Cy Woods 63, Cy Lakes 55: Happy Homecoming.

2018 Record: 4-2, 3-1 in District 14-6A

Photo by Tom Dendy

Photo gallery for this week's games

For senior football players, the Homecoming game is definitely one of the most important on the schedule, dwarfed in significance only by the rivalry game and (if their team qualifies) the playoffs. For their school, the outcome of the game essentially defines the mood for the weekend. A win and everyone's happy. A loss... well, dampens the mood of the festivities. Cy Woods lost on Homecoming during my senior year and the aftermath was thoroughly unpleasant. We didn't just lose, Ridge gave us a beating. To top it all off, Homecoming was the first district game that year so we were already starting off on the wrong foot.

Fortunately for the Class of 2019 at Cypress Woods High School, they guaranteed themselves a happy Homecoming weekend with a 63-55 victory over Cy Lakes on Friday, extending their winning streak to three games.

This game looked like it was going to be easy... until it stopped being easy when Lakes hit back in the second quarter. The Cats re-established control in the third quarter and thought that they could salt this one away by just getting a few stops and burning some clock in the fourth. Simple, right?

Well... in that final quarter, the Spartans decided that they would not be content to just take their loss and move on to next week. That provided some, shall we say, tense moments to close things out.

Cy Woods lit up the scoreboard to the tune of 63 points and 667 yards of offense. But, Lakes came to play as well, even if their comeback bid ultimately fell short. That definitely was not the Cy Lakes that we were accustomed to seeing during the all-CFISD district years in which they'd routinely lose by 30-40 points. The culture of that program has changed dramatically for the better and they believe that they can be a playoff team. Seeing a 30-point lead nearly vanish is definitely not ideal, but to me, Cy Woods withstood two huge haymakers from Cy Lakes in this game and as a result, they're sitting at 3-1 after the first half of district play.

We are really seeing just how significant that victory over Langham Creek was from an emotional standpoint for the Cats because it absolutely got their season back on track. They have two more games left in this slightly easier mid-season stretch, so they have two more chances to really solidify their chances for a return to the playoffs. Of course, they've got to win those games.

Game Summarized by an Image I Found on the Internet

What Happened

Cy Woods got the ball to start this game but Christian Scott misjudged the flight of the ball on the opening kickoff and as a result, the Cats had to start at their own 11. Ultimately it didn't matter because Darion Morgan scored on an 89-yard run on the first play of the game. After the Spartans turned the ball over on downs, the Cats marched down the field and Carson Danner capped off the drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jake Tesch.

Lakes responded by getting on the board with a three-yard touchdown run from Khaliq Mateen. Earlier in that drive, Mateen completed a pass to Quintavien Smith, who somehow slipped out of a couple of tackles along the sideline and dashed into the red zone to set up the score. Cy Woods answered that score with a touchdown of their own as Danner found the end zone from 21 yards out.

End of 1st Quarter: Woods 21, Lakes 7

The first play of the second quarter was a Cy Lakes punt. A couple of personal fouls aided the Cats' next drive, which was capped off by a four-yard touchdown run from Tre Mejia. However, Lakes hit back with 45 and 41-yard touchdown runs from Sean Hunter. Hunter's first touchdown run capped off a one-play drive; the second touchdown came after Kyree Anderson picked off a pass from Danner. On the very first play of Woods' next drive, Kyvon Highsmith single-handedly ended it by ripping the ball from Danner as he was getting ready to hand it off to Morgan and then he rode the momentum of the pile to put the Spartans at the door once again. On fourth down, Smith made a diving grab to secure Mateen's pass for a 14-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, so the Cats stayed in front.

Woods responded with a five-yard touchdown run from Trayse Holmes and on the final play of the first half, Danner hit Cameron Sowell for a 41-yard touchdown. It's the second time this season that Danner found Sowell for a touchdown pass right before halftime.

