Klein Cain 54, Cypress Woods 26: The End

Final 2020 Record: 6-4

The Cypress Woods Wildcats' journey through the playoffs proved to be short-lived as they were eliminated by the Klein Cain Hurricanes in the bi-district round by a final score of 54-26. In the end, Cain's backfield tandem of Carson Roper and Jaydon Blue proved to be too much for the Wildcats to handle. 

It's never fun when a season ends, especially in the playoffs, but there is no shame whatsoever in losing at this stage of the season. Not everyone receives the opportunity to play beyond the regular season, and at this point, there are very few "bad" teams remaining. 

The Class of 2021 only played one playoff game as seniors, but they still played a pivotal role in the rebuilding of Cy Woods football. 

Trayse Holmes carried the Holmes family name well during his time in the program. Dylan Cormier waited patiently for his turn to take over the starting quarterback job and once he finally received that opportunity, he performed admirably. Chris Agnew made the varsity when his older brother, Ethan, was leading the Wildcats back to relevance and he emerged as one of the leaders of the program. The contributions that this year's seniors made throughout the years won't be forgotten.

I'm sorry that it took me until Christmas to finally get around to finishing this post. See you in 2021, and hopefully, things can get a little closer to normal. Until then, stay safe and please keep your masks on. The other sports would like to play their seasons as well. Let's not deny them that opportunity. 

Cypress Woods 56, Cypress Lakes 18: On to the Playoffs...

Final 2020 regular-season record: 6-3, 5-2 in District 16-6A

Photo courtesy: Carmen Agnew, Phlox Photography/MaxPreps

Photo gallery for this week's games: Varsity, JV combined, Freshman combined

Plug: Are you a parent of a Cy Woods football player and would like to have some pictures to remember this season by? Phlox Photography has you covered. Photographers will be on-site at every Cy Woods varsity football game, all Cy Woods sub-varsity home games, and depending on availability, most away sub-varsity games. 

For more information on how to purchase a spotlight photo gallery for your athlete, please contact Tom Dendy, JoAnn Nowak, or Carmen Agnew, visit the Phlox website for more details, or check out this explainer video on how to order photos. Tom, Mrs. Nowak, and Mrs. Agnew are all certified MaxPreps photographers and you can also view their photos on Cy Woods' MaxPreps page.

Please do not copy/paste or save the watermarked images on MaxPreps to use as your own. That's stealing. Stealing is bad.

Well, the Cypress Woods Wildcats' final regular-season contest pitted them against a Cy Lakes team that is basically back at square one after they bid farewell to a talented senior class. With a playoff spot secured, all Woods needed to do was to get through this game with as little drama as possible and they did exactly that by cruising to a 56-18 victory over a winless Spartan squad. 

Everybody played, no one got hurt. Job well done. Let's get some rest and it's on to the playoffs.

What Happened

It took three plays for Woods to get on the board as Dylan Cormier opened the scoring with a 27-yard run. Cormier then found John Niles for a 12-yard touchdown pass and five minutes later, Parker Childers blocked a Lakes field goal attempt, which Brenton Frizell scooped up and returned 72 yards for another Woods score.

End of 1st Quarter: Cypress Woods 21, Cypress Lakes 0

The second quarter started out a lot like the first one: Dylan Cormier found the end zone with a 17-yard run and then threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Myles Johnson. Trey Craft got in with a six-yard run just before halftime.

Halftime: Woods 42, Lakes 0

Jeremiah Sherrill got the Spartans on the board with a 38-yard touchdown run. KeLan Dove dropped the ball while trying to hold the extra-point kick, but he managed to scoop it up and ran it in for two points. Craft scored again on a nine-yard run, but Lakes scored again thanks to a seven-yard run by Jordan Braud.

End of 3rd Quarter: Woods 49, Lakes 15

Brenden Cantu got loose and scored on a 39-yard run and then Lakes bled out the rest of the clock for a 24-yard field goal by Pasqual Garay. The Spartans ran 19 plays for 60 yards and took 9:43 off the clock on that drive.

Final: Cypress Woods 56, Cypress Lakes 18

Ground

The Wildcats spread out 257 rushing yards among seven different players. Cantu's 39-yard run was Cy Woods' longest offensive play of the evening. It's looking like the run game is hitting its stride at the right time.

Air

Considering that Woods led big for most of the night, they didn't really need to pass the ball. Dylan Cormier completed four passes and two of them resulted in touchdowns. 

Defense

Aside from two long Jeremiah Sherrill runs in which a mix of backups and starters were in, the Spartans never really threatened the Wildcats. 

22 Wildcats recorded at least one tackle and the leader this week was Elijah Nicholas, a backup defensive end who had seven. Chris Agnew, Christian Faulkner, Carson Smith, and Evan Bartkowiak all finished with six as Woods brought everyone in on the action. 

Special Teams

For the second straight week, the Wildcats did not punt. After missing two extra points against Springs, Michael Fernandez bounced back to hit all eight of his chances.

Game Summary from Varsity Wires

- No punts!

- Typical blowout where there's a bunch of guys recording stats.

- It was nice of Lakes to just bleed the rest of the game away in the fourth quarter.

- Not often that Woods gets blown away in terms of time of possession; usually it's the other way around.

Man of the Match

Everyone played, no one got hurt, the Wildcats won easily, job well done.

Sub-Varsity Results

Freshmen 26 (2-0 as a combined team), Cypress Lakes 6

JV (6-1 as a combined team) 42, Cypress Lakes 0

Looking Ahead

The Wildcats will need to wait two weeks before their Road to Arlington begins. It's looking like a trip to Klein Memorial to take on Klein Cain to start. 

Cypress Woods 63, Cypress Springs 36: Happy Homecoming.

2020 Record: 5-3, 4-2 in District 16-6A

Photo courtesy: JoAnn Nowak, Phlox Photography/MaxPreps

Photo galleries for this week's games: Varsity, JV Combined, Freshman A, Freshman B

Plug: Are you a parent of a Cy Woods football player and would like to have some pictures to remember this season by? Phlox Photography has you covered. Photographers will be on-site at every Cy Woods varsity football game, all Cy Woods sub-varsity home games, and depending on availability, most away sub-varsity games. 

