This is the 2nd post looking back on the history of the Cy Woods Wildcats. Here, the 2009 Cypress Woods Wildcats are featured. This is the only time in which I will refer to the team using the word "we."
Summary
Record: 11-3, 5-2 in District 15-5A (t-2nd)
Playoffs: Division I state quarterfinalists (Region II finalist, 4th round), lost 55-12 to Round Rock Stony Point
Points scored: 460 (32.9 per game)
Points allowed: 371 (26.5 per game)
Largest margin of victory: 33, vs. Klein Oak (W 56-23)
Largest margin of defeat: 43, vs. Round Rock Stony Point (L 55-12)
Most points scored: 56, vs. Klein Oak (Week 2)
Fewest points scored: 12, vs. Round Rock Stony Point (4th round)
Most points allowed: 55, vs. Round Rock Stony Point
Fewest points allowed: 7 twice, vs. Cy-Fair and Langham Creek
Team Records Set (off the top of my head)
Most points in a season, 460
Most wins, 11 (still a record)
Deepest advancement into playoffs (4th round)
Most points allowed, 371
Most points allowed in a game, 55 (Round Rock Stony Point)
Individual Records Set (stats from Houston Chronicle, again also off the top of my head)
Passing yards in a season: Colton Huntsman, 2874
Passing yards in a game: Colton Huntsman, 442 vs. Klein Oak
Passing touchdowns in a season: Colton Huntsman, 24
Carries: Colton Huntsman, 200
Rushing yards in a season: Colton Huntsman, 1032
Rushing touchdowns in a season: Colton Huntsman, 19
Rushing yards in a game: Colton Huntsman, 175 vs. Jersey Village
Yards per carry (min. 75 carries): Jeremy Conley, 6.9
Receptions: Isaiah Battle, 60
Receptions in a game: Isaiah Battle, 10 vs. Cy Falls
Receiving yards: Isaiah Battle, 1109
Receiving touchdowns: Isaiah Battle, 8
Interceptions: Bryce Callahan, 7
Punt returns for touchdowns: Bryce Callahan, 3
Schedule and Results
Week 1: W 55-49 @ A&M Consolidated
Week 2: W 56-23 vs. Klein Oak (Pridgeon)
Week 3: W 35-14 @ Stratford (Tully)
Week 4: L 46-20 vs. Cy Ridge (Homecoming @ Pridgeon)
Week 5: W 31-13 @ Jersey Village (Pridgeon)
Week 6: W 21-20 vs. Cy Creek (Berry)
Week 7: W 23-13 @ Cy Springs (Pridgeon)
Week 8: W 21-7 vs. Cy-Fair (Berry)
Week 9: W 42-7 @ Langham Creek (Berry)
Week 10: L 46-43 vs. Cy Falls (Berry)
Bi-district: W 38-28 vs. Round Rock Westwood (Berry)
Area: W 35-29 @ Westfield (Leonard George Stadium, Spring ISD)
Region semifinals: W 28-21 vs. Dallas Skyline (Temple Wildcat Stadium)
Region II Final: L 55-12 vs. Round Rock Stony Point (Berry)
Statistical Leaders (per Houston Chronicle)
Passing: Colton Huntsman, 188-326 (57.7%), 2874 yards, 24 TD, 14 INT
Rushing: Colton Huntsman, 200 carries, 1032 yards (5.2 per carry), 19 TD
Receiving: Isaiah Battle, 60 rec, 1109 yards (18.5 per catch), 8 TD
Interceptions: Bryce Callahan, 7
The Rundown
After an incredibly successful debut season which saw them reach the 3rd round of the Texas 5A playoffs, the onus was on the Cy Woods Wildcats to replicate that feat. They would have to do it with a completely new cast of characters. A large senior class graduated, which brought about another large senior class.
Colton Huntsman was handed the reins to the team in his junior season. He would have plenty of tools at his disposal as Jonathan Cross, Patrick LaFleur, Isaiah Battle, and Seth Crosby returned, giving him a veteran wide receiver corps. Jeremy Conley, who saw significant action at running back behind Chris Walker in 2008, would be the feature back. Andrew Hall returned as the leader of the offensive line. He was joined by Chase Matthews, Matt Alcala (a former cornerback!!!), Scott Wiesmann, and junior Cole Gunderson.
