Cy Woods 42, Cedar Ridge 28: 5.

2019 Record: 8-3

Photo courtesy of Phlox Photography

Click here to view all photos from this game.

The Cypress Woods Wildcats entered the 2019 Texas High School Football playoffs as co-champions of District 14-6A, but no one outside of the Cy Woods community was really expecting them to do much other than being one-and-done like they were last year. Another high-powered Round Rock ISD team would be visiting the Berry Center and leading the way for the Cedar Ridge Raiders was their do-it-all running back, Chris "Deuce" Vaughn, a Kansas State commit and one of the most electrifying players in Texas.

Jackson Jones' status appeared to be uncertain although he returned to practice during the week. The PA announcer listed Dylan Cormier as the starter, but sure enough, Jackson made his return and this invigorated a Wildcat offense that seemingly returned to form with him under center and that spurred Cy Woods to a 42-28 victory over Cedar Ridge in the bi-district round, giving the Cats their first playoff win in five years.

I'm not really an "I told you so" kind of guy, but it is probably worth noting that Dave Campbell's computer projection had Woods as 13-point underdogs entering this game. Maybe Cedar Ridge was looking at too much of the Ranch film. Maybe the computer weighed that game too heavily. I know I promised to never speak of that game again, but that was an aberration. It could have been the fact that Woods went 7-1 in district play but none of those wins were really convincing. Data is useful and sometimes... it gets proven right. But this is the playoffs. Whatever numbers that it spits out can be rendered meaningless.

Coming into this game, I felt that there were a couple of questions that needed to be addressed. Could Woods find some way to slow down Deuce Vaughn and could they sustain drives to keep that Cedar Ridge offense off the field? Well, they answered those questions with a resounding yes. They lost the time of possession battle in the first quarter but won the last three quarters decisively and Vaughn was really the only Raider player to get himself going offensively. Jalen Brown made some nice throws and had he taken all of the snaps, he might've been able to light up the Cats through the air. In the end, however, the Cats got their stops on defense. They forced the Raiders to play more deliberately on offense and prevented them from establishing the rhythm they wanted on that side of the ball.

Congratulations to Dylan Rogers for making his varsity debut. Dylan is a freshman wide receiver/linebacker who I personally thought was too good for freshman football so it was about time that he got called up. But that's not my decision to make. He is the fourth freshman to appear in a varsity football game for Cy Woods, joining Samuel Stewart, Nick Hooper, and Sam Myers.

In fact, two more freshmen dressed for this game: Juan Rojas, a B-back/linebacker, and Max Nowak, a kicker. Naturally, this is the most freshmen to ever dress for a Cy Woods varsity football game.

Final thought: Cedar Woods.

On to The Woodlands.

What Happened

The Raiders marched down the field on the first drive of the game and they capped it off with a 22-yard touchdown pass by Brown to Vaughn. Earlier on the drive, Brown scrambled away from a potential sack and hit an open Joshua Devonish for a first down. It wouldn't take the Cats long to respond. In fact, they only needed one play: Jackson Jones chucked one up for Cam Sowell, who caught the pass in stride and outran everyone to the end zone for an 80-yard touchdown. After the defense forced a three-and-out, Christian Scott capped off Woods' next drive with a seven-yard touchdown run. However, Vaughn would strike again with a 32-yard touchdown run near the end of the opening frame. The Cats got three plays in on their next drive before the end of the quarter.

End of 1st Quarter: Cy Woods 14, Cedar Ridge 14

This Woods drive wound up going 15 plays and took nearly eight minutes off the clock. It took up half the second quarter! Unfortunately, the Cats came away empty-handed as Jackson's pass to Dylan Rogers was batted down on fourth and goal from the Cedar Ridge two-yard line. Both defenses held until Woods got the ball inside the Raiders' 30 with 45 seconds remaining in the first half. This drive nearly ended in disaster as Jackson badly telegraphed a pass and it was almost returned for a touchdown by Cedar Ridge cornerback Gavin Dunn, who couldn't hold on to the ball. Jackson got a reprieve as he evaded the rush and hit a wide-open Jeshurun Williams for a 21-yard touchdown right before halftime.

Halftime: Cy Woods 21, Cedar Ridge 14

The Cats got the ball to start the second half and just as Cedar Ridge did to start the game, Cy Woods returned the favor to start the second half by scoring a touchdown. Trayse Holmes finished it off as he bowled over a couple of Raider defenders on his way to scoring from 15 yards out. The Cats turned the Raiders over on downs as Chris Agnew and Austyn Cohrs sacked Brown on fourth down, but Woods ended up punting on their next drive and an absolute disaster of a punt attempt allowed Cedar Ridge to take over inside Woods' ten-yard line. The Raiders thought they had a touchdown when Brown found Devonish, but he was lined up in an ineligible position. That... did not sit too well with Cedar Ridge's head coach, Sam Robinson, who proceeded to unleash an epic tirade and he got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for his troubles. While announcing that penalty, the ref pointed in the wrong direction and actually apologized for it.

