Slow Start, Strong Finish
The Tigers moved to 6-0 in district after after rolling past Paetow Panthers in the second half en route to a 55-21 victory. Katy plays Tompkins and Mayde Creek in its final two district contests.
Katy started with the ball and drove the field through a series of runs capped off by a Trey Hill TD to give the Tigers first blood on the evening, 7-0. Paetow fielded the ensuing kickoff on the bounce after allowing the kick to hit the turf, and Spellman broke through the Tiger coverage to tie the score immediately at 7-7. This was a bit fortunate for Paetow to get a perfect bounce, but it’s also a good example of why it’s a good idea to get bodies on bodies when covering kicks. Talented players know what to do with the ball.
The Tigers turned the ball over on downs on the next drive. The Katy defense, in its first action of the night, generated a three and out on Paetow’s first series on offense. Katy started its next drive on offense with some procedure penalties before Tony Manual made some tough runs. Katy then botched a draw handoff to Hill where the ball hit the turf, the Tigers recovered it and were forced to punt.
On Paetow’s next possession, Senior MLB Reid Garrelts forced a fumble that resulted in a huge loss of yards and ultimately ended the Paetow drive before it started. When Katy took over next, it executed a fun flea flicker ending with Franklin overthrowing a wide open Hopkins. Wind was a factor on the evening. This drive ended in a turnover on downs after Franklin overshot Cade McCall, who was double covered, and resulted in the receiver landing hard on his shoulder. Hopefully, he will be OK.
Hartwell at QB
The Katy defense forced another stop, and when the Tigers took the field again on offense Mason Hartwell entered the game at QB. Hartwell came in with 9:53 left in the 2nd quarter and the game still tied at 7 after both teams had stalled out. Hartwell executed a very nice playaction pass to find fellow junior Braylon Pettway for a touchdown, giving Katy a 14-7 lead.
Once again, this lead was short lived as Katy allowed a long kick return that was saved by a big effort tackle from behind by Matthew Saulsberry. Paetow ultimately scored on a fade route pass from inside the red zone on a nicely executed play by the Panthers to tie things back up at 14 apiece.
With just a few minutes remaining until half, Katy started the drive with a great play call out of a tight pistol formation. It was an end around to Pettway designed to take advantage of the defense flowing to Hill. Hartwell found Jack Malone on a 2nd and 6 conversion. Katy started to allow more penetration against the run at this point. Hartwell made another play with his legs to convert before finding Fayo George on a very nicely executed counter playaction. Hartwell also found Hopkins on another playaction first down conversion before finishing the drive himself on a great QB draw run. The Tigers had the lead back at 21-14, and it was done through excellent QB play by Mason Hartwell with help from his teammates. This drive was a big moment in the season for me, and Hartwell’s full arrival in my opinion.
The Return of Franklin
Katy put Franklin back in at QB for the final play of the first half, somewhat strangely, and tried to throw the ball since the Tigers were at midfield. Paetow generated heavy pressure and Franklin had to get rid of it. It could have ended badly turnover wise (strip 6, pick 6), so I’m not sure what the reasoning was there.
After half, Paetow started with the football and got Katy to bite on a playaction. They hit a post route over Katy’s heads as a result and immediately tied the score at 21. David Olotu-Judah was the corner the receiver beat downfield, but it was supposed to be Cooper Knott helping over the top in quarters coverage (each of the 4 DBs is responsible for a deep quarter).
Knott bit on the run action and was out of position (edit- I have been corrected on this that Knott did as coached and DOJ was singled up). Katy ran a play similar to this for years called Rap 54 X where the receiver moves inside to make it look like he’s cracking on the safety only to turn upfield and usually be wide open. Paetow did exactly this route with the receiver. Katy hasn’t run this play in a while, but used to routinely beat people for touchdowns with it.
Tigers Regain Lead for Good
Hartwell resumed QB duties for Katy after a strong kick return by young CJ Watts where the sophomore decided to channel his inner Earl Campbell at 150(?) pounds. Trey Hill scored on the outstanding run of the game to restore Katy’s lead on a great 52 yard touchdown run that started up the middle and bounced around the right side to paydirt. Katy led once again, 28-21.
The Tiger defense answered the call on Paetow’s next possession with a big hit PBU by Olotu-Judah and a Jeremiah Smith sack. Hartwell and the offense took over and put together a really nice team drive with contributions from Hill, Watts and Hartwell to give Katy some cushion at 35-21 with 4:39 left in the 3rd quarter. Hill punched in the TD. Watts was a heavy contributor here also in the run game.
Reid Garrelts made a huge sideline tackle to force fourth down, and Jeremiah Smith followed with another big stop short of the line to gain, giving the ball back to Katy. Just two senior leaders doing senior leader things. Katy missed Drake Hopkins open on a post route next series with Hartwell, but converted a big play through a fullback counter to Scotty Zuehlke. Tony Manual and Zuehlke made addition plays before Manual’s TD plunge extended Katy’s lead to 42-21 with 11:53 remaining in the 4th.
The Tigers generated another stop and Hartwell again linked up with Pettaway for a touchdown off of play action. Leading up to this, Hartwell impressively scanned the field and converted an 8 yard pass to Hopkins. On the TD pass, Hartwell saw his first read wasn’t available and progressed to find Pettaway with an absolute strike, extending the Katy lead to 48-21.
This Pace should look Familiar
Wes Sewell delivered a big tackle on the kickoff, and Caleb Walters followed with an interception that looked like a sure pick-six before a holding call on the return brought it back. Walters made two big plays against the ball on that series. CJ Watts had a TD run called back for a hold, but ultimately Watts punched in the final points of the night for Katy on a short run to set the final tally at 55-21.
This game followed a similar pattern to what we’ve seen in district so far with a slower start and strong finish. Katy has done this against Cinco, Jordan, and now Paetow. The response from Katy in all of these games has been a big encouragement while the challenge moving forward obviously is to start stronger. Beyond this high level analysis, I believe something more significant just happened for this team at the quarterback position. Mason Hartwell entered a tied football game, and really took the offense up a level or two with his mobility and the ability he showed to execute playactions and get beyond the first read when it is not there. The pistol package has a totally different threat level with Hartwell. The drive he led before half to give Katy the 21-14 lead was the exclamation point for me on his seizing the opportunity.
What’s Next?
The entire team responded well after Paetow hit the big pass to start the second half, and once again that is very pleasing for me to see. This group of guys clearly is fighting for each other. Defensively, Katy gave up two plays on the night (fade route TD, and the post TD). And the first one of those two plays was set up by the long kick return. Katy needs to continue working on shoring up the secondary coverage and avoiding the busts that result in that kind of score. I am looking forward to seeing how Katy takes the field against Tompkins next week, but I think the team took a big step forward with the effort I saw from the 2nd quarter on against Paetow.