For more information on how to purchase a spotlight photo gallery for your athlete, please contact Tom Dendy, JoAnn Nowak, or Carmen Agnew, visit the Phlox website for more details, or check out this explainer video on how to order photos. Tom, Mrs. Nowak, and Mrs. Agnew are all certified MaxPreps photographers and you can also view their photos on Cy Woods' MaxPreps page.

The Cypress Woods Wildcats clinched a berth in the 2020 playoffs with their 63-36 victory over the Cypress Springs Panthers on Homecoming. 

Well, you know, sometimes there's not really much to say. I guess part of that is because I'm so late in getting this post out. The Wildcats did what they were expected to do by putting up nearly 600 yards of offense while trouncing an inferior team and winning the Homecoming game. Don't ever lose this game.

On to Lakes.

What Happened

Trey Craft opened the scoring with a seven-yard run. Connor Morris scored on an eight-yard run and Dylan Cormier punched it in from a yard out near the end of the first quarter.

End of 1st Quarter: Cypress Woods 21, Cypress Springs 0

Trayse Holmes scored on a two-yard run and this game was on the verge of really turning ugly, but the Panthers showed a pulse by getting on the board courtesy of a 70-yard touchdown catch by Kristofer Dargin. Then on Woods' next drive, Trey Craft got stripped by Isaiah Keller, who ran 63 yards the other way for another Springs score. Suddenly, the Wildcats only had a two-score lead despite largely shutting down the Panthers. Woods responded by scoring the last 17 points of the quarter as Dylan Cormier threw touchdown passes to JaVarian Stewart and Connor Morris. Michael Fernandez added a 32-yard field goal to end the quarter. 

Halftime: Woods 44, Springs 14

Luis Medina-Avelar opened the scoring in the second half for the Panthers with a 41-yard field goal. The Wildcats played much of the second half with a mix of starters and backups; one of those backups, Brenden Cantu, scored on a ten-yard run. Terrill Curtis scored on a 22-yard catch for Springs.

End of 3rd Quarter: Woods 50, Springs 24

Woods and Springs both had two rushing touchdowns in the final period; Woods got a pair of one-yard touchdown runs from Zack Smolko while the Panthers got in with a six-yard run by Quazean Bou and a ten-yard run from Marc Bailey.

Final: Cypress Woods 63, Cypress Springs 36

Ground

For the second straight week, Cy Woods ran for over 400 yards. 28 of the 37 first downs they recorded in this game came via the ground. Amazingly, no one ran for 100 yards. 

Air

After struggling with the passing game the last two weeks, Dylan Cormier bounced back with a nice performance. He probably could have had three touchdown passes, but Myles Johnson got caught around the five-yard line.

Defense

Yes, the Wildcat defense gave up 29 points (the other seven was scored by the Panther defense), but there wasn't really any point in time during this game where you had the feeling that Woods was seriously threatened. The Wildcats took a 30-point lead into halftime and the backups played for much of the second half.

Parker Childers had an interception return for a touchdown wiped out by a block in the back. 

A season-high twenty Wildcats recorded at least one tackle in this game and we have a three-way tie at the top as Juan Rojas, Dylan Rogers (as usual), and Tyler Sherrill all finished with six apiece. Sherrill also had two sacks in this game. 

Special Teams

Cy Woods did not punt in this game. Michael Fernandez hit a 32-yard field goal but missed two extra points which denied him from finishing with a ten-point game.

Game Summary from Varsity Wires

All those rushing yards for Woods and they didn't even have a 100-yard rusher.

Another season high in rushing yards for the Wildcats!

Man of the Match: Everyone

Everyone played, the Wildcats won handily, job well done all around.

Sub-Varsity Results

JV (5-1 as a combined team) 28, Cypress Springs 6

Freshman Cardinal (1-5-1, 0-4-1) 28, Cypress Springs 28

Freshman Gold (3-4, 1-3) 34, Cypress Springs 24

Looking Ahead

The Cypress Woods Wildcats will wrap up the 2020 regular season on Thursday, November 19 as they take on the Cypress Lakes Spartans at Ken Pridgeon Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:30 and the Wildcats will be the away team in this contest.

Cypress Woods 42, Cypress Park 28: Running Riot

2020 Record: 4-3, 3-2 in District 16-6A

Photo courtesy: Carmen Agnew, Phlox Photography/MaxPreps

Photo galleries for this week's games: Varsity, JV Combined, Freshman A

Plug: Are you a parent of a Cy Woods football player and would like to have some pictures to remember this season by? Phlox Photography has you covered. Photographers will be on-site at every Cy Woods varsity football game, all Cy Woods sub-varsity home games, and depending on availability, most away sub-varsity games. 

For more information on how to purchase a spotlight photo gallery for your athlete, please contact Tom Dendy, JoAnn Nowak, or Carmen Agnew, visit the Phlox website for more details, or check out this explainer video on how to order photos. Tom, Mrs. Nowak, and Mrs. Agnew are all certified MaxPreps photographers and you can also view their photos on Cy Woods' MaxPreps page.

After getting suffocated on offense against Cy Ranch, the Cypress Woods Wildcats' offense could only go up from there. They knew that they wasted an excellent defensive performance against the Mustangs and had to go back to work to right the ship. Well, the work they put in during the week certainly paid off as they ran riot on a Cypress Park Tiger football team, setting a new season high in rushing yards as they topped the Tigers 42-28 in a game that felt a bit more lopsided than the final score suggested.

This matchup featured two teams that had their momentum stunted; of course, we know what happened to Woods against Ranch. Park also suffered a massive defeat against Bridgeland where they were simply blown away in the second half. Only one team can regain the momentum they lost, and well, glad it was the Wildcats. Couple this win that gives them the tiebreaker over the Tigers with a Langham Creek loss to Ranch and the Wildcats are now firmly in control of their own playoff destiny. They should slot in nicely in the #3 spot in District 16-6A.

On to Springs.

What Happened

After a Cameron King interception, the Tigers opened the scoring on a five-yard touchdown pass from Edward Dixon to Nate Livingston. The Wildcats got on the board with an 11-yard touchdown run by Trayse Holmes.

