Last weekend, the Cypress Woods Wildcats traveled to College Station to take part in the 2019 Texas 7-on-7 State Tournament. The Cats made their fifth appearance in College Station and this marked the second straight year which they qualified, which is the first time that they've made the tournament in consecutive years.
Overall, the Wildcats finished with a 3-2 record and advanced to the Round of 16 in the Championship bracket. Advancing to the Championship bracket was also a first for Cy Woods 7-on-7; in their previous four appearances at the state tournament, the Wildcats ended up in the consolation bracket and lost the first game all four times. In fact, just winning one game in bracket play set yet another new team record because they had lost the first bracket game every time before this past Saturday.
I also had to go back and fact-check myself because they qualified in 2012 but missed the playoffs in real football that year. That year is the outlier; they've made the playoffs in the fall in every other season in which they qualified for this tournament.
In pool play, the Cats were placed in Pool O with Temple, Hebron, and Sharyland Pioneer and there was plenty of drama on Friday.
Pool O Game 1: Cy Woods 28, Hebron 21
The Cats opened the tournament with a victory but they had to stave off two hail mary attempts from the Hawks at the end. They batted down the first one, which should have been intercepted. The second try, however, was caught. Fortunately, they managed to tag the receiver at the one-yard line just as time expired.
Pool O Game 2: Pioneer 34, Cy Woods 29
Uh... I think I will refrain from commenting on the officiating here. I'll just say that some of their decisions baffled me. Refs aside, a dropped pass in the endzone on a second and goal about midway through the first half ended up haunting the Cats. The Wildcats came up empty-handed on that possession and the D-Backs, who were leading at the time, scored on their next series to extend their lead to two scores. The Cats won a back-and-forth second half but they couldn't quite get over the hump; their comeback bid was squashed following an interception with less than a minute to go. They competed well in this one despite the poor officiating, but they also made quite a few plays that lose games.
Pool O Game 3: Cy Woods 40, Temple 38
I wasn't sure if either team was intent on stopping the other in this game. Well, that looked to be the case in the first half as both Wildcats exchanged scores in a fast and furious first 20 minutes. When the dust settled, Cy Woods held a 27-26 lead. Both teams scored twice in the second half and at that point, the final-game malaise seemed to set in. In the end, however, Cy Woods took the lead within the final 30 seconds and time ran out on Temple, sending Cy Woods to the Championship bracket for the first time.
Meanwhile, on the other side of field 7, Pioneer defeated Hebron 34-26... and then the Royal Rumble broke out. When the dust settled, Pioneer, who had won the pool, and Hebron were both disqualified from the tournament. Apparently, a Hebron player who had been ejected earlier somehow found his way back into the post-game handshake line where he proceeded to continue with his idiocy and it all went downhill from there.
As a result, Cy Woods ended up with the #1 seed in Pool O, which meant that they won their pool for the first time at the 7-on-7 state tournament, although a disqualification technically gave them the top spot.
On to day two...
Championship Bracket Game 1: Cy Woods 34, Parkland 27
The Cats' first game on Saturday pitted them against the Matadors of Parkland, who traveled 684 miles from the northeast side of El Paso to take part in the tournament. Woods scored 34 and won, but they really should have won in blowout fashion. The Cats managed to get three defensive stops but were only able to score on one of their ensuing offensive series. A bit frustrating, but a win is a win.
Championship Bracket Round of 16: DeSoto 32, Cy Woods 28
This one stung. A tipped ball on third down very late in the game just eluded Chase Richter's grasp, otherwise, they would have had at least one more game. Instead, the Cats had less than thirty seconds to work with and they were only able to get one play off before time expired.
Cy Woods' three victories in this tournament might have equaled or even surpassed the number of wins they had in their previous four trips combined because I remember that they went 0-4 in 2014 and 0-4 again in 2018. When you look at how the Cats fared in College Station in the past, this tournament was a rousing success. They snapped what had been at least a nine-game losing streak (I couldn't find pool play information for 2010 and 2012). As I said, they advanced to the championship bracket for the first time and finished as the top seed in a pool for the first time.
State championships aren't won in the summer in t-shirts and shorts, but 7-on-7 is definitely a part of the process of trying to win one in December. I was extremely pleased to watch their progress; they might have qualified for the state tournament on their first attempt but they kept competing and kept striving to get better and they wound up finishing 9-1 in the qualification phase. Winning nine out of ten in anything isn't easy, especially when you've achieved the objective you set out to complete early in the process. Mr. Jones and Mr. Richter deserve a ton of credit for keeping the kids focused during the build-up to the tournament.
The connection between Jackson Jones and Cameron Sowell will be lethal this season. Cam is a true home run threat... he's a #1 receiver in any offense. I would've really liked to see him in the old spread; he definitely could have been a 1,000-yard receiver. I was also impressed with Amari McDonald throughout this phase. The story on him is that he originally began high school at Woods before moving to Cy Ranch and then moving back. This kid has some springs and hauled in some acrobatic catches. He'll form a potent 1-2 punch with Cam in the fall.
Defensively, the Cats played with some legitimate intensity throughout this phase. They shut out Langham Creek in their first qualifying tournament and in their final tune-up tournament in Spring, they held Pearland Dawson to just six points. In a game that's skewed heavily towards offense, holding an opponent to single digits is impressive. During the tournament, they bent but didn't break and they came up with timely stops to secure wins against Hebron, Temple, and Parkland. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what this group can do when they put the pads on.
Now, I will never personally attack any kid who plays for Cy Woods. With that being said, I did notice a few instances in College Station where the defensive kids got a bit flustered with calls that didn't go their way. Some of those decisions absolutely were terrible. Just got to find a way to put it behind them and keep playing.
The rebuilding process is over. Expectations for the Cypress Woods Wildcats, both internally and externally, are the highest that it's been since... 2014, probably. Once again, this is a program that is expected to compete for district championships and make deep playoff runs annually.
