This Week in HS Sports - September 18, 2009

We continue to have interesting match-ups and the opportunity to see some of the area’s best talent on a weekly basis in our LSN broadcasts, and Week 3 is certainly no exception.  Here’s a sneak peak at our offerings this week—

 WESTFIELD (2-0) at MEMORIAL (1-1)

Hold on to your hats, folks.  Westfield’s offense is back and running like a finely-tuned machine.  After putting up 40 points against Cypress Falls two weeks ago, Corby Meekins’ Mustangs took the intensity to an even higher level last week against Beaumont West Brook in their 67-35 win.

The Mustangs put up 47 points before halftime and never looked back, posting 550 yards of offense.  QB Jacoby Walker completed 10 of 16 passes for 233 yards and three TDs and rushed for one other TD.  Westfield’s third-string tailback Josh Jenkins led all rushers with 120 yards. Back-up Preston Dotson rushed for 75 yards and three TDs.

If there was one glimmer of hope for a Westfield opponent, it was that the defense allowed 500-plus yards to West Brook. But, similar to the first game against Cy-Falls, much of that was allowed in the second half after the game was well in hand and with second and third team defenders on the field.

So the Memorial Mustangs will have their work cut out for them this Saturday night.  Memorial (1-1) will be trying to rebound from a 20-14 loss to Pearland. 

Memorial entered the season with a lot of holes to fill that were left by several graduating seniors from the 2008 team, but are still expected to compete for a playoff spot in District 18-5A.  Coach Gary Koch likes his offense to grind it out on the ground and one of the big keys to the game will be the Memorial offense’s ability to hold onto the ball and keep the Westfield offense off the field.

But Westfield is as quick defensively as most teams are offensively and they have the ability to shut down runs outside the tackles as well as between them.

This game will be an interesting study in contrasting styles.

HUMBLE (0-3) at KLEIN (2-0)

The Humble Wildcats have struggled out of the gate this season.  This week’s game doesn’t appear to offer any relief for them.  The Wildcats travel to Klein Memorial Stadium to take on Stan Labay’s Klein Bearkats. 

Klein is another team, like Memorial, that likes to pound the ball on the ground and eat up large chunks of game time controlling the ball.  If the Bearkats beat you by 3 TDs, it means they’ve dominated time of possession and it’s as huge a defeat as a 35-40 loss to a free-wheeling offense.

And this season, Dekota Barnes has added some spice to the Klein attack.  He’s already rushed for nearly 300 yards in two games, and added a pair of kickoff returns for TDs as well.  Needless to say, Job #1 for Walt Beasley’s Wildcats has to be to stop Barnes.

Humble has had offensive woes of its own this season.  Jersey Village shut the Wildcats out last Saturday night en route to the Falcons’ first victory since Week 6 in 2007.  Turnovers have been a huge problem in the first three games for Humble.  They have turned the ball over seven times in that span.

The Wildcats are not without talent or athleticism, though.  WR Xavier Maxwell is a talented playmaker and Humble will need to figure out ways to get the ball into his hands, either by land or air. 

If Humble can avoid turning the ball over and turn some of their drives into scores, then they may force Klein out of their offensive game plan of long-time consuming drives that shorten a game and deflate a defense.

ST. THOMAS (1-2) at SANTA FE (2-0)

St. Thomas picked up their initial victory of the 2009 season last Friday against Magnolia West. 

After falling behind 14-0 after one quarter, the Eagles dominated the final three, outscoring M-West, 35-7.  Sophomore QB Hunter Kopycinski had a strong showing, passing for 248 yards and 3 TDs.  Derek Martin (105 yards on 7 carries) and Josh Ibarra (158 yards on 4 catches) were the rushing and receiving leaders.

Perhaps as gratifying for Coach Donald Hollas and his staff was the fact that their defense held the Mustangs to only one scoring drive in the final three quarters, after allowing 105 points to opponents in their first nine quarters of the season.

This week they look to even their record at 2-2, but this will be a pretty good test for the Eagles.

Santa Fe comes into this weekend having won back-to-back games for the first time since 2005.  And they’ve already equaled their win total for 2007-2008 combined.  The Indians’ offense has been solid in both their games, including last week’s 327-yard performance against Huffman-Hargrave. Joseph Walton rushed for 168 yards and three TDs in that one. Defensively, Santa Fe kept Hargrave in negative numbers (-20 yards) rushing.  This team is definitely better than their recent predecessors.

