Spring Woods rolling with first district title
Summer Creek, Morton Ranch join the group of first-time champions
Joe Gibson always believed basketball, in addition to Roger Clemens and soccer, could be among the most well-known properties of Spring Woods athletics.
Gibson, a Spring Woods product, was a senior on the school’s 1996 playoff team. Today he’s the coach of the program’s first district championship team. In between those 23 years, the team made three playoff appearances.
“For this group to be the first team to win a district title … man, it’s unbelievable,” said Gibson, whose team opens the postseason Tuesday against Heights. “You think about all the basketball teams and all the talent they’ve had come through there and never could accomplish that — that’s real big.”
Spring Woods won seven games three seasons ago. Center Nicolas Hardin and guards Jesse Zarzuela and Darian Gibson were freshmen on that team.
The path toward the programs’ first district championship is an arduous one, and the stories behind the achievement are often undernoted.
A few Houston-area teams head into the postseason Monday on the heels of that elusive trophy and in the hunt for a much bigger one at the Alamodome in March.
Summer Creek didn’t have to wait as long as Spring Woods for its first district championship. The school opened in 2009.
What makes the Bulldogs’ coup interesting is the hire that preceded it. Coach Kenneth Coleman won a state title at Port Arthur Memorial last season and moved to the Humble ISD outfit last spring.
Count Morton Ranch among the first-time district champions this year, too.
Coach Khris Turner counts depth as a reason this year was different. Standout guard LJ Cryer and big man Eddie Lampkin get the attention. Westley Sellers, Adrian Caldwell, D’erice Ulmer, Tre Elrod and Isaiah Babalola complete the puzzle.
Last year, the spotlight was on the south side of Katy when Tompkins played for a state championship. But Morton Ranch split the regular-season series with Tompkins in 2018, and the Mavs also had a win over Alief Taylor, which made a regional title game in 2018.
Morton Ranch didn’t need much proof this could be a landmark year.
“They came back focused,” Turner said. “When school started, they were already focused. Most of the time, coaches have to paint a picture for them, but I didn’t have to. They came back ready.”
Tiebreakers matter
Katy Taylor bested Katy 85-62 on Friday to secure the fourth playoff spot out of District 19-6A.
The Mustangs had won just one in their last six before that victory.
Barbers Hill topped Port Arthur Memorial in a 69-57 win. The two teams were already District 21-5A champions but played for the top seed, which now puts Barbers Hill on a collision course with Hightower and Port Arthur Memorial on one with Shadow Creek.
In that same district, Port Neches-Groves defeated Cleveland 66-55 for the final playoff spot. It’s just Cleveland’s second playoff miss since 2006.
Playoff droughts, streaks and firsts
Mayde Creek won six games last year and made the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons this year. Cypress Ridge is in for the first time in six years.
Texas City has its first outright district title since 2003.
Lake Creek opened this school year in Montgomery ISD and had its first playoff team.
Sam Houston and Klein Forest have five straight district titles.
Houston Christian finishes atop SPC
In the private school ranks, the TAPPS playoffs are underway, with at least one champion already crowned.
Houston Christian became back-to-back Southwest Preparatory Conference champions, defeated Episcopal 69-64 in Fort Worth on Saturday.
In TAPPS, last year’s 6A champion Concordia Lutheran will be a team to watch again.