End of 1st Quarter: Woods 7, Park 7

Woods marched down the field to start the second quarter and Holmes capped it off with a 14-yard touchdown run. However, Livingston re-tied the game by busting loose for a 66-yard scoring run. Both teams traded turnovers on their next possessions; Dylan Cormier got intercepted in the red zone and then Chris Agnew stripped Harold Perkins of the ball and then pounced on the loose ball inside the Tigers' ten-yard line. One play later, Cormier atoned for his pick by scoring on a nine-yard run. Carson Smith made a nice diving interception to end Park's next drive at one play and the Wildcats also scored off that turnover as Trayse Holmes found the end zone for the third time on a seven-yard run. Chris Agnew smacked Dixon on Park's next drive and the dying duck found its way into Grant Ladner's arms. Ladner managed to return his interception into the red zone, giving the Wildcats a chance to put this game away early. Unfortunately, Cormier threw his second interception of the quarter with thirty seconds to go in the half.

Halftime: Woods 28, Park 14

The Wildcats were supposed to get the ball to start the second half, but Christian Castaneda stole that possession with a surprise onside kick. Fortunately, the Wildcat defense turned them over on downs. Holmes' fourth touchdown run of the game came from two yards out and was the only scoring play of the third quarter.

End of 3rd Quarter: Woods 35, Park 14

Cameron King scored on a three-yard run early in the fourth and then for some reason, Park called for a pooch kick when the Wildcats went all-out to guard against an onside kick. Myles West fair caught the kick without much difficulty, Woods gladly accepted the gift of good field position, and they repaid Park by driving down the field for another touchdown as Cormier finished it off with a six-yard run. The Tigers got the last score of the night when Harold Perkins caught a pass in the flat on the right side. He broke a few tackles, changed fields, and scored from 64 yards out. That's a seriously impressive play from one of the top players in the class of 2022.

Final: Cypress Woods 42, Cypress Park 28

Ground

The Tigers simply had no answer for the Cy Woods rushing attack. The Wildcat offense clearly wanted to purge themselves of the awful feelings they had after not scoring against Ranch the previous week and they just took it to Park from the opening snap. 

Trayse Holmes' four rushing touchdowns tie a Cy Woods single-game record; it's the eighth time that a Wildcat has accomplished this feat. The Wildcats set the edge on outside runs extremely well and that allowed Philip White and Trey Craft to rip off some nice runs. Woods got some good solid running out of Dylan Cormier, who made up for his poor showing in the passing game with two scoring runs.

Air

For the second straight week, Dylan Cormier did not have a good game passing the ball. Throwing three interceptions kind of speaks for itself. The first two picks were Park players just making plays. The third, however, came on a lame-duck throw and was rather inopportune, as the Cats squandered a chance to end this game in short order.

DC will be fine, he's shown that he can make the throws that he's expected to make when called upon.

Defense

Another inspired performance from the Wildcat defense, who have picked the perfect time to play their best football. The Tigers' trio of Harold Perkins, Nate Livingston, and Cameron King were largely bottled up. King was largely a non-factor even though he scored and had an interception, while Perkins and Livingston had just one explosive play apiece. 

Other than that, Park just couldn't move the ball because those three are essentially their offense. The Tigers have done well up to this point because they've decided to give their three best players the ball as much as possible, but that also speaks to their lack of depth. Take one of them out of the game and Park's offense gets forced to go off-script.

Fourteen Wildcats recorded at least one tackle and once again, Dylan Rogers took first place with twelve. Grant Ladner put up another fine performance as he had eight tackles (three for loss) and an interception. 

Special Teams

The one miscue really came when Philip White muffed a punt. He called for a fair catch, dove for it, and missed. Yeah, that's not an ideal way to field a fair catch. He did have another nice kickoff return, however.

Michael Fernandez hit all six of his extra-point attempts. Woods did not punt until about 2:30 remaining in the game.

Game Summary from Varsity Wires

Two big plays inflated Park's total yardage in this game.

Woods' 431 rushing yards in this game shattered the previous season high of 349. 

Man of the Match: Philip White, Dylan Rogers, and Grant Ladner

Philip White has quickly turned into a key player for the Wildcat offense since his call-up. He was actually slated to be the JV Cardinal quarterback to start the season but [redacted]. Once he was cleared, I guess the coaches decided to bring him up as an A-back to bolster a group that had been struggling to start the season. 

At this point, I don't know what else to say about Dylan Rogers. He has a legitimate chance to win Defensive Newcomer of the Year. He has the potential to become the most heralded recruit in Cy Woods football history. I've seen very few players like him come through the program and perform the way he has as a sophomore. Dylan will be expected to lead the Wildcat defense in the next couple of years and I know he's more than capable of assuming the responsibilities that come with leadership.

Grant Ladner has turned in two straight strong performances. With a safety last week and an interception to go along with three tackles for a loss in this game, he's emerged as a big-time playmaker for a Wildcat defense that's hitting its stride.

Sub-Varsity Results

JV (4-1 as a combined team) 35, Cypress Park 18

Cypress Park 49, Freshman Cardinal (1-5, 0-4) 12 

The Freshman Gold team apparently beat Kingwood Park? If so, they are 2-4 on the year and 0-3 in district play.

Looking Ahead

It's Homecoming at the Woods! Although, given the fact that we are still (yes, still) in a pandemic, the Homecoming festivities will undoubtedly take on a much different tone.

The 13th Cypress Woods Homecoming football game will take place on Friday, November 13 at Ken Pridgeon Stadium as the Wildcats host the Cypress Springs Panthers. Kickoff is at 7:00 PM.

Cypress Ranch 20, Cypress Woods 2: Misery.

2020 Record: 3-3, 2-2 in District 16-6A

Photo courtesy: Carmen Agnew, Phlox Photography/MaxPreps

Photo galleries for this week's games: Varsity, JV Combined, Freshman A, Freshman B

Plug: Are you a parent of a Cy Woods football player and would like to have some pictures to remember this season by? Phlox Photography has you covered. Photographers will be on-site at every Cy Woods varsity football game, all Cy Woods sub-varsity home games, and depending on availability, most away sub-varsity games. 

For more information on how to purchase a spotlight photo gallery for your athlete, please contact Tom Dendy, JoAnn Nowak, or Carmen Agnew, visit the Phlox website for more details, or check out this explainer video on how to order photos. Tom, Mrs. Nowak, and Mrs. Agnew are all certified MaxPreps photographers and you can also view their photos on Cy Woods' MaxPreps page.

I'll start with a content warning because this game was simply an affront to the sport of American football. The descriptions of this game aren't pretty and if you were there in person like I was, my condolences go out to you for subjecting yourself to this atrocity.

Oh brother.