Bryce Callahan, the breakout player (well, if you've known him for a long time, he was bound to be a special talent) from 2008, was the undisputed star of the defense. Joining him in the secondary was Braylon Ransom, Michael Stewart, and Von'Darrick Jones, a transfer from Jersey Village. Dominique Robertson led the linebackers, and accompanying him was Arnold Gacita, Julius Russell, Brian Cobb, and later on, a young Daylan Skidmore. The Cats had a solid stable of defensive linemen, as they got contributions from Jared Baker, Dylan Thompson, Tavian Glenn, Trey Valdez, Tyler Haley, Jeff Marshall, and sophomore Cody Small. We didn't have the imposing physical presences or the freakishly talented types (save for Bryce and Dominique) like the year before. However, pound-for-pound, I would say that we were a real scrappy bunch. What we lacked in talent we made up for in grit and hustle.
Regular Season
September 4, 2009. The second chapter of Wildcat Football began on this date.
We made the journey up to College Station to play A&M Consolidated in their house. Jeremy and Bryce provided the fireworks early with a 58-yard TD run and a 74-yard punt return TD, respectively.
The Cats poured it on in the 2nd as J. Cross tore up the AMC secondary with 2 touchdown grabs of 47 and 51 yards. Jeremy added another touchdown run for 42 yards, and Colton got himself on the board, scoring from 7 yards out. At halftime, we led 42-14. We thought the first win was in the bag. That was a mistake. A&M Consolidated mounted a huge rally in the 2nd half and suddenly, we didn't feel too comfortable. But the defense held strong and got the stops they had to get, and we escaped Aggieland with a 55-49 victory.
Next up on the schedule was Klein Oak. They had originally been scheduled to meet in 2008, but Hurricane Ike prevented that from ever happening. The Panthers entered the season as one of the top teams in the Houston area, and were sure favorites to make a deep run in the playoffs. Things didn't quite go according to plan for them in the early going, as they came up short against Creek and saw the wheels fall off from under them at the new Cowboys Stadium as they lost their 2nd game to Notre Dame High School from California. You might not believe this, but the Cats entered this game as 40-point underdogs. True story.
Isaiah opened the scoring in the 1st with a 45-yard TD pass. 48 seconds after Oak tied the game, Isaiah put the Cats back on top with his 2nd receiving TD of the quarter. The Panthers tied the game once more as they opened the 2nd, but right before halftime, Colton scored and the Cats went into halftime with a 21-14 lead. Good back-and-forth half. Second half, dramatically different story.
Klein Oak tied the game with a pick 6 to open the 2nd half. That.... would be as close as the Panthers ever got to the lead, as the Cats buried them with 35 unanswered points. Colton took charge as he fired 2 TD passes to Jeremy and Pat LaFleur, and in between those 2 passes, he ran for 3 scores. He finished with 513 total yards (442 passing, 71 rushing) and 8 total touchdowns. In other words, he was responsible for
every single Cy Woods touchdown. Oak got a consolation safety late in the 4th but the damage had long been done. Cy Woods 56, Klein Oak 23. So much for being a 40-point underdog.
The big win sent shockwaves across the Houston high school football landscape. But we, as a group, knew that we were capable of games like these. No unnecessary chest-thumping here. It was the truth. We were a senior-heavy class. This was the only chance that we would ever get to showcase our skills in high school. So understandably, we had a chip on our collective shoulders. We wanted to take the standard that the guys on the first team set, and we wanted to raise it as high as we possibly could.
Channel 2 featured the Stratford game as part of its Friday Football Frenzy feature. So naturally, there was a heightened sense of excitement in the days leading up to this game. Cy Woods made a playoff run last year and put itself on the map without much fanfare from the outside. Now, with the media casting its spotlight on the program for the first time, you get the feeling that the expectations for the program shot up a few notches. And expectations were already rather high to begin with. No pressure.
Defense ruled the 1st half, which saw no team gain a discernable advantage over the other. At halftime, the game was tied at 7. The lone TD for the Cats came on a 3-yard run from Colton Huntsman. For the 2nd straight game, the 2nd half proved to be a different story.
Jeremy took a screen pass and scored to give the Cats the lead, which turned out to be for good. In that 3rd quarter, we scored in all 3 facets of the game. Bryce returned a punt 49 yards for a TD (his 2nd on a punt return), and Michael Stewart got a pick 6 to give Woods a 28-7 lead heading into the 4th. Colton put the finishing touches on with a 48-yard run to extend the lead to 35-7. The Spartans got a consolation TD late in the 4th. Final score: Woods 35, Stratford 14.
After a perfect run through non-district play, we entered district play on an absolute high. We wanted to go undefeated. The atmosphere in the locker room was electric. We felt like we were on top of the world....
....and we were about to get a huge slap in our collective faces.
Homecoming II. District game #1. The Cats let the game against Ridge slip away last year, so we had a little payback on our minds. That didn't happen. Ridge jumped all over us in the 2nd and we found ourselves behind 29-10 at halftime. 2nd half wasn't much better, as we never really got into this game. Ridge 46, Woods 20.
