Slow Starts on Both Sides
The Tigers dropped the first game of the season to a strong Gators team at Johnston Field, 34-21. It was Katy’s first loss in a season opener since the 2018 season when North Shore beat the Tigers 35-21. Saturday night, after a lightning delay and we kicked the ball off, defenses dominated proceedings early in the game.
Neither offense was finding much success throughout the first half and short fields generated the points for each team. Dickinson led 13-7 at the half. Katy’s touchdown came on a playaction pass from Franklin to Fayo George in the flat. George did a nice job to catch and turn up the sideline to get into the endzone. Kalieb Peterson (#3) caught Dickinson’s only first-half touchdown on a seam route from the slot after the Tigers failed to line up correctly pre-snap.
The safeties were pointing to that side of the field right before the play noticing something was wrong, and then the player who got over to try and cover eventual touchdown scorer let the receiver go thinking he had help behind him. He was singled up due to the Gators having four receivers on the field and needed to run with the route. This play followed a fumble by Katy. The Katy defense held Dickinson to two field goals to finish out the half and keep the Tigers within striking distance going into the locker room.
2nd Half Woes
Dickinson got the ball to start the second half and scored on a spectacular run from their star tailback Malachi Gamble. Gamble went around the left side on a sweep and a huge gap opened due to the Katy run fits being off. Missed tackles followed from that point and Gamble’s speed left the Tiger defense grasping at air. The Gators led 20-7. On the following kickoff however, Katy was given life. Dickinson popped up a kick to the upbacks, and Katy senior Kaleb Harrison cleanly fielded the ball and sprinted straight ahead for a return touchdown reducing the deficit to 20-14.
Dickinson’s next touchdown came on a TD route to Kalieb Peterson once again. Before this point, Katy lost senior cornerback Mason Dismuke to injury. Dismuke had played an excellent game in my opinion, so when he limped off it basically declared open season on the Katy secondary. Mind you, Katy was already down Isaiah McMillian coming into the game. Peterson was targeted repeatedly and running by Katy easily. Underthrown passes kept his touchdown tally down from what it could have been (one or two more).
Peterson caught the ball in stride at the 5-yard line, but a Katy defender punched it out as he ran toward the end zone. Touchdown signaled. Watching this back on film, I don’t believe Peterson had the ball fully secured. The two officials near the catch were both looking at the back of the receiver and did not have a good view of the ball. Officials gave him the benefit of the doubt, putting Katy back into a two-score deficit.
Playing from Behind
Senior Drake Hopkins returned a punt for a Katy touchdown on a strong run, but a block in the back wiped it out. This was a good call by the officials. On film, Katy had a player running back to help set the wall and shoved a Dickinson player in the back. Hopkins didn’t need the block, so this is an example of many details the team will see on film that change games. Dickinson extended their lead to 34-14 before Katy clawed one back with the offense putting together its first real drive of the game. Franklin started the drive on the first play or two, and then Mason Hartwell took the offense the rest of the way to finish the game. Katy touched the ball once more after this before the final whistle but fumbled a snap exchange. Dickinson kneeled out the clock.
Obviously, this was not the opener Katy had in mind. The first game of the season often is unknown for what to expect. The Katy offense could not get out of first gear against an aggressive and well coached Gator defense. The Gators sold out against the run and used their corners very aggressively in support when they didn’t have a receiver lined up to their side. Katy had a few breakdowns in blocking that gave Gator defenders free releases onto the quarterback. This is how the Gators’ star defensive end Chase Lewis generated two sacks. He was turned completely loose. Katy didn’t make a single explosive play (20 plus yards gain) in the game run or pass.
Injuries are hampering defense
I was curious coming into the game how much Katy would mix up formations and if we would see any kind of spread component in tandem with the base offense. There was nothing like that, so Katy just didn’t appear to have much of a chance with the combination of game plan and lack of ability to execute the basics against the Gators. The only play Katy was able to execute consistently on the night was 49 pitch. There was no real identity to Katy attack wise. The quarterback rotation I expected to see wasn’t there in game 1. Franklin got most of the work, and Hartwell I think was given 3 or 4 series overall (one of the first half).
Defensively, Katy was extremely vulnerable on the perimeter horizontally and vertically. The Tigers’ star player in the secondary, Isaiah McMillian, was injured in pre-season. Mason Dismuke leaving the Dickinson game injured potentially puts Katy even further in a bad position depending on how much, if any, game time Dismuke will miss. Katy was having to shuffle and rotate a lot of players against Dickinson because of Dismuke’s exit and the general performance. Cooper Knott was used as a bit of a fire extinguisher, but the issue was too big for one player to sort out. I believe Katy is going to closely re-examine the secondary this week and maybe try and find one or two more players from the sub-varsity ranks who can help the situation.
If there was one bright spot
The special teams return game and coverage are bright spots from game 1 Katy can try to build on going into Atascocita this week. The defensive front also showed some good things. Junior Munachi Obeta had two monster sacks. Fellow junior Josiah Martinez had a big sack also. Aferi Davies was a physical presence from the Sam linebacker position. It was interesting seeing Jeremiah Smith at Will linebacker next to Garrelts in the middle. I will be intrigued to see how this evolves over the season.
We’ve been here before
This opener was reminiscent of times Katy has played against North Shore previously in the first game, and during the 2001-2003 stretch versus John Tyler and Lufkin. The biggest issues for Katy to sort out are shoring up the offensive line play (it looked OK when Katy was picking up assignments) and finding an identity on offense. Katy can’t take the same plan and execution from the Dickinson game forward or it will be a very long season.
Katy needs to figure out what it is going to hang its hat on offensively. Shore up the blocking and figure out if one of the quarterbacks is going to give the team a better chance at moving the football consistently. Find a receiver or two who can stretch the field vertically (even if it involves a position switch). With the running backs, you might have to use all three because I’m not sure one can carry the load. Ball security was not there in game 1. Strategy wise, what is the unit going to do to counter a defense like what Katy saw against Dickinson going forward?
Defensively, the secondary, as mentioned above, is a major issue particularly if injury has removed another senior from the lineup. Coach Joseph’s 2008 quote sticks with me. After The Woodlands blew out Katy 47-0 in game 2 for an 0-2 start, he said, “If we’re going to be this bad, we’re going to be this bad my way.” (meaning we’re going to go to work and fight).
A Reason to Believe
Katy is not the kind of program that’s going to mail in a season as a lost cause. In a few of those years I mentioned above when Katy face-planted out of the gate, only 2001 ended early (second round loss in the playoffs and they still improved quite a bit).
When 2002 rolled around, Katy advanced to the state semifinals. In 2003, Katy won state. In 2008, Katy won state. Quitting is for other programs in Katy ISD. Some seasons, a team has framing up on top of a good foundation and dry wall and masonry are there and it’s about refinement as the season goes on. Other seasons, you are pouring the foundation and starting from studs up. This season is going to be closer to the latter on that spectrum.
Sure, there is a chance this next week goes poorly before things start to get better in district, but let me tell you they’ve hated Katy for years in Humble, Texas for the number of times Katy has sent teams up there as the underdog and won going back to our days against “ol Humble High” as Coach Johnston used to call them before our rivalry moved to Atascocita around 2008 time frame. The season develops through phases, starting in non-district, moving into district, and building toward the playoffs. We learned Saturday that Katy was not ready for a playoff caliber opponent in game 1. Katy will be going to practice today on Labor Day to try and address things. Game 2 is going to be another valuable piece of information for this team regardless of result.