The Raiders still scored anyway as Brown hit D.J. Rountree for a 12-yard touchdown on fourth and goal. Well, that's one of the weirder sequences of football I've seen. From the punt to the touchdown taken off the board to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the coach... have I seen it all? Ha, not even close.

End of 3rd Quarter: Cy Woods 28, Cedar Ridge 21

The Wildcats were five plays into their drive when the third quarter ended. On the first play of the fourth, Jackson hit Rudy Mejia for a 44-yard pass that went all the way down to Cedar Ridge's one-yard line. One play later, Jackson snuck in from a yard out. The defense turned the Raiders away on another fourth down and then Holmes ripped off a 42-yard run to put the Cats in the red zone. Jackson more or less ended this one with a three-yard touchdown run with 4:43 left in the game. Cedar Ridge had the final scoring play as they called a hook-and-ladder and Vaughn outraced everyone to the end zone from 78 yards.

Final: Cy Woods 42, Cedar Ridge 28

Ground

Trayse Holmes followed up his big game in Bryan with another monster performance. This is the Trayse Holmes that we expected to see heading into the season and he's found that form at the right time. Christian Scott was dependable as always and Rudy Mejia turned in a solid all-around performance.

The box score for this game, as always, is provided by Varsity Wires.

Trayse Holmes: 14 rush, 123 yards, TD
Jackson Jones: 14 rush, 54 yards, 2 TD
Rudy Mejia: 9 rush, 57 yards
Christian Scott: 8 rush, 40 yards, TD
Jeshurun Williams: 2 rush, 15 yards
Team: 2 rush, -2 yards (Jackson kneeled twice to end the game)

Air

Jackson could've had an even bigger night through the air. A couple of passes on the drive with the disaster punt hit receivers square in their hands. They weren't hauled in. Other than that, he hasn't missed a beat.

Jackson Jones: 7-16, 208 yards, 2 TD

Cameron Sowell: 2 rec, 89 yards, TD
Rudy Mejia: 2 rec, 66 yards
Jeshurun Williams: 2 rec, 33 yards, TD
Amari McDonald: 1 rec, 20 yards

Defense

Neither team committed a turnover, so this game boiled down to which defense could get the stops when they needed and in the end, Cy Woods won in that regard. Which defense could avoid giving up chunk plays? Again, the Cats managed to limit the damage from those chunk plays. They weren't lights out by any means, but they did their job and Cy Woods won the game. That's good enough for me.

The Cats sacked Jalen Brown three times in this game but they could've had a couple more. The tackling was fine, it could've been better. A little too much arm-tackling for my taste, especially from the linemen. It's fine if the guy goes down but if you're gonna do that, better make sure your grip is true.

Brown extended a few plays with his feet and he's a pretty big kid, so he wasn't the easiest to bring down. As I said earlier, Vaughn was really the only guy on their offense to get himself going and the Raiders ended up trying to give him as many touches as possible. That strategy usually ends up well if no one else steps up, and nobody else on Cedar Ridge's offense really did.

Fifteen Wildcats recorded at least one tackle and Chase Richter led the way with seven. The defensive line got to Jalen Brown three times in this game; Jason Christenson finished the night with 1.5 sacks, while Chris Agnew, Tyler Sherrill, and Austyn Cohrs were all credited with a half-sack.

Special Teams

Next time, Trajan... just take the safety. He did have a good punt late in the first half that pinned the Raiders at their two-yard line. They went three-and-out and the Cats wound up scoring right before halftime.

Trajan Armstrong: 3 punts, 51 yards; long of 43

Michael Fernandez made all six of his extra-point attempts.

Christian had a nice return that was wiped out by a block in the back. Ja'Varian Stewart had some action on his mind with his returns. He fumbled on a pretty good one but fortunately, Reagan Simmons pounced on the loose ball right away.

Christian Scott: 1 kick return, 10 yards
Ja'Varian Stewart: 3 kick returns, 51 yards
Chase Richter: 1 punt return, 6 yards

Man of the Match

1. Jackson Jones

Welcome back.

2. Defensive line

Jalen Brown is a pretty good quarterback but the Cats made him sweat quite a bit.

3. Trayse Holmes

As I've said, Trayse is starting to heat up at the right time. He's not Trent, but making people miss isn't his style. His block recognition has allowed him to break off some nice runs as we've seen the last couple of weeks. As long as he gets four, five yards on a consistent basis, he's keeping the offense moving.

Looking Ahead

Round 2!

The Cypress Woods Wildcats will take on The Woodlands Highlanders in the Area round of the 6A Division I, Region II bracket on Friday, November 22, at Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union Stadium. Kickoff is at 7:00 PM.