On a beautiful afternoon to close out October, the Cypress Woods Wildcats delivered an absolute stinker on offense. Meanwhile, the defense more than earned their keep as they held the Cypress Ranch Mustangs to just 210 yards on the day, but Ranch's offense found a way to be slightly less incompetent and once again, for the seventh consecutive year, the Mustangs will be writing the next chapter of this book as they emerged with a 20-2 victory. 

For the first time since the 2013 regular-season finale against Jersey Village, the Cypress Woods Wildcats failed to score a point on offense. So technically, yes... the offense got shut out. Thanks to Grant Ladner sacking D.J. Ciers in the end zone in the second quarter, Cy Woods avoided finishing a football game with zero points.

What's frustrating is that this game was winnable if the Wildcats had any semblance of offensive production.

I hate to say it, but this game has lost a significant amount of its luster over the years. It's clear that this is still a game that the Woods community gets up for and it's a fun matchup to talk about, but Woods just seems snakebit when they go up against Ranch. And now with Bridgeland posing a serious problem for the Mustangs (well, they're officially everyone's serious problem now), this matchup is just about ready to shed its status as a "rivalry game."

We're also learning that there is a clear talent gap in District 16-6A and it's much more pronounced than in recent years. Bridgeland is well ahead of everyone else here, that's obvious. There's a gap between them and Bridgeland, but Ranch is probably the second-most talented team in 16-6A. After an even bigger gap, Park and Woods are in the next tier, so to speak. Those are probably going to be the four playoff teams this year. After that, Langham is improving and trying to mount a challenge for the top four, but after them then is a cliff where Falls, Springs, and Lakes reside at the bottom. 

On another note, it was nice to see Coach Zachos again. Mike Zachos was the defensive coordinator at Cy Woods until the 2018 season, a position that he had held since the school opened. He served as the defensive coordinator at Humble last season and is now back in Cy-Fair ISD as an assistant... for Ranch. Traitor. Just kidding. If I remember correctly, Coach Z has known Coach McAuliffe over at Ranch for a long time and they've gone hunting together in the past. If you're reading this, Coach, hope you're doing well and it was good to see you again, even if you are on the other side now.

Well, no time to wallow over this one because it's a short week. On to Park.

What Happened

The Mustangs opened the scoring with a pair of Charlie Feris field goals in the first quarter.

End of 1st Quarter: Cypress Ranch 6, Cypress Woods 0

Woods got on the board in the second quarter with a safety as Grant Ladner brought D.J. Ciers down in the end zone with a little over five minutes left in the first half. Turns out that those two points would be Cy Woods' only two points of the day.

Halftime: Cypress Ranch 6, Cypress Woods 2

One team finally found the end zone in the third quarter, and unfortunately, it was not Cy Woods. Ciers rolled out to his left to avoid a sack and chucked one up towards the end zone, and Edwin Smith tumbled in after coming down with the ball at around the Woods two-yard line. 

Ranch's other touchdown legitimately upset me because it really should not have happened. Dylan Cormier rolled out to his right on an option play and an ill-advised pitch to Trey Craft was mishandled since Craft got drilled the moment he touched the ball and the carom found its way to Orlando Thibodeaux, who plays for Cypress Ranch. 

Thibodeaux proceeded to return the fortuitous bounce 50 yards the other way to more or less ice this game because it was quite obvious that Woods was not going to get anything done on offense in this one. And it's going down as an interception, despite the fact that the pitch went completely backward. However, as Craft gets hit, he bats the ball forward and the ball never hits the turf. Basically, Orlando Thibodeaux returned an intercepted lateral for a touchdown. You can basically sum up this game with that play.

There was no scoring in the fourth quarter.

Final: Cypress Ranch 20, Cypress Woods 2

Ground

The running game was a fiasco. Missed blocks, incorrect reads, ill-advised pitches, one of which got returned for a touchdown...

Air

The passing game was a fiasco. I mean, whatever I say here will just lead you to draw the conclusion that Cy Woods' offense stunk, which... they did.

Defense

Yeah, it's not a good day when the defense scores more points than the offense. They certainly played well enough to win, but uh... it's almost impossible to win a game where you score two points. 

Twice they bailed out the special teams: Michael Fernandez completely whiffed on his first punt, which gave the Mustangs the ball at the Woods 24-yard line, but the defense tightened up and held Ranch to a field goal. Riley Redgrave's interception negated a bad snap on another punt attempt that resulted in a 30-yard loss and put Ranch in scoring position yet again. The Wildcat defense fought all afternoon to repel the Mustangs and their offense couldn't back them up by scoring points. 

This safety was the first for Cy Woods since 2013 when they had one against Cypress Ridge. It is also the fourth safety recorded in Cy Woods football history; the other two occurred against Cypress Creek in 2008 and Cypress Springs in 2010.

Thirteen Wildcats recorded at least one tackle in this game and this week, Carson Smith and Dylan Rogers share the top spot with ten apiece. Riley Redgrave put up another fine game as he had six tackles and a big interception to stop a Ranch scoring threat.

Special Teams

The kicking game was not much of an adventure since the Wildcats only had one chance for a kickoff and it was fair caught. Philip White ripped off a couple of nice returns; he had a 31-yard punt return and a 27-yard kickoff return. Cumulatively, White racked up a total of 113 return yards. 

Unfortunately, special teams has presented its challenges for the Wildcats this season and sadly, this game proved to be no different. Punting was the phase that was afflicted here. Michael Fernandez's first punt attempt appeared to get blocked... but he actually just missed the ball. Yeah, his foot failed to make contact with the ball. Fortunately, the defense held Ranch to a field goal. His second punt attempt never happened because the snap sailed over his head. But again, the defense saved the day as Riley Redgrave intercepted D.J. Ciers.

Game Summary from Varsity Wires

If you skipped the content warning, that's on you honestly.

Good defense? Yeah, there were some nice defensive plays made on both sides, but both offenses were largely shambolic.

Man of the Match: The Defense

13 points allowed, 210 yards allowed (58 plays, 3.6 yards per play), 1 INT, 1 sack, 1 safety

Let's focus on the silver linings. On a day where just about everything went wrong for Cy Woods, the defense was certainly the one thing that they had going for them. This game, to say the least, was by far the best Cy Woods defensive performance this season. They'll have a big test coming up against a Cy Park team that has been running riot as they've broken out in District 16-6A.