Halftime: Woods 42, Lakes 26

Cy Lakes came up empty to start the second half and the Cats opened up the scoring in the final 24 minutes when Jake Tesch scored on an eight-yard run. The defense got another stop and then Danner connected with Sowell for another touchdown pass, this time from 32 yards. Unfortunately, Jarel Lewis had a 50-yard run to start Lakes' next drive and after a facemask penalty, he capped it off with a 13-yard touchdown. Danner had a 50-yard touchdown run wiped out by a penalty, but he still ended up getting his touchdown from five yards.

End of 3rd Quarter: Woods 63, Lakes 33

On the first play of the final quarter, Thaddrick Johnson was left completely uncovered and he walked into the end zone after catching Mateen's pass. On the Cats' next possession, Lakes scored again when Anderson, who had the interception earlier in the game, scooped up an errant pitch and took it 33 yards for another touchdown. Woods forced a three-and-out and lined up for a field goal after their drive stalled. Unfortunately, the kick was blocked and Eamon Perry picked up the loose ball and ran 70 yards for yet another touchdown. The Spartans got the two-point conversion to cut the Cy Woods lead to eight. The Cats managed to pick themselves up, however, and successfully ran out the clock to escape with the victory.

Final: Woods 63, Lakes 55

Ground

It was yet another monster night on the ground for the offense as they ran for 484 yards. This, however, is still short of the school-record 504 they put up against Jersey Village in that crazy 74-73 game back in 2015. However, Darion Morgan set a new school record for the longest scoring run with his 89-yard run on the first play of the game. The previous record was an 88-yard run by Mason Roberts against Cy Ranch in 2012.

Carson Danner added two more touchdowns on the ground to give him 14 on the year.

Stats from Varsity Wires.

Carson Danner: 26 rush, 181 yards, 2 TD
Darion Morgan: 14 rush, 163 yards, TD
Trayse Holmes: 8 rush, 42 yards, TD
Christian Scott: 5 rush, 42 yards
Jake Tesch: 4 rush, 21 yards
Tre Mejia: 3 rush, 33 yards, TD
Jackson Jones: 2 rush, 1 yard

Air

Christian Scott had his hands on the ball but got dispossessed of it before he completed the action of making the catch. Kyree Anderson snatched it out of the air and gave the Spartans the ball.

I wonder how Cameron Sowell would have fared in the old offense. He's definitely emerging as a #1 receiver in a run-dominant offense.

Tre Mejia: 3 catches, 31 yards
Cameron Sowell: 2 catches, 73 yards, 2 TD
Connor Faulk: 2 catches, 30 yards
Christian Scott: 1 catch, 23 yards
Jake Tesch: 1 catch, 14 yards, TD
Darion Morgan: 1 catch, 12 yards

Defense

For the first time this season, the Wildcats did not force a turnover on defense. They also got put into some tough positions because of offensive miscues and the Spartans turned all three Cy Woods turnovers into 19 points.

But, yeah... gotta find a way to pick up the offense by stopping them.

Eighteen Wildcats recorded at least one tackle and Mac Bird led the way with 12. Apparently, he had a little friendly wager going with Lakes linebacker Malik Green for this game. That was what was relayed to me by his dad. Unfortunately for Mac, Malik ended up as the winner as he posted 18 tackles.

Special Teams

Lakes also turned a blocked field goal into eight points. Gustavo Olmedo successfully converted all nine of his extra-point attempts.

Cy Lakes kicker Joseph Staiano has been in that position for three years and he's gotten better each year. His first two kickoffs really messed with the Wildcat return unit and really put the offense in tough positions early.

Carson Danner punted once and it traveled 30 yards.

Christian Scott: 2 kicks returned, 18 yards
Reagan Simmons: 2 kicks returned, 13 yards
Chase Richter: 1 kick returned, 18 yards
Pearson Chesnutt: 1 kick returned, 9 yards

Man of the Match

Darion Morgan for setting a record. He showed no lingering effects of whatever was keeping him out of the Bridgeland game on that run. Even outside of that run, he was still getting good chunks of yardage so he's definitely doing his job on the offense. All 14 of his rushing attempts resulted in gains.

Looking Ahead

The Wildcats will kick off Week 7 in District 14-6A as they take on the Cypress Park Tigers at Pridgeon Stadium on Thursday, October 11 at 6:30 PM. Cy Woods will be the visitors in this game.