Photo courtesy of Phlox Photography.
Photo galleries for this week's games, including the freshman games and the 2019 Cy Woods Homecoming parade, can be viewed by clicking here.
There are two types of games that a football team should never lose: a rivalry game, and Homecoming.
Coming off another thrilling victory against Cy Lakes, the Cypress Woods Wildcats would see their schedule ease up somewhat before the showdown with Cy Ranch. And for once, instead of finding themselves in yet another chaotic "playoffs for the playoffs" dogfight, they would have the opportunity to watch the teams chasing them beat each other up from their first-place position. Of course, even though they've gotten through the meat of the schedule, there's no time for the Cats to rest on their laurels. They're going to get everyone's best shot from here on out, regardless of whether their opponent is winless, a defending district champion, or a second-year varsity program like the Cypress Park Tigers.
However, this Park team isn't a typical 1-4 team. Their record might not reflect it but this is a program that is starting to figure some things out. Park has taken the hard lessons that they had to learn in order to compete in Class 6A last year and they have improved markedly. It also helps that they've gotten a serious infusion of talent in the form of sophomores such as Cameron King, who gashed the Cats all evening, and Harold Perkins, who had a sack. They certainly competed for all 48 minutes and gave Woods a bit of a fight on Friday. With a pretty impressive freshman class just entering their system, the Tigers could be a team to watch in the coming years. I watched the freshman games on Thursday and they've got some impressive-looking kids on their lines and another lightning-quick wingback in the same mold as King. If the Tigers can develop a quarterback, they might evolve from merely being a tough out to a possible playoff contender.
It might have taken Park a little longer than Bridgeland to get off the ground, but the talent and coaching on that team are solid and they've received great support from their community and their administration. Mrs. Romo, Mr. Hecker, and Mrs. Lester (former lead counselor at Woods) have all witnessed firsthand what occurs when a program receives that kind of support when they were at Cy Woods and they've spearheaded the operation to get their students at Park and their community to get amped about Tiger football.
Make good choices this weekend! Come Monday, it's on to Springs.
What Happened
After Jakob Jones recovered a fumble to set the Cats up at Park's 25-yard line, Christian Scott opened the scoring with a four-yard run with 7:40 left in the first quarter. This was the only scoring play of the first 12 minutes.
End of 1st Quarter: Woods 7, Park 0
A 14-play drive for Park ended with them turning the ball over on downs. A 52-yard catch from Amari McDonald set Woods up at the ten-yard line and it culminated in Jackson Jones sneaking in from a yard out. A failed fake punt attempt gave the Cats the ball at the Park 25-yard line again and Christian got the pitch on the option, juked a Tiger defender, and scored on a 14-yard run. The Tigers got on the board just before halftime when Sergio Small caught the screen pass and dashed in from 15 yards. They thought that would give them a little momentum heading into the second half, but JaVarian Stewart immediately provided a response by returning the ensuing kickoff 85 yards to re-establish Woods' three-score lead.
Halftime: Woods 28, Park 7
Park got points on their first possession of the second half as Michael Tolbert snuck in from a yard. The Cats went three-and-out... but Park had twelve men on the field. After this reprieve, Woods was able to respond when Jackson Jones hit JaVarian Stewart for a 30-yard touchdown pass. The Tigers were still hanging around though and Cameron King, who's been one of their playmakers this season, busted loose to score on a 56-yard run about a minute later.
End of 3rd Quarter: Woods 35, Park 21
Cy Woods responded to Park's quick strike by going on a little drive. Nearly seven minutes later, Jackson faked everyone out and strolled into the end zone from eight yards out to cap off a 13-play, 74-yard drive. The Cats wouldn't have to wait long to score again because Michael Akita forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Trajan Armstrong pounced on the loose ball at Park's 24-yard line. Sam Myers, the freshman, capped off the scoring from Woods' end by getting in from two yards out. The last scoring play of the game went to King, who scored on a 16-yard run with 2:25 left in the game.
Final: Woods 49, Park 28
Ground
The Cats ran the ball 41 times and gained 204 yards for a very respectable five yards per carry. Nobody broke off a big run, but they just consistently gained yards each time and kept themselves moving on offense. Again, they were very workmanlike in their approach to this game.
Congratulations to Sam Myers for scoring the first of what should be many touchdowns for him during his time as a Cy Woods Wildcat football player. I'm sure he would have liked it to be a little bit prettier (he dropped the snap but picked it up and dove into the end zone), but they don't hand out additional points for style.
The box score for this game and all statistics are from Varsity Wires.
