Kennedy leads unbeaten Bobcats into playoffs
After learning Friday that it wasn’t entering the brutal Division I bracket in Class 6A Region III, Cy-Fair celebrated again Saturday.
Trenton Kennedy supplied 238 total yards and three touchdowns, and the undefeated Bobcats beat Langham Creek 30-21 at Pridgeon Stadium to clinch the District 17-6A title and a top Division II playoff seed.
“We worked hard, so to end up with a season like this is great,” Kennedy said.
Cy-Fair is 9-0 overall as well as in district entering its seventh consecutive playoff appearance.
The Bobcats were a Division I qualifier the previous six years, falling in bi-district the last two, including last year’s loss to Lamar.
But Cypress Falls beat Cy Creek 51-27 on Friday, pushing Cy Falls and Cy Ranch into Division I and dropping Cy-Fair into Division II with Langham Creek, which is the small-school second seed.
“We were overjoyed,” Kennedy said with a grin. “Division I is tough. We were willing to face the challenge, but we were a little bit more joyful we’re going Division II.”
Cy-Fair will face Westside at 7 p.m. Friday at Pridgeon.
“Unfortunately, since I’ve been here, we’ve never won a playoff game … so we’re going to come out, fight hard and do our thing,” Kennedy said.
The Lobos (8-1, 8-1) will play Heights at 7 p.m. Friday at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium.
“We made too many mistakes early, and they’ve got a good football team, but it was a good game,” Langham Creek coach Todd Thompson said. “If we make the two-point conversion down there, which we should have done, it’s a onepossession game at the end, so I’m proud of our kids. They fought their butts off and played hard.”
Cy-Fair was crisp early, scoring on its first two clockkilling drives, with quarterback Cameron Arnold completing his first nine passes for 127 yards and one score on a play-action pass to tight end Ryan Nelub, who hauled in his first TD of the season for a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Bobcats kept the ball for more than seven minutes on their third drive.
The Lobos finally forced them to settle for Max Duque’s 38-yard field goal, but the damage was done, with Cy-Fair’s effective keep-away rendering Langham Creek punchless in the first half. The Bobcats led 16-0 at halftime.
Quarterback Chris Herron rallied the Lobos in the second half, guiding three scoring drives. His 20-yard strike to Devin Lawrence with 4:05 remaining could have tied it, but a failed twopoint run on their previous score left them trailing 23-21.
But then Kennedy helped secure the victory, hauling in a 61-yard reception and scoring on a 5-yard run with 2:25 left.
“I was just hoping I didn’t get caught,” Kennedy said. “Unfortunately, I got caught, but it was great. We needed a first down, we needed to drive down the field, and to get that big of a play in a moment like that is great.”
Kennedy also scored early in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard run for Cy-Fair.
He finished with 31 carries for 155 yards and three TDs and three receptions for 83 yards.
“We knew if we played hard and played our game we would win,” Kennedy said.
Payton Tally’s interception with 50 seconds to go sealed it for the Bobcats.