The folks from Katy, Texas couldn’t wait to see what this team from Seattle, Washington had to offer. After all looking at their stellar resume one would wonder just how good this team is. The community of Katy made sure the visitors from the northwest enjoyed a warm welcome. Though only a few hundred fans made the trip from Washington to Katy, Texas.
The State of Texas vs. the State of Washington.
Katy comes in with a 1-1 record, avenging a loss to North Shore 9-7 from last season while losing to The Woodlands for the second year in as many. Last year 47-0 whopping and 30-27 this year.
Bellevue comes in at 1-0 after posting a 62-0 victory over Marriot, from Surrey, British Columbia.
Katy used a smash mouth attack to claw out a victory over the much smaller Bellevue Wolverines, 35-17 in front of a packed house Saturday night at Rhodes Stadium. Brothers Vernon Jeffries and Will Jeffery ran behind a huge offensive line all night churning out yards. With the help of Brandon Price, Carlos Villarreal, Conner Cox, James Mark, Shep Klinke and Zach Swanson, Katy’s offensive line open holes while run blocking the Wolverines up and down the field. Jeffery the older of the two posed the most damage rushing for more than a 100 yards in the first half before leaving the game early in the third quarter because of a leg injury. But the younger Jeffries picked up where the older brother left off.
The crowd draped in a sea of red and white, stood to their feet showing their appreciation for the Tigers.
Bellevue a national power is well known for their vaunted wing-t offense, ending De La Salle’s twelve year run of undefeated seasons and beating Longbeach Poly, a southern California power. De La Salle amazed the sports world wining 151 games against no losses over a 12 year period of time, still known as the longest winning streak of any kind in high school football. The Wolverines hold six of Washington’s State Championships, 2001, b?02, b?03, b?04, b?06 and ’08 and is the top ranked team in class 3A in Washington and is expected to add yet another crown this season.
b?I’m pleased that we were able to move the football against them like we were.b? b?I thought our kids did a pretty good job of executing but we knew we had to move the ball against them because their very good offensively as far as executing on their stuff,b? said Katy’s Head Coach Joseph.
The bizarre happened on the Wolverines first drive when the special teams lined up for what was to be a 17 yard field goal attempt, the field goal try was blocked, picked up by a Katy defender. While returning the ball. He was tackled by one of the Bellevue special team’s player which forced a fumble and recovered by the Wolverines inside the Tigers ten yard line. But not being able to cash in at the one yard line proved to be a crucial turnover of downs. Katy’s defensive did a great job of holding the elusive wing-t offense to no points on the drive. The pressure applied up font from John Sampa, Michael Bray, Travis Burns and Tyler Adams was the key.
b?Well I know I was going to have to come out here and play a pretty good game.b? b?We worked hard all week.b? b?I was supposed to be the guy to make tackles, I did that for the most part tonight but I let some get by me, that happens sometimes,b? said Katy’s Defensive back Sam Holl.
After the Wolverines used up almost 10 minutes of the first quarter the Tigers made the most of their time taking a 14-10 halftime lead. It took them all but 5:00 minutes to drive 99 yards for the first score of the game, capped with a six yard touchdown run by Will Jeffery.
The backbone of Bellevue showed on their next drive, a 63 yard drive in 7 plays resulted in a 38 yard quarterback keeper from Joe Joe Conner. Conner was fabulous on the run faking the handoff up the middle on a dive play, raced around to the right sideline cut back inside eluding two defenders in route to the end zone to knot the score at 7 with 6:06 to play in the half.
The Tigers were back for more. This time, a drive that covered 75 yards in 8 plays. Jeffries went in from the one. The drive was keyed by a 29 yard burst by Will Jeffery and a 22 yard keeper by quarterback Michael Stojkovic that set them up at the Bellevue 5 yard line.
A 27 yard pass to Sean Coley put the Wolverines in field goal range where Race Sciabica connected on a beautiful 46 yard field goal that closed out the first half 14-10.
The Tigers came out of halftime red hot just as they were before the half. Vernon Jeffries returned the kick off 25 yards to the Tigers 26 yard line. Will Jeffery picked up 16 yards on two carries to give the offense a jump start. Tight end Swanson got in on the action with two 17 yard receptions to help Katy complete a 74 yard 10 play drive with a 3 yard touchdown run by Jeffries. 21-10.
On Bellevue’s next drive, Kendrick Van Ackeren was stopped short of the first down marker on a forth down attempt. After yet another stalled drive by the Wolverines, Katy struck again.
The Tigers broke open the forth quarter with a 60 yard punt return from speedster Colt Atwood. He fielded the ball at the Katy 40 yard line and went untouched down the right sideline into the end zone, stretching the lead to 28-10.
b?They played great, they wore us out.b? b?Their great team, their size and their speed.b? b?We knew they were bigger and faster than us and we got a little fatigue,b? said Butch Goncharoff head Coach of Bellevue.
Bellevue then put together their longest drive of the evening, going 70 yard in 12 plays, capped by a seven yard touchdown run by David Nguyen. Conner gave fake handoff to Coley going right and handed the ball to Nguyen going left totally fooling the Tigers Defense.
Jeffries closed out the scoring with a 9 yard run.
