Taylor’s early touchdown enough for the Tigers
With a full season and two rounds of playoffs in the books, it’s safe to say senior running back Adam Taylor has recovered from a season ending ACL, a year ago.
With a clean bill of health, Taylor rushed for a game high 195 yards on 25 carries and Katy’s defense and special teams were flawless in shutout fashion, crushing Langham Creek 49-0, Friday afternoon at Reliant Stadium.
The win sends the Tigers, who are in search of its seventh state title, to the regional round of the Class 5A Region III playoffs where it will face the winner of Bush/LaPorte, next week at a site and time to be determined.
The Tigers (12-0) have done just about everything right that a championship team can do this season. Whether it’s getting a big return, coming up with a big stop, forcing turnovers or watching Taylor churn out yards behind an offensive line that’s nearly worthy of blocking for Texans running back Arian Foster.
“Our kicking game did some great things, but we made some mistakes. We’ll have to get that corrected but I think our kids understand how important it is to prepare for a great football team like Langham Creek,” says Tigers’ coach Gary Joseph.
Taylor a Nebraska commit playing in a full season since his sophomore year, showed his toughness with hard nose inside running behind a talented Tigers offensive line.
Katy’s defense set the tempo and held it all evening, holding one of the area’s top offensive teams under 160 total yards. The Lobo’s offense averaged a whopping 448 yards a contest but was out of sync all evening.
After a brief Langham Creek three and out, Katy hammered out 28 unanswered first quarter points. With all four drives beginning in Lobo territory, mainly due to great special teams’ awareness, returning the ball on the Lobo’s side of the 50.
“You can’t make mistakes and play against those guys,” Langham Creek’s coach Todd Thompson said. You get into a first or second down and if you make one mistake you’ll end up having to punt, because they’re going to stop you. You have to be so efficient on every play and get positive yards. Anytime they can get you into a mistake, they capitalize on it every time.”
Isaiah Brown’s 27 yard punt return down to the Lobo’s 34 set the tone of the game. It gave the Tigers’ momentum it would never release. Running back Adam Taylor took over from there, carrying five times before scoring from the three yard line.
“It was very important to get ahead early because you don’t want an explosive team like that to get up on you. You don’t want it to come down to a one game possession,” Joseph said.
The Lobo’s, who live by the pass, would come up empty on its first possession, as Tigers’ senior defensive back Kyle Fulks came up with a 29-yard interception, returning it to the Langham Creek’s ten yard line to help the Tigers cash in on its second touchdown drive.
“If you make mistakes, they’re going to make you pay for it and put it in the end zone. It’s good to get off to a good start but you have to play tough against them all four quarters,” Thompson said.
One play later, quarterback Kiley Huddleston spotted Alex Fisher in the flats where he turned up field and headed in the end zone to give Katy a 14-0 lead, after Kicker Manny Mendoza’s extra point.
With the momentum, Tigers’ defense kept the pass happy Lobo’s offense scoreless which factored in holding Langham Creek to negative 15 ground yards.
In the second half, Katy continued to control both sides of the ball. Oklahoma commit Defensive linemen Matt Dimon received help from his fellow counterparts to continue its dominance of the Lobo’s offense.
“I felt like our kids did a great job of preparing during the thanks giving holidays. They gave up there time. They prepared well and it showed up on both sides of the ball,” says Katy coach Gary Joseph.
“I’m proud of our kids for getting us here because it’s been a long time since Langham Creek’s been here. We plan on building on this. We’ve come so far in the last four years. 3-8 the year before and here we are playing at Reliant in the second round of the playoffs at (9-3). With time they’ll realize they had a great year,” says Thompson.