The Tomball Cougars hosted the Klein Oak Panthers in their biggest district game yet as the Cougars came in at first place in district at 3-0 and Klein Oak was closely tied for second with Magnolia and Klein Cain at 3-1.
The Cougars handled business 24-21 to climb to 6-0 on the year and 4-0 in district play becoming the stand alone district leaders with this game was almost a polar opposite of last week’s win at Klein.
Whereas last week was a pure offensive shootout, this game was a smash mouth, physical, all-out dogfight that perfectly resembled the identity of Tomball football: strong rushing attack, scrappy and physical defense, and controlling the pace of the game, wearing down their opponent to outwill them to victory.
Last week was a high–powered shootout where the Cougars put up nearly 700 yards and 50 points on offense, however they also allowed 43 points and they had to sweat out the ending more than they wanted to, which has been the consistent problem of not putting teams away when they have the chance.
That issue appeared once again as although the defense played a stout first half only allowing a single touchdown, the offense was not able to finish drives in the endzone as they had 10 points in the half despite three trips to the redzone. The second half saw more of a pickup as the offense found the endzone twice and ended the game on a near 7-minute drive where after forcing a punt they milked the clock down to zeros and took a knee to seal victory.
Defensively they allowed two touchdowns in the second half as that stranglehold they had in the first half wavered a bit but they made enough plays on key downs to get off the field and get the ball back to win the game. Overall it was a strong team win over a good district opponent but there are areas that need to be improved.
The inability to finish drives on good field position is the main focus offensively and defensively the quarterback run has been an issue all season long and allowing big plays especially in outside runs and that will be fixed with these great coaches and players but with tougher opponents coming up leading into playoffs there will need to be more focus on these games.
Coming up the Cougars will play Tomball Memorial in the Patriotic Game at 7:30 on October 18th, and if the Cougars win they improve to 7-0 on the year for the first time since 1991 as well as clinch a playoff spot with three games left in district. Tickets for the game are already sold out and it is sure to be an extremely energetic game with a playoff feel purely off the atmosphere and stakes of the rivalry.
Player Highlights:
#0 Oswaldo Morales- 148 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown
#3 Jaxyn Faldyn- 187 passing yards, 1 rushing touchdown
#17 Hunter Rathke- 5 catches for 94 yards
#88 Miles Roy- 5 catches for 45 yards
#55 Colby St. John
Key Defenders:
#13 Connor Lowe
#15 Braeden Scneider
#20 Dayton Navy
#90 Ryan Troy