It will interesting to see if Kopycinski continues the progress as QB that he showed last week for the Eagles and it will be interesting to see if Walton is able to continue his strong start to the 2009 season for Santa Fe.  St. Thomas faithful may have looked at the schedule before the season got under way and subconsciously posted a ‘W’ beside this one, but the game won’t be a ‘gimme’ – for either side.

OAK RIDGE (2-1) at CYPRESS CREEK (2-0)

The War Eagles of Oak Ridge arguably had the most entertaining game of last weekend.  They lost, in overtime, to the Atascocita Eagles, 38-35.  The game went back-and-forth all night long with momentum swings and lead changes—and some missed opportunities too.

Oak Ridge opened up a 25-15 lead early in the third quarter, but couldn’t hold it and allowed 17 unanswered points to Atascocita before they rebounded to tie the game at 32-32 late in the fourth quarter.  Both teams had opportunities in the final minutes to win the game in regulation, but failed to do so. 

Oak Ridge managed a 32-yard field goal from Martin Gonzales in overtime, but Atascocita won on a four-yard TD run from Kent Brooks.

This week, Oak Ridge heads to the Berry Center to take on one of the area’s best teams, the Cypress Creek Cougars.  The Cougars are 2-0 with wins over Klein Oak and Tomball coming into their final pre-district tune-up game.

In theory, it’s pretty easy to figure out how to harness Cy Creek: stop Jermichael Selders.  As coaches will say, though, “We’ve never played a game there—in Theory.”  Selders has rushed for 389 yards in two games.  Mix in the fact that Chuckie Keeton appears to be a more-than-able replacement for Austin Pugliese at QB, and the Cougars look like one of the teams to beat, not only in District 15-5A, but Region II as well.

For the Cougar defense, their key will be in stopping War Eagle QB Ryan Cyr.  He is the engine for the Oak Ridge offense and runs the option attack adeptly for Coach Bob Barrett.

NEDERLAND (1-1) at FRIENDSWOOD (1-1)

Nederland travels to Friendswood on Friday night to take on the 2008 Class 4A Region III Division 1 champions, the Friendswood Mustangs.  These two teams seemed on track to meet a couple of times last year, but Hurricane Ike wiped out the first scheduled meeting and the Magnolia Bulldogs knocked off Nederland in the second round of the playoffs, one week before the winner faced Friendswood’s heralded offense led by QB Jacob Karam in the regional semifinal.

Karam, as well as a couple of his talented receivers, are gone in 2009 and Friendswood, while formidable, is still searching for some answers.  Last Friday, against Class 5A Brazoswood, the Mustangs fell behind 21-3 before rallying to within three points before losing 28-18.  Friendswood is 1-1 coming into this week’s action.

RB Andrew Cole will be the player to watch when Friendswood has the ball.  Last season, Cole rushed for over 1,500 yards.  On Friday, he ran for 91 yards and had 58 yards receiving against Brazoswood.

While Friendswood knew going into the season that they would have to replace a QB, Nederland found out two weeks ago that they also had to replace theirs.  Junior Tyler Smith stepped into the starting role when a torn knee ligament suffered by Kirby Bellow in the opener brought an end to his season.

Smith was the driving force behind Nederland’s late rally and game-winning fourth-quarter drive that gave them a 27-23 win over Waller at Waller’s new home field.

Defense and special teams helped keep the Bulldogs within striking distance of Waller until the offense began to chip away at the 23-7 deficit.  A blocked punt, fumble recovery and interception led to three Nederland TDs.

RB Nick Cardenas rushed for 142 yards on 24 carries and scored two rushing TDs. Smith completed 15-of-30 passes for 167 yards and two TDs.  Ryan Brady had nine receptions for 100 yards and two TDs.

Although Friendswood had the spectacular 2008 playoff run that ended in a state semifinal loss to eventual Class 4A Division 1 champion Lake Travis, the Bulldogs have a richer playoff tradition.  Nederland has been to the playoffs in 12 of the last 13 seasons, only missing the postseason in 2007.

This one should be very close and entertaining.  Friendswood may get the slight emotional edge playing their 2009 home opener.

In addition to these match-ups, we also will have live coverage of Groesbeck and China Springs thanks to our partnership with Massey Broadcasting.

 Previous stories : August 15, 2009  August 20, 2009  August 26, 2009  August 31, 2009
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