Christian Scott: 9 rush, 57 yards, 2 TD
Trayse Holmes: 10 rush, 49 yards
JaVarian Stewart: 3 rush, 36 yards
Jeshurun Williams: 5 rush, 26 yards
Rudy Mejia: 2 rush, 16 yards
Victor Benavides: 3 rush, 14 yards
Jackson Jones: 6 rush, 6 yards, 2 TD
Sam Myers: 2 rush, 5 yards, TD
Team: 1 rush, -1 yard (Sergio Small forced a fumble)
Air
Jackson didn't need to throw much, but he probably should have had two touchdown passes in this game. He had Christian Scott wide open but Christian looked like he stopped running. It would have been a 62-yard touchdown pass because there was nobody within ten yards of him.
Jackson Jones: 6-9, 132 yards, TD
Christian Scott: 4 rec, 50 yards
Amari McDonald: 1 rec, 52 yards
JaVarian Stewart 1 rec, 30 yards, TD
Defense
Allowing 28 points was not exactly how I expected this defense to perform on Friday. Credit to Park though; they found ways to keep themselves on the field. The Tigers are the first team to sustain three drives of five minutes or more against the Woods defense this season and all three of them lasted at least ten plays. The Cats defense has played well this year but lately, they've run into a few difficulties in trying to get off the field. Lakes had four drives of at least ten plays last week and that was a vastly superior offense to the one Park was trotting out. In the end, though, they still scored fewer points than Woods. It didn't look pretty at times, but the Cats, for the most part, did their job defensively.
The Tigers' constant misdirection appeared to fluster the Cats all evening. It seemed as though once they snapped the ball, there were eleven different players moving in eleven different directions. Park utilized the speed of Cameron King and James LeBlanc to get to the edges and they consistently broke off some nice runs all night. Together, the two of them combined for 198 of the Tigers' 263 rushing yards in this game.
The screen pass that went for a touchdown was designed pretty cleverly with the quarterback (Tolbert) rollout to the left as the running back (Small) and linemen slipped out to the right. The Cats sort of did Small's job for himself when they left him behind in an attempt to sack Tolbert. Small simply just had to follow his convoy into the end zone after catching the ball.
22 Wildcats recorded at least one tackle in this game and once again, Colton Morris led the way with ten. Ty Foster rebounded from a performance against Lakes that didn't match the standards he set for himself with seven tackles of his own, while Taber Tofte, Jace Williams, and Gavin Snow all finished with six. Snow had two tackles for a loss and also forced the first Park fumble, which Woods turned into a touchdown. Williams surpassed his season total in tackles in this game.
Special Teams
Michael Fernandez hit all seven of his extra points. Trajan Armstrong punted a couple of times, and JaVarian Stewart provided some more fireworks in the return game. Stewart has surely parlayed his explosiveness in the return game into an expanded role on the offense.
The Cats recovered another fumble on a kickoff in the fourth quarter and they also parlayed that turnover into points. Michael Akita jarred the ball loose from LeBlanc and Armstrong pounced on it.
Michael Fernandez: 7-7 XP
Trajan Armstrong: 2 punts, 68 yards (34 yards per kick), long of 41
JaVarian Stewart: 2 kick returns, 105 yards (long of 85), TD
Christian Scott: 1 kick return, 14 yards
Ethan Bryant: 1 kick return, 1 yard
Man of the Match
1. JaVarian Stewart
If it weren't for a holding call, JaVarian Stewart would have been the first player in Cy Woods football history to record a rushing, receiving, and a return touchdown in the same game. With his 85-yard kickoff return touchdown in this game, he's now tied with C.J. Jones for the Cy Woods single-season record for kickoff return touchdowns.
2. Christian Scott
Christian continues to be the Cats' most steady offensive option. He could have had an even bigger night had he just caught that pass from Jackson in stride in the first quarter, but he still turned in another solid outing.
3. Gavin Snow
Snow has stepped up huge since being inserted into the starting lineup. He set the tone by forcing the fumble on Park's first drive and the Cats converted it into points.
Sub-Varsity Results
Freshman Gold (4-2) - W 8-6 vs. Cy Park
Freshman Cardinal (6-1) - W 25-6 vs. Cy Park
JV Gold (2-4) - L 27-7 @ Tomball
JV Cardinal (3-4) - L 26-25 @ Cy Park
Looking Ahead
The Wildcats will face off against the Cypress Springs Panthers on Saturday, October 19, at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium at 7:00 PM. Cy Woods will be the away team in this contest.
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