Cy Falls 24, Cy Woods 21: On the Wrong Foot

2017 Record: 2-3

Photo by Kyle Ransleben

Cy Falls QB T.J. Goodwin gets devoured

Photo galleries from this week's games from Tom Dendy; the JV played at home this past week.

Please take a little time to donate to hurricane relief in Puerto Rico. Carmelo Anthony and Carlos Beltran have set up separate relief funds to aid the rebuilding efforts. These are just two of the many funds set up by Puerto Rican professional athletes that you can donate to. In addition, Carlos Correa has teamed up with the Salvation Army for hurricane relief.

The Cypress Woods Wildcats entered the midway point of the 2017 season in a three-way tie at 2-2 with Cy Falls and Cy Creek for the fourth and final playoff spot. Unfortunately, the Cats will be starting their playoff push on the wrong foot as Jacob Kitterman's 22-yard field goal with 34 seconds remaining in the game lifted the Eagles to a 24-21 victory on Thursday at the Berry Center. Meanwhile, the Cougars topped Jersey Village 55-45 at Pridgeon Stadium. As a result, Falls and Creek have kicked Woods out of the playoff picture for the time being.

For... reasons, the Cats decided to use all three of their timeouts... on defense... in a tie ballgame... and two of those occurred while the Eagles had goal to go. That allowed Falls to burn some clock until they sent Kitterman out for his field goal try and left the Wildcat offense with 30 seconds to cover 86 yards.

Catch-22. Obviously, conceding points just to keep the timeouts is incredibly dumb. On the other hand, burning them in the situation I just mentioned seems rather mystifying.

Well, the Cats are up against it now. After Lakes, they will have to run that gauntlet of Cy-Fair, Cy Creek, and Cy Ranch to close out the season.

As Jacob Kainer and Jake Tesch make their returns.... Jack Barrientez went down with a leg injury. He left the stadium on crutches.

Scoring Summary

After Andre Barnes caught a pass from T.J. Goodwin and busted loose for 34 yards to set up first-and-goal for the Eagles from the 5, Goodwin finished off the Eagles' first drive of the evening with a 3-yard touchdown run for the only points of the first 12 minutes.

End of 1st Quarter: Falls 7, Woods 0

Darion Morgan tied the game with a 6-yard run. On Woods' next series,Jake Tesch had a 34-yard touchdown run wiped out on a holding call, but Arkievrick Vitatoe was able to cap off the drive with an 8-yard scoring run. There was no scoring in the third quarter; Jared Swonke missed a 35-yard field goal with five minutes remaining after Trevor Reed had recovered a fumble to put the Cats in the red zone.

Halftime/End of 3rd Quarter: Woods 14, Falls 7

It all unraveled in the fourth quarter and all it took was one play. Dallas Caldwell was stripped of the ball, the Eagles pounced on it, and in the ensuing fracas, Tim Dendy was ejected from the game. One play later, Goodwin hit Jonathan Patrick for a 22-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14. The Cats went three-and-out on their next series. Tobi Orundami delivered an NFL Blitz-style horse-collar tackle to Goodwin, which drew another flag. One play later, Koby Leavatts burst through the middle for a 33-yard touchdown to put Falls in front. Jackson Jones tied the game at 21 with a one-yard quarterback sneak. Kitterman put Falls back in the lead with his kick, and Jackson Jones' last-ditch heave was picked off by Mekhi Davis.

Final: Falls 24, Woods 21

Ground

Arkievrick Vitatoe had some good runs out in space, but the Eagles defensive front made the Cats earn all 199 yards they gained on the ground. Of their 45 attempts, their longest run went for 19 yards, which occurred twice. Jake Tesch had a 34-yard touchdown run erased by a holding call.

All statistics are from Varsity Wires and should be considered unofficial.

Jackson Jones: 13 carries, 58 yards, TD
Arkievrick Vitatoe: 6 carries, 57 yards, TD
Darion Morgan: 13 carries, 44 yards, TD
Christian Scott: 4 carries, 24 yards
Chase Richter: 3 carries, 10 yards
Jake Tesch: 1 carry, 7 yards
Jack Barrientez: 3 carries, 3 yards
Dallas Caldwell: 2 carries, -4 yards; lost fumble

Air

While Jackson Jones has competently helmed the offense in Jacob Kainer's absence, he... looked like a sophomore in this game. The Cats' two longest plays were his two pass completions, but he also came up short on his incompletions... except for the last one, which was the arm-punt to end the game.

Jacob Kainer saw his first action of the season, lining up as a receiver for all of his plays. Although Jackson has done well filling in, Jacob is the incumbent and he'll likely take the reins for the rest of the way. He was up-and-down last season, and he'll probably be the first to admit that. He looked forward to running this offense but the injury sidetracked him to start the year. Now, he'll get a proper chance to make amends for last season.

We had a glimpse of what Jackson is capable of. Consider it a preview of things to come.

Jackson Jones: 2-7, 69 yards, INT

Christian Scott: 1 catch, 38 yards
Dallas Caldwell: 1 catch, 31 yards

Defense

The Cats had no answer for Koby Leavatts, who ran for 212 yards on 28 carries.

The Eagles went 5-13 on third down, which is an improvement from Langham going 9-11 the previous week. That mark could have been even better, had Ryan Gilcrease's hit-stick attempt on Jonathan Patrick been successful. Patrick was knocked back about 6-7 yards, but he kept his feet and wound up getting the first down. Jack Barrientez also missed Andre Barnes on a third down; Barnes ended up scampering all the way down to the Wildcats' 5 to set up the first score.

Ryan also missed a chance for an interception for the second straight game. Barnes got smacked by Collin Fewox and Gilcrease couldn't quite corral the loose ball that was literally his for the taking. Trevor Reed recovered a loose ball that Leavatts coughed up, but Jared Swonke ended up missing a field goal after the offense went backward.

Tackles

Collin Fewox - 14
Ryan Gilcrease - 8
Colin Paterson and Austin Kennedy - 7
Jackson Turnbow - 6
Tobi Orundami and Max Sweet - 5
Clancey Hall - 4
Jack Barrientez - 2
Six Wildcats with 1 tackle

Max Sweet sacked Goodwin for an 8-yard loss on the first drive of the game.

Special Teams

Jared Swonke missed a 35-yard field goal that everyone on the Woods side thought he made. He did convert all three of his extra points.

But, failing to score following a fumble recovery in the red zone... not ideal.

Greg Blaser: 4 punts, 171 yards (42.8 average), long of 45, one punt inside 20

Tevis Adams: 2 kicks returned, 34 yards
Arkievrick Vitatoe: 2 kicks returned, 32 yards
Chase Richter: 1 kick returned, 11 yards

Men of the Match

Collin Fewox was throwing all night. He put his reputation as one of the district's hardest hitters on full display.

Arkievrick Vitatoe has really been quite the pickup. He's a move-in from Louisiana and has really provided a nice spark for the Wildcat offense.

Looking Ahead

In their first Saturday game of the season, Cy Woods will take on Cy Lakes at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium on October 21. Kickoff is at 6:00 and the Wildcats will be the home team in this contest.