roller coaster start. After the bye week they finish the season off with a favorable schedule with the supposed toughest district opponents behind them.
The Tigers are back to their elite status. Steamrolling their final five opponents will look great on film and paper. However, regular season success is one thing. This team was built for postseason glory, and will be judge on their postseason results.
So let the good times roll, for now.
Katy was never at a crossroads. One of these commits is an underachiever who needs to get his act together. The Westlake game, we could have won that one.