In the aftermath, we were left searching for answers. For the first time this season, the Cy Woods Wildcats got absolutely floored. How would we respond?
The next game was against Jersey Village. It was a dreary day, with intermittent showers throughout. This weather continued through gametime. This game was one in which we were in control from wire to wire. We took a 10-0 lead after 1 quarter thanks to a TD run from Jeremy Conley and a field goal from Andrew Klink. Colton did his thing, firing a TD pass to Seth Crosby and running for 2 himself. Woods took this one 31-13. In this game, Cody Small saw his first action as a varsity player. He would become one of the main cogs of the Cy Woods defense for years to come.
Next up was a huge matchup with the defending district champs, Cy Creek. They were 5-0 heading into this game, and they were hell-bent on defending their crown. We had other plans for them.
After both teams traded scores toward the end of the 1st quarter, we got out in front late in the 2nd thanks to who else? Colton Huntsman. Isaiah had a nifty 32-yard catch and run for a TD to open the scoring (0:53 mark of video).
Woods led 14-7 at halftime. Creek came out by scoring the first 13 points of the half to take a 20-14 lead entering the 4th quarter. Yeah, they missed an extra point. Keep that in mind. The offense sputtered in the 4th, but the defense was steadfast and kept the Cougars at bay. Their performance in the 4th was monumental as they got all the stops.
The offense got the ball with 2 minutes left in regulation inside their 20, needing a touchdown to grab the lead. The key play occurred at the 3:58 mark of the video. Isaiah took that pass and rumbled his way into Creek territory. Then, Colton completed his next 2 passes, and with 45 seconds left, he punched it in to tie the game at 20, and Andrew Klink gave us the lead as he banged the extra point through. Creek wasn't quite ready to admit defeat yet, however. They marched down the field and into Wildcat territory, but the defense held their ground and forced the Cougars into a game-winning field goal attempt, an attempt that went wide right and short. The Cats welcomed Cy Creek to the loss column for the first time that season, 21-20. For once, we had to grind out a victory. Creek was an excellent opponent that year, and we knew that trying to run them off the field would be an extremely difficult task. We understood that they would do everything in their power to maintain their stranglehold on the district.
After we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, we went up against Cy Springs. Uncharacteristically, we were unable to run our opponents off the field. Believe it or not, we actually struggled to move the ball in this game.
We led 14-0 at halftime as Jeremy scored on a run from 12 yards out in the 1st and Pat LaFleur caught a 15-yard TD pass in the 2nd. Klink added a 25-yard field goal in the 3rd to extend the lead to 17-0, but Springs roared back with 13 unanswered. And suddenly, things got a bit too close for comfort. However, we pulled ourselves together and saved the win. Jeremy Conley scored on a 43-yard run with less than 2 minutes remaining for insurance. And we escaped, 23-13. We escaped at a minor cost, as Colton would miss the next game against Cy-Fair. Thankfully, that would be the only game that he would miss.
In Huntsman's stead, Weston Card, who was normally a wideout, took the reins for the Cy-Fair game. The first half was all Woods, as we jumped out to a 21-0 lead by halftime. Wes had 2 TD runs from 9 yards and 1 yard, and Jeremy scored from 36. They both eclipsed the century mark in rushing yards; Jeremy had 103, while Wes ran for 159. The Cy-Fair defense kept us off the scoreboard in the 2nd half, but aside from a TD pass late in the 3rd, the Wildcat defense stonewalled the Bobcats. Woods came out on top 21-7, and that win, coupled with Springs' loss to Langham, put the Cats in a 1st-place tie in the district with Creek.
Langham was next up, and we were 25 seconds away from a shutout. No joke. Bryce, who had been working with the offense for a good portion of the season, was unleashed in the 1st when he scored on an 87-yard pass. Colton Huntsman, in his return to the starting lineup, ripped the Lobo secondary a new one as he tossed for 370 yards and 5 TD passes. Isaiah caught 2 of those, and he finished with a then-record 168 receiving yards. Colton also ran for another TD from 1 yard out in the 3rd. The Cats strolled through with a 42-7 win. Making his debut in this game was Daylan Skidmore, then just a sophomore. He came on in mop-up duty at middle linebacker for Arnold Gacita, when the game was well in hand. Daylan would emerge as a key member of the defense in this year's playoff run, and he ultimately secured his place in the annals of Cy Woods football history.
Daylan Skidmore (#23, left), in his first varsity game.
The season finale pitted us against Cy Falls.
Man, this one hurt. Yeah. We got steamrolled by Stony Point. But, it's debatable as to which loss stung more. Either it was that one, or this one. We had a chance to wrap up a district championship (I don't believe in sharing) and we just blew it.
