Photo by Tom Dendy
In their final tune-up before the playoffs, the Cypress Woods Wildcats suddenly found themselves in a fight in the second half. Fortunately, they emerged with a 20-19 victory over the Bryan Vikings in the first meeting between the two teams. The result of this game meant that Cy Woods clinched the #1 seed for District 14-6A in the Class 6A Division 1 bracket of the Texas high school football playoffs.
The Viking defense was as good as advertised; they kept the Cats in check for much of the second half and they held out long enough for their offense to suddenly awaken in the third quarter. Woods saw a 13-0 halftime lead vanish and that spawned some tension in the stands. The Vikings weren't necessarily putting together five-minute drives, either; instead, they took advantage of some good field position that set up their touchdowns. In fact, Bryan converted both of the turnovers they forced into touchdowns.
In a game as tight as this, one miscue can definitely decide the game. I think it's definitely reasonable to say that the Cats had luck on their side on Thursday because had the Vikes executed on a couple of plays where they had Woods dead to rights, they could have won this game. Maybe they were looking ahead to next week.
Well, they made just enough plays to survive this game, so now they can start thinking about the playoffs.
A couple of notes from this game...
- This was the first time that Cy Woods has ever won a game in which they scored 20 points or fewer; previously, they were 0-20 in such games.
- Coach Faith is now tied with Coach Jones with 38 wins.
Game Summed Up in an Image I Found on the Internet
What Happened
The Wildcats got a victory to get some momentum heading into the playoffs, but the Vikings had a chance to radically alter their route.
Cy Woods dodged a huge bullet on the game's first drive when Jonathan Sparkman left Reagan Simmons in the dust on a go route on a third down... only to drop the pass from Nico Bulhof. Sparkman would have scored easily had he made the catch. The Cats and Vikings traded punts to start things off; Bulhof had a nice kick that was fair caught by Jake Tesch at the 7. That ended up being irrelevant as the Cats covered 93 yards in just four plays, capped off by Tesch's 39-yard touchdown catch that opened the scoring.
End of 1st Quarter: Cy Woods 7, Bryan 0
Gustavo Olmedo hit a couple of 38-yard field goals that accounted for the only scoring in the second quarter.
Halftime: Cy Woods 13, Bryan 0
Woods failed to convert a fourth down in their own territory on the first drive of the second half, so that set Bryan up with great field position. However, the defense managed to quash the threat when Buster Cohrs recovered a fumble in the red zone. The Cats couldn't capitalize, however, and a nice punt return put the Vikes in Cy Woods territory again. Ja'lijah Tyler busted loose for 39 yards to put them in business, and one play later, he put Bryan on the board with a seven-yard touchdown run in which he had to navigate through a slew of bodies strewn all over the field.
Carson Danner then threw an interception that set up the Vikings' next scoring drive. On 3rd and 17, Bulhof chucked up a prayer that was received by Matt Moreno, giving them first and goal. Two plays later, Tyler punched it in and Bulhof, who missed the extra point on the Vikings' first touchdown, hit on his second chance to tie the game at 13, setting the stage for a nerve-wracking final 12 minutes.
End of 3rd Quarter: Cy Woods 13, Bryan 13
On third down, Danner kept the Cats' first drive of the fourth quarter alive by busting loose for 22 yards. Two plays later, he put Cy Woods back in front with a nine-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing Bryan drive, Tyler got loose again with a 37-yard run to put them at the Cy Woods 30. However, Nolan Authorlee got an interception to end that Bryan threat.
Unfortunately, one play later, Darion Morgan was stripped and the Vikings recovered the fumble at the Cy Woods' six-yard line. Bulhof backed into the end zone from three yards out and they decided to go for two and the lead. The Cats were ready for the trickery as Reagan Simmons picked off Matt Moreno, who was looking to throw after getting the ball on a reverse. Simmons returned the ball for two points, but a block in the back wiped the points off the board. Bryan got another big punt return, but Jakob Jones jarred the ball loose from Jalen Davis, and Caleb Rutherford, who forced a fumble earlier in the game, recovered the fumble that allowed Cy Woods to escape with the victory.
Final: Cy Woods 20, Bryan 19
Ground
Carson Danner became the first Wildcat since R.J. Harmon in 2014 to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. With 1,017 yards, he is now 102 yards away from setting a new single-season record; R.J. finished with 1,118 yards.
The touchdown run in the fourth gives Danner 19 on the season; he's four away from setting another single-season record that currently belongs to Nick Hooper, who ran for 22 touchdowns in 2014.
Bryan seemingly went all-in on outside containment; they were not going to let Jake Tesch or Christian Scott beat them, which is why Danner finished with over three times as many rushing attempts as the next person.
Carson Danner: 29 rush, 154 yards, TD
Jake Tesch: 7 rush, 46 yards
Darion Morgan: 8 rush, 42 yards
Christian Scott: 2 rush, 16 yards
Trayse Holmes: 1 rush, 2 yards
Team: 2 rush, -2 yards; Danner kneeled twice to end the game
Air
Jake Tesch almost had a completion off a halfback pass, but a big hit jarred the ball free from Connor Faulk's grasp.
Carson Danner: 4-9, 80 yards, TD, INT
Jake Tesch: 0-1
Jake Tesch: 2 catches, 68 yards, TD
Cameron Sowell: 1 catch, 9 yards
Konner Sabrsula: 1 catch, 3 yards
Defense
The Cats held Bryan to just 37 yards of offense in the first half. They suddenly had some issues with the big play when the Vikings made their comeback bid, however.
Ja'lijah Tyler proved to be a thorn in Cy Woods' side all night, but fortunately, he was really the only Viking who could get anything going on offense.
Nolan Authorlee's interception in the third quarter was his fourth of the season. That was nice to see considering that the Vikings hung a couple of big plays on him earlier in the quarter. He could have had another interception in the fourth quarter but he dropped the ball; he would've scored had he hung on. Mac Bird also dropped what would have been a pick-six early in the game. Caleb Rutherford forced a fumble and recovered another that was forced by Jakob Jones; Buster Cohrs recovered the fumble that Caleb forced.
Twenty Wildcats recorded at least one tackle and Mac Bird led the way with eight.
Special Teams
Danner smacked his longest punt of the season, a 64-yarder that resulted in a touchback. Gustavo Olmedo hit on all four of his kicks: two field goals and two extra points.
Jake Tesch: 3 punts returned, 18 yards; 1 kickoff returned, 10 yards
Tre Mejia: 1 kick returned, 0 yards; he caught the kick inbounds and his momentum took him out of bounds afterward.
Man of the Match
I'll go with Caleb Rutherford as he came up huge by having a hand in forcing two of Bryan's three turnovers in this game.
Looking Ahead
The Cypress Woods Wildcats will begin their road to Arlington at 3 PM on Saturday, November 17 when they take on the Round Rock Dragons at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium in a Class 6A Division 1, Region 2 Bi-district playoff game.
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