Sub-Varsity Results

JV combined won. They are 3-1 as a combined team.

Both freshman teams lost. They're both 1-4, 0-3 in district play.

Looking Ahead

Three district games left... better make them count. The Cypress Woods Wildcats will take on the Cypress Park Tigers to kick off Week 7 in District 16-6A on Thursday, November 5 at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:30 and the Wildcats will be the visitors in this contest.

Cypress Woods 42, Langham Creek 35: Nothing Easy, apparently

2020 Record: 3-2, 2-1 in District 16-6A

Photo courtesy: Rob August, Phlox Photography/MaxPreps

Photo galleries for this week's games: Varsity, JV Combined, Freshmen Combined

Plug: Are you a parent of a Cy Woods football player and would like to have some pictures to remember this season by? Phlox Photography has you covered. Photographers will be on-site at every Cy Woods varsity football game, all Cy Woods sub-varsity home games, and depending on availability, most away sub-varsity games. 

For more information on how to purchase a spotlight photo gallery for your athlete, please contact Tom Dendy, JoAnn Nowak, or Carmen Agnew, visit the Phlox website for more details, or check out this explainer video on how to order photos. Tom, Mrs. Nowak, and Mrs. Agnew are all certified MaxPreps photographers and you can also view their photos on Cy Woods' MaxPreps page.

After taking a tough loss to a Bridgeland team that is heading full speed ahead to the District 16-6A title, the Cypress Woods Wildcats would have to quickly forget about that defeat because they would be leading off Week 5 with a Thursday night showdown against the Langham Creek Lobos.

This game didn't start off too well as the Lobos raced out to a 21-7 lead on the strength of three Tanner Murray touchdown passes. Chris Agnew was not having any of that, so he went off once he returned to the bench. Chris, if you've forgotten, is a three-year starter and a team captain. This guy has been a part of two playoff teams at Cy Woods and I'm sure that he'd like it if he could be part of a third. And he was right. That effort we saw from Woods to start was appalling. 

Following Chris's... catharsis (releasing strong emotions) on the sideline, the Wildcats scored three touchdowns in a row in the second and third quarters to take the lead, but this game still remained tense towards the end. Finally, Woods took control with a touchdown with less than three minutes in regulation to escape with a 42-35 victory. 

Honestly, this game shouldn't have finished with a one-score difference. It really felt like Woods was playing down to their competition in this game, much like they did against Falls, and much like they did against a much, much worse Langham team last year.

Sidebar: I've really found myself complaining quite a bit this year. I've got to realize that expecting this team to transform into last year's team is a completely unrealistic expectation. With this year's team, there are a lot of new faces that need to be integrated at every position group. Asking them to successfully defend a district title might have been too big of an ask, but I know they're capable of securing a playoff spot, especially in a district that doesn't look as strong as I initially perceived. For the first time, there is a clear gap between the top four and the non-playoff squads. Fortunately, the Cypress Woods Wildcats find themselves in the first category to close out the first half of the 2020 season and they should be alright.

Well, a win is a win and Woods appears to be safe with regards to their playoff chase. Now on to Ranch, and on to the second half (!!!) of the season. Time sure does fly...

What Happened

Well, I'm not sure what happened, but late in the first quarter, Jaquaize Pettaway managed to get wide open and Tanner Murray just lobbed one over to him for a 55-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring. The Wildcats got on the board when Myles Johnson came down with a 27-yard touchdown catch in double coverage.

End of 1st Quarter: Woods 7, Langham 7

Yeah, I'm not sure what happened here either, but another blown coverage allowed Pettaway to slip away and he scored on a 50-yard touchdown reception on what was essentially the same play that he scored his first touchdown. And then the Wildcats muffed the ensuing kickoff, which the Lobos recovered. Yet another busted coverage left Kaelum Dickerson wide open and Murray simply lobbed the ball over to him for a 28-yard touchdown pass. I mean, Dickerson probably didn't have anyone within 15 yards of him. He could have walked into the end zone. Woods got themselves off the canvas with a one-yard touchdown run by Dylan Cormier with two minutes left in the first half.

Halftime: Langham Creek 21, Cypress Woods 14

Cy Woods came out swinging to start the second half and they ended up grabbing the lead in the process. Trey Craft capped off the Wildcats' first drive of the second half with a 16-yard touchdown run and then after a Carson Smith interception, Cy Woods converted that turnover into points when Cormier hit Johnson for a 25-yard touchdown pass. They couldn't shake the Lobos, however, as they responded with a two-yard touchdown run from Murray. Cormier capped off a 13-play, 64-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run, but one play later, Murray hit Pettaway, who broke a tackle and left everyone in the dust for a 61-yard touchdown grab. 

End of 3rd Quarter: Cypress Woods 35, Langham Creek 35

It took almost ten minutes, but there was one scoring play and thankfully, it belonged to the Cypress Woods Wildcats as Trayse Holmes rumbled into the end zone with a six-yard run with a little less than three minutes to go in regulation. Langham Creek had one last shot to tie the game, but Christian Faulkner sacked Murray to end it.

Final: Cypress Woods 42, Langham Creek 35

Ground

Well, that's a little more like it. Woods ran the ball 65 times and only one run resulted in a loss of yards. Dylan Cormier set a new Woods season-high with his 170 yards on the ground. It was only a matter of time before he busted out for a big game on the ground. He made quick and decisive cuts upfield when he elected to keep the ball on option plays and made sound decisions on the option all evening. 

Air

Not really needed considering how the Wildcats wore down a pretty good Langham front seven, but Myles Johnson has quickly established himself as the #1 receiving option out wide. He almost had a third touchdown grab, but Trey Craft just overthrew him on the double pass.

Defense

Chunk plays are the ultimate equalizer against a ball-control offense, especially if they result in touchdowns. For this Cy Woods team to operate efficiently, the defense must limit the number of chunk plays it allows. Against Bridgeland, that was always going to be an issue since that offense is a flamethrower. Against a clearly less-talented offense in Langham Creek, however, the Wildcats just did not play very good defense. Four of the Lobos' five scoring drives lasted two plays or less; three of them were one-play touchdown drives!

