HIGH SCHOOLS
Storylines to keep an eye out for during the regional semfinal round of the football playoffs.
Running into form
1 Katy running back Deondrick Glass suffered a serious knee injury last season in the area playoffs against Cypress Ranch. A full year later, he rushed for 181 yards and two touchdowns in the same round against Cy Ranch last week, powering Katy’s 55-7 win, but he’s still in the recovery process, which was easy to see when a Mustangs defender chased him down a yard short of the end zone at the end of a 61-yard run. But it wasn’t the knee holding him back, it was the brace. “It’s my fault because I didn’t take my knee brace to my coach to get it sprayed with WD-40,” Glass said. “It gets real tough to explode. I’ll just be glad when I can finally take this thing off that’s been holding me back.” Katy coach Gary Joseph said he’ll wait until his senior year — which could end up being his best yet. Glass rushed for 1,912 yards and 30 TDs in 12 games as a sophomore, averaging 10.4 yards per carry and 159.3 rushing yards per game. He’s at 1,282 yards and 23 scores on 146 carries through 10 games this year, averaging 8.8 and 128.2. “It’s not optional,” Joseph said. “He’s got to wear it for a year, and at this time next year we’ll get it off of him. But for the rest of the playoffs he’ll have the brace on. He’s got to learn to do it. He’s broke them and scored before. He looked like he was about a step off (Saturday), but we’ll get that corrected, too (possibly by working him less in practice).”
Evans erupts
2 North Shore coach Jon Kay limited sophomore running back Zach Evans’ carries during the regular season to keep him healthy for the playoffs. That strategy is paying off, with Evans exploding for 232 yards and seven TDs on 17 carries in a 52-21 win over Clear Springs last week. And with RBs Kerrion Hadnot — probably the fastest kid in the school — not with the team since Week 7 and John Gentry banged up last week, they need him now more than ever. “As good as his running with the ball is, he’s doing such a great job without the ball —– his blocking, his fakes, his patterns in his route-running — so it’s the little things that don’t show up on a stat sheet that are really starting to show how he’s maturing as a varsity football player,” Kay said.
Show of support
3 After the University of Houston concluded the regular season against Navy last week, standout defensive lineman Ed Oliver and his older brother, offensive lineman Marcus Oliver, headed out to Prairie View to support Westfield, their high school alma mater, in its area-round playoff game against San Marcos. “I knew they were going to be there, because as long as they’re not playing or they’re on the road … they’re always there, so yeah, it was cool,” coach Matt Meekins said. “They love Westfield High School, so we go watch them play and they come watch us play.” The Mustangs, apparently, were inspired, too. With the Olivers cheering them on, they held San Marcos to 72 total yards, eight first downs and eight punts, fueling a return to the regional semifinals.
Jamming them up
4 Lamar survived a slugfest with Ridge Point last week, winning 36-29, in large part on the strength of cornerback D’ Shawn Jamison’s monster all-around effort. The senior returned the opening kickoff 82 yards for a TD — one of two kickoff-return scores by Lamar — notched his first offensive TD of the year on an 8-yard run, and supplied a key red-zone interception, nine tackles and one pass breakup. “He’s a good athlete, he has very good speed, and he’s always excelled on kick returns,” coach Tom Nolen said. “He’s a great DB. That’s why he’s committed to Texas.”
Looking ahead
5 Old district rivals Klein Collins and Westfield remained on track to reunite in the regional finals last week, with Collins dispatching Round Rock Stony Point 48-14. But that’s not the only potential regional rematch between area rivals. Cy-Fair and Langham Creek appear to be on a collision course in Region III, and Angleton and Foster are a round away from the 5A Division I Region IV championship showdown that looked like a certainty last year, before Angleton stumbled in area.
DeSoto goes down
6 Class 6A Division II will crown a new champion this season after DeSoto lost 33-15 to Southlake Carroll in the area round. The Eagles were the third reigning state champ in UIL 11-man football to go down, following Mineola in 3A Division I and Bremond in 2A Division II. The state’s other defending champs, Lake Travis, Aledo, Highland Park, West Orange-Stark, Carthage, Gunter and Refugio, are alive and well.
TAPPS playoffs into semifinal round
7 St. Pius X, Cypress Christian and Magnolia Legacy Prep are into this week’s TAPPS state semifinals. St. Pius faces Dallas Bishop Lynch in the Division I bracket. They last met in 2015, with the Panthers winning 5934. Cypress Christian takes on Boerne Geneva in Division III and Legacy Prep tangles with Bryan Brazos in Division IV.
Atascocita vs. Katy
7 p.m. Friday, NRG Stadium
8 The Eagles are seeking a third consecutive regional final, but they haven’t faced eight-time state champ Katy since a 45-7 arearound playoff loss in 2009, and the Tigers are 17-1 at NRG.
Kingwood vs. Langham Creek
Noon Saturday, TDECU Stadium
9 The Eagles are seeking a third consecutive regional final, but they haven’t faced eight-time state champ Katy since a 45-7 arearound playoff loss in 2009, and the Tigers are 16-1 at NRG.
Manvel vs. Cedar Park
7:30 p.m. Friday Waller ISD Stadium
10 The 11-0 Mavericks, No. 2 in 5A, meet 11-1 Cedar Park, ranked No. 6 in the state, in a championship-worthy matchup. Manvel won a shootout 47-35 in the same round last season.