The Cats led 36-22 at halftime. We were outscored 24-7 the rest of the way, as Falls got the last laugh (in this game) with a field goal with 2 minutes to go as they helped Creek retain their district championship, 46-43. Isaiah had a huge afternoon, as he caught 10 for 163 yards and 2 TDs. Jeremy had 108 yards on just 6 carries, one of which was an 80-yard run. He also caught 4 passes for 52 yards, scoring from 17 and 26.
Yeah. That..... wasn't very fun.
The only solace we took from that game was that our season still continued.
Playoffs
November 14, 2009. In the bi-district round, the Wildcats faced off against Westwood, who made the journey from Round Rock to the Berry Center. Jeremy, banged up from the Falls game, was limited in this one. Fred Anderson, a junior, got the lions' share of time at running back and he had a solid debut, running for 163 on 15 carries. Jeff Bogan, a sophomore call-up, also saw time at RB.
The first half was rather uneventful, however, Bryce broke the monotony of a scoreless tie by returning a punt 62 yards for a touchdown with less than 5 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. That was his 3rd punt return for a touchdown on the year.
Business started picking up in the 2nd half as all the points except for 7 were scored in this half. Jeff, or J-Bo, as we eventually got around to calling him, picked up his first touchdown at the varsity level with a 30-yard run on our 1st drive of the 3rd. Colton added an 18-yard TD run of his own later on in the quarter. However, Westwood got themselves going with a 21-point quarter and so, heading into the final period, the game was tied at 21. It was a 4th quarter in which the Cats seized control, scoring 17 unanswered to take a 38-21 lead. Jeremy caught a 6-yard pass for a score, Colton busted out for a 54-yard TD, and Klink sent a 32-yard field goal through for the Cats' final points. The Warriors got a score back late, but we moved on, winning 38-28. A random note from this game: Jordan Williamson was Westwood's kicker that year. He went on to kick at Stanford.
Next up was the area round. A trip out to Spring was our reward for winning, and we got the Westfield Mustangs. We scrimmaged them in preseason, and well, they like to talk. If I remember correctly, I think Braylon and Von'Darrick might have gotten tossed during the scrimmage because they got suckered in to some extra stuff after the whistle.
We might have scored 35 points, but none of the scoring plays went further than 15 yards. According to the
Chron's box score, we were outgained 443-261. All of the offensive stats were in Westfield's favor. Well, we held them to 29 in the column that ultimately mattered: the scoreboard. Fred scored from 1 yard out and Colton from 2 and 1. Colton also threw a 4-yard TD to Pat, and a 15-yard TD to Isaiah. Wanna know a good way to shut up a guy or a team that's done nothing but run his/their mouths all night? Beat them. That's what we did to Westfield.
The Cats returned to where their season ended: the 3rd round. In Temple, a familiar foe was waiting for us: the Skyline Raiders. The #2 team in the state of Texas was in our way once again. And again, the only people who believed that we could pull off the near-unthinkable... was us, and the Cy Woods community.
Colton opened the scoring with an 8-yard TD run in the 1st. Skyline took the lead with 2 TDs in the 2nd and took that 14-7 lead into the half with them. The score remained that way until the 1st play of the 4th, when Bryce Callahan scored on a 71-yard touchdown pass to tie the game.
A frantic finish would ensue. With less than 3 minutes left, the Raiders re-took the lead. A minute later, Pat LaFleur re-tied the game with a 47-yard touchdown reception. On the ensuing Skyline possession, Dylan Thompson got a pick and put the Cats in position to win. the. game.
On the final possession of the game.... they did just that. Isaiah Battle took a Colton Huntsman pass and took it 44 yards to give the Cats the lead with 30 seconds to go.
A last-gasp effort from Skyline was picked off by Bryce, and the Wildcats sent Skyline packing with a 28-21 victory. Skyline's QB had not thrown a pick all season. He threw 2 in the final 2 minutes of this game. Boy, I wish I was there. I had surgery that week.
The first Wildcat football game in December was played in the friendly confines of the Berry Center. The Tigers of Stony Point became the 2nd Round Rock school to come down to Berry, and well....
They ended our season. It started off well enough, as Jonathan Cross scored the first TD of the game, but after that, it was all Stony Point. They ran off 42 unanswered before we scored again, and then for good measure, they put up 2 more in the 4th. Ugh. And just like that, our season was over. 55-12. The Stony Point Tigers came into our house and completely pillaged it. Ugh.
Did I think that they were 43 points better than us that night? Nope. Do I think they were 43 points better than us now, looking back on this game almost 6 years later? Nope. Ask anyone else who was on this team and they'd tell you the same thing.
Despite the bitter end to our season, that was a real fun year for football. I'll never forget it as long I live.