Allowing 31 rushing yards is great! On the other hand, Tanner Murray torched the Cats for 390 yards and four touchdowns through the air. 256 of those yards and three of those touchdowns went to Jaquaize Pettaway, who was probably surprised that he was so wide open on two of his three scores. Murray's other touchdown pass to Kaelum Dickerson in the second quarter was an absolute atrocity from the Cy Woods defense. 

Twelve Wildcats recorded at least one tackle in this game and once again, Dylan Rogers led the way with his ten stops. The defense sacked Murray six times in this game; Riley Redgrave dropped him twice, while Chris Agnew, Terrance Green, Tyler Sherrill, and Christian Faulkner, whose sack ended the game, all got to him once. Carson Smith picked Murray off in the third quarter and returned the interception 35 yards into Langham Creek territory to set the Wildcats up for a touchdown. 

Special Teams

Hello, long-time watcher of Cypress Woods Wildcats football here. Are you not aware that a kickoff is a live ball? It's been five weeks and you're still not aware of this? This is the third time that Cy Woods' kickoff return unit has allowed the opposing team to recover a pooch kick, which is three times too many for an entire season, much less the first five games of a season. So... what's going on here, guys.

In his first varsity football game, Max Nowak, a sophomore, handled the kicking and the punting duties as Michael Fernandez sat out for [redacted] and Ryan Faulk was nursing an injury. Max hit all six of his extra-point attempts.

Game Summary from Varsity Wires

- I'm pretty sure that Jaquaize Pettaway set a new record for receiving yards by a Cy Woods opponent in this game.

- Allowing four scoring drives of two plays or less is a complete farce. 

Man of the Match: Riley Redgrave and Max Nowak

Nowak: 6-6 XP; varsity debut

Redgrave: 6 tackles (3 TFL), 2 sacks, 1 QB hurry

Congratulations to Max Nowak on his varsity debut. Cy Woods' kicker of the future (and the present, it looks like) did a nice job filling in for Michael Fernandez as he hit all six of his extra-point attempts.

Riley Redgrave turned in his best performance as a Wildcat football player for sure. He lost his starting spot midway through last season, but he's always demonstrated that he can be a solid football player and through the first half of this season, he's building a solid case to be included on an All-District team.

Sub-Varsity Results

Freshmen (1-0 as a combined team) 44, Langham Creek 20

JV (2-1 as a combined team) 34, Langham Creek 14

Looking Ahead

The Cypress Woods Wildcats will face the Cypress Ranch Mustangs at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium on Halloween afternoon. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM and the Wildcats will be the home team in this contest.

Bridgeland 35, Cypress Woods 28: Weigman Show

2020 Record: 2-2, 1-1 in District 16-6A

Photo courtesy: Carmen Agnew, Phlox Photography/MaxPreps

Photo galleries for this week's games: Varsity, JV Cardinal, JV Gold, Freshman Cardinal, Freshman Gold

Plug: Are you a parent of a Cy Woods football player and would like to have some pictures to remember this season by? Phlox Photography has you covered. A photographer will be on-site at every Cy Woods varsity football game, all Cy Woods sub-varsity home games, and depending on availability, certain away sub-varsity games. 

For more information on how to purchase a spotlight photo gallery for your athlete, please contact Tom Dendy, JoAnn Nowak, or Carmen Agnew, visit the Phlox website for more details, or check out this explainer video on how to order photos. Tom, Mrs. Nowak, and Mrs. Agnew are all official MaxPreps photographers and you can also view their photos on Cy Woods' MaxPreps page.

The all-world talent of Conner Weigman was on display on Friday and his 28-yard touchdown run with 19 seconds left in regulation proved to be the difference as the Cypress Woods Wildcats lost a varsity football game to the Bridgeland Bears for the first time by a final score of 35-28. 

When the Bears took a two-score lead in the third quarter, I had the feeling that the floodgates were about to open and that Woods would just get swept away in the deluge. And then Chris Agnew pounced on a loose ball. And then the offense took advantage of the short field to score. And then Josh Jones broke up a pass on fourth down to give the Cats the ball back. And suddenly, this game was tied after Dylan Cormier found Ryan Faulk for a touchdown pass. Cy Woods definitely found themselves hanging around with a clearly superior team in this game. They controlled the ball. They kept the vaunted Bridgeland offense off the field. Unfortunately, the Bears still managed to get their chunk plays.

The offense took better care of the ball this week, which was crucial because you definitely don't want to gift an offense like Bridgeland's free possessions. Unfortunately, they had a few too many plays go backward in this game. Bridgeland's speed on defense certainly forced the issue, and Dylan Cormier also took a couple of big sacks that... just throw the ball away.

All things considered, this result surprised me a little considering everyone (even me, somehow) thought that Bridgeland would win this in a rout. No moral victories, especially at this level of high school football, though. The Wildcats played hard and hung around, Bridgeland made a few more plays, tip your cap and move on.

On to Langham Creek.

What Happened

The Bears opened the scoring with a one-yard touchdown pass from Conner Weigman to Dylan Crippen. This was the only scoring play of the first quarter.

End of 1st Quarter: Bridgeland 6, Woods 0

Trayse Holmes put Woods on the board and in the lead midway through the second quarter with a rugged 12-yard run that saw him break three, maybe four tackles. But once again, Weigman struck again as he found Andrew Maleski, who won a jump-ball battle and took it in for a 17-yard touchdown catch to put the Bears back in front. Mason Culton ran in the two-point conversion afterward.

Halftime: Bridgeland 14, Woods 7

Bridgeland also opened the second-half scoring when Weigman hit Atrevion Hunter, who slashed his way into the end zone from 43 yards out. Woods got a first down on their first drive of the second half but nothing more. Bridgeland got a first down on their next drive, but the ball somehow slipped out of Weigman's hand and Chris Agnew pounced on the loose ball at Bridgeland's 32 to give the Wildcats new life. Weigman just put the ball on the ground and he somehow just let it go. On fourth down from Bridgeland's ten-yard line, Dylan Cormier hit Myles Johnson on the slant for a touchdown. The defense turned the Bears over on downs and the offense capitalized again as Cormier found Ryan Faulk for a five-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 21.

End of 3rd Quarter: Bridgeland 21, Woods 21

Towards the end of the third quarter, the Wildcats gave up a 50-yard pass on third and long that put Bridgeland within striking distance once again and then on the second play of the fourth quarter, Weigman floated one up to Hunter Wallis for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Both teams traded punts and then Woods got the ball back with a little under eight minutes to go. Connor Morris had a step on his man running down the seam and Cormier found him for a 28-yard touchdown pass to tie the game with four minutes to go. That was entirely too much time for Weigman, however, and the Bears slowly but surely made their way down the field, aided by a hit to a defenseless receiver penalty against the Wildcats. Once inside Wildcat territory, Bridgeland took their time and Weigman took things into his hands and won the game with his 28-yard run with 19 seconds left. An inexplicable onside kick (I highly doubt they meant to do that) that went out of bounds gave Woods one more shot, but... no dice.

A great player made a great play. That's all there is to it.

Final: Bridgeland 35, Woods 28

Ground

The Wildcats' ground attack was stifled by the Bears as they couldn't even muster up three yards per carry. Even when the Wildcats brought in extra linemen, Bridgeland's defensive line and linebackers seemed to get free runs towards Woods ballcarriers. They had a little more success on pitches, but the Bears' secondary eventually proved to be just too quick for them. In all, the Wildcats lost 76 yards on running plays, or plays that were classified as runs. 76! Way too many backwards plays in this game. 

Now, the Wildcats were missing their starting center, Braden Barrett. As a result, Adam Conejo had to step in and I thought he did alright. It's a tough ask to replace your starting center and your best offensive lineman, but when it's your time...

Air

No idea what that last play was supposed to look like. I'm sure they wanted to keep the double pass in their pocket because they ran it twice for touchdowns against Falls the previous week, but it didn't look like they had any sort of plan for the last play. And they had a timeout they could have used to discuss it too! 

Connor Morris was limited this week, but nice to see him get a step on his man to haul in a big touchdown grab. Myles Johnson has seemingly turned into the #1 receiving option for the Wildcats, which is a big step up for a kid who started last season on the JV Gold (B) team. 

Defense

After one month's worth of games, I can conclude that the secondary hasn't been great. Then again, regression was to likely expected after all four starters from last year graduated. Falls couldn't hit anybody, but Katy, who is not known for their passing game, couldn't miss against the Wildcats and even Kingwood got a few big plays through the air. Against Bridgeland, those issues were always going to be exacerbated, so all you could probably ask was for them to just hold out without giving up too many chunk plays. 

Maybe one of these days, Cy Woods will have cornerbacks who will turn to look for the ball when the receiver they are covering turns to look for the ball. They put themselves in good positions to make plays more often than not... they just don't know where the ball is until it's in the receiver's hands.

Thirteen Wildcats recorded at least one tackle and Dylan Rogers took the top spot this week with 11. Eight of his takedowns in this game were unassisted. Tyler Sherrill forced the game's only turnover when he strip-sacked Conner Weigman in the third quarter, which led to a Woods touchdown.

Tough to win when you give up eight third-down conversions. The Wildcat defense needed to find a way to get off the field but again, Bridgeland's offense made the plays they needed to make to stay on the field.

Special Teams

For once, kickoffs were not an adventure. The only special teams miscue in this game came when Ryan Faulk couldn't handle a snap on the first punt of the night. 

Michael Fernandez hit all four of his extra points and missed a 35-yard field goal. 

Game Summary from Varsity Wires

- Played their game, but Bridgeland's chunk plays pretty much negated Woods' time of possession advantage.

- The Bears had 12 tackles for loss and the Wildcats lost 70 yards on those plays! 

Man of the Match: Dylan Rogers and Trey Craft

Dylan has led the Wildcats in tackles in all but one game this season. He's a sophomore and of course, he will show his youth sometimes, usually by taking poor pursuit angles, but he's looking like a Defensive Newcomer of the Year candidate and if he continues to lead the team in tackles, he may very well win it. Ethan Spear and Gavin Swan from Cy Falls and Jarra Anderson from Cy Park would probably be his primary competition.

Trey Craft continues to be a revelation (relatively speaking, considering their early-season struggles) at the A-back spot. He's probably entrenched himself as a starter at this point.

Sub-Varsity Results

Bridgeland 42, Freshman Gold (1-3, 0-2) 19

Bridgeland 49, Freshman Cardinal (1-3, 0-2) 12

Bridgeland 6, JV Gold (1-1, 1-1) 0

Bridgeland 8, JV Cardinal (1-1, 1-1) 0

Looking Ahead

Week 5 in District 16-6A (well, it's Week 5 for Class 6A and 5A) kicks off on Thursday and Cy Woods will face the Langham Creek Lobos on Thursday, October 22 at Pridgeon Stadium. Kickoff is at 6:30 and the Wildcats will be the home team in this contest.

Cypress Woods 34, Cypress Falls 29: Dumbest Win Ever

2020 Record: 2-1, 1-0 in District 16-6A

Photo courtesy: Tom Dendy, Phlox Photography/MaxPreps

Photo galleries for this week's games: Varsity, JV Cardinal, JV Gold, Freshman Cardinal, Freshman Gold

Plug: Are you a parent of a Cy Woods football player and would like to have some pictures to remember this season by? Phlox Photography has you covered. A photographer will be on-site at every Cy Woods varsity football game, all Cy Woods sub-varsity home games, and depending on availability, certain away sub-varsity games. 

For more information on how to purchase a spotlight photo gallery for your athlete, please contact Tom Dendy, JoAnn Nowak, or Carmen Agnew, visit the Phlox website for more details, or check out this explainer video on how to order photos. Tom, Mrs. Nowak, and Mrs. Agnew are all official MaxPreps photographers and you can also view their photos on Cy Woods' MaxPreps page.

Alright, that... was not pretty. Five turnovers. Twelve penalties. Jaylan Walker essentially constituting the entire Cy Falls offense. A goal-line stand at the end just to preserve the lead. And in the end, the Cypress Woods Wildcats somehow managed to overcome their countless miscues and escaped with a 34-29 victory over the Cypress Falls Golden Eagles to open District 16-6A play. Outgaining the opponent by 340 yards and yet only a five-point win to show for it. Football... what a dumb game. Gotta love it!

Yes, a win is a win and whatnot. But my takeaway from Saturday is that Woods is definitely going to get demolished by Bridgeland if they commit five turnovers on Friday. 609 yards of offense is great and that suggests that the offense is executing and playing the way they want to play, but committing five turnovers is simply indefensible. Even if they committed two or three turnovers (still not great, but a lot better than committing five), they probably would have won this game in a rout. After the Kingwood game, I wrote that the Wildcats would probably have to learn how to win ugly this season and this game certainly meets the criteria for an "ugly" game. To my relief/amazement/total confusion, they somehow won this ugly game.

Honestly, this game was annoying. I'm supposed to be happy that they won, and trust me, I am, but I know they can play infinitely better than how they played against Cy Falls. There wasn't a lack of effort; the kids played hard and took the fight to Falls. However, they were simply too sloppy and they should be extremely fortunate that they didn't lose this game.

This was truly the stupidest and most hilarious Cy Woods football game I have ever seen. In terms of sheer entertainment value, the only games that could surpass this one in that regard are the 74-73 game against Jersey Village and when they ran Ranch off the field in 2011 and 2013.

Side note: Let's keep Falls running back/linebacker John Pollard in our thoughts. He was stretchered off the field after a pretty serious leg injury during a kickoff in the third quarter.

On to Bridgeland. 

What Happened

Michael Fernandez's 35-yard field goal was the only scoring play of the first quarter.

End of 1st Quarter: Woods 3, Falls 0

Jorge Gonzalez hit a 29-yard field goal to tie the game with less than two minutes left in the first half, but Dylan Cormier found Trayse Holmes for a 15-yard touchdown pass just before halftime to put the Wildcats back in front.

Halftime: Woods 10, Falls 3

Fernandez capped off Woods' first drive of the second half by nailing a 34-yard field goal to give the Wildcats a 13-3 lead with 9:52 left in the third quarter. After this point, the game completely departed reality. 

The Eagles muffed the ensuing kickoff and then on their first play of the second half, it looked as though disaster would strike, thanks to a bad pitch. However, Jaylan Walker picked up the loose ball, ran all the way to the other side of the field, and somehow scored on a 74-yard run. For the second straight week, Woods decided that they weren't going to field a kickoff, so the Eagles ended up getting another possession and they took the lead on their next drive via an eight-yard touchdown run by J.P. Martin. Cy Woods regained the lead on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Cormier to Myles Johnson. After Woods turned the ball over on downs, Walker struck again with a 52-yard touchdown run right before the end of the third quarter.

End of 3rd Quarter: Falls 23, Woods 20

Johnson scored on a 59-yard pass, his second touchdown of the night, on a double pass from Trey Craft, who found Terrance Green (A defensive lineman! Who was a receiver on the freshman B-team last year!!!) in the end zone for two more points. And then Jaylan Walker returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a Falls touchdown. Super cool. Woods turned the ball over on downs on their next drive, but the defense sent the Falls offense packing after three plays. Woods regained the lead on their next series thanks to another double pass by Craft to Johnson; this touchdown went for 54 yards. The Eagles had 3:30 left to win the game. A 34-yard pass from Caleb Pollard to Javion Davis on fourth down put the Eagles in the red zone (ugh) and then a personal foul after a second-down incomplete pass (UGH!!!!!) got Falls all the way down to the Cy Woods seven-yard line. Fortunately, the Wildcat defense got the stop it absolutely needed to have and as a result, Cy Woods escaped with quite possibly the dumbest victory in program history.

Final: Woods 34, Falls 29

Ground

Four lost fumbles for the offense?

Nice to see Trayse Holmes bounce back from getting shackled by Katy by posting his second 100-yard game of the season. Charlie Bain had a few nice runs on pitch plays. The A-backs accounted for 147 of the 290 rushing yards that the Wildcats recorded in this game, a very encouraging development for a group that needs to step up.

Air

The Wildcats got very little from the A-backs in non-district play, so opening up the playbook with the double passes was a nice way to get some contributions. I said that the "loser" of the quarterback battle entering the season would probably still receive plenty of playing time and Trey Craft has provided a spark for a group that's really trying to get themselves going. They certainly made a mark in the passing game as Craft, Phillip White, Charlie Bain, and J.J. Williams combined to make eight catches. They aren't burners, but they're shifty in the open field and maybe passing the ball to them might be what gets them going. It can certainly lighten Trayse Holmes' load, too.

Defense

Aside from Jaylan Walker gashing them for two long touchdown runs for a total of 126 yards, that was a nice showing from the Woods defense against what's really an inept Falls offense. But, given the offense's inability to protect the ball, the defense found themselves in a precarious position all evening because they were coming out trying not to give up the lead. To allow Falls to score only three points off of five Wildcat turnovers demonstrated that the defense did its job by not allowing the Eagles to capitalize on the offense's mistakes, and they finished the job by stopping the Eagles inside the ten-yard line with a minute to go in the game.

Seventeen Wildcats recorded at least one tackle in this game and Dylan Rogers finished in first place this week with seven. Dylan also had a sack in the second quarter on the possession following a Woods muffed punt; that sack proved to be crucial as Falls was forced to settle for a field goal. Riley Redgrave had five tackles and forced two fumbles. Brenton Frizell intercepted Caleb Pollard on the second play of the game.

Special Teams

Michael Fernandez hit both of his field goals and all four of his extra-point attempts, giving him ten points on the night. He also, unfortunately, sent five, maybe six kickoffs out of bounds. 

Even special teams partook in the buffoonery. A muffed punt led to Falls' field goal. It took three tries for Woods to successfully execute the opening kickoff; the first one went out of bounds and they were called for offsides on the second attempt.

The game officially began at 7:01 PM. At 7:04, the game clock still read 11:57. So basically, it took three real-world minutes to play three seconds of this game because Woods couldn't get the opening kickoff done correctly. 

Game Summary from Varsity Wires

Behold the sheer stupidity of this box score. Amazingly, Cy Falls only scored three points off of Woods' five turnovers. I can't believe that that isn't a typo.

Man of the Match: Myles Johnson and Trey Craft

In a group that's struggled to find consistency in the early part of this season, Trey Craft has been one of the standouts at A-back for the Wildcats. 

Three catches, three touchdowns for Myles Johnson. He was expected to make three plays and he made three plays. 

Sub-Varsity Results

Cy Falls 28, Freshman Gold (1-2) 14

Cy Falls 19, Freshman Cardinal (1-2) 0

JV Gold (1-0) 8, Cy Falls 6

JV Cardinal (1-0) 44, Cy Falls 14

Looking Ahead

The Cypress Woods Wildcats will take on the Bridgeland Bears on Friday, October 16 at 7:00 PM. Cy Woods will be the away team in this game.