Cypress Ranch transcends district mire
As others fighting for berth, Mustangs gallop merrily along
Amid all the chaos in District 17-6A this season, one thing remains constant – Cypress Ranch keeps winning.
The Mustangs improved to 7-0 with their 14th consecutive district victory Saturday.
“We’ve got such a tough district, from our perspective, and we’ve got so much respect for the talent level and the coaches in this district, so we’re really thrilled to be sitting here at 7-0,” coach Gene Johnson said.
“It could have gone the either way in a couple of games, so we’re just really excited to be where we are right now.”
The Mustangs lost their season opener.
Coming off an appearance in the Class 6A Division I championship game, and carrying the weight of high expectations into this season, they fell 27-24 to Cinco Ranch on a field goal with no time left.
But they didn’t let that setback throw them off course, and with good reason.
The Mustangs lost 19-7 to Cinco in a 1-2 start last year, then won 12 consecutive games to reach the 6A finals.
“Cinco’s got a really good club, so we couldn’t dwell on that loss,” Johnson said. “We had to try to get ready for the next game, and our kids did a good job of that.
“If you let it impact the next one, then you can be in trouble, but fortunately our kids were able to put it behind them and move onto the next game.”
Johnson said they’ve improved each week since, especially on the offensive line, which has jelled around guard Gabriel Swift.
“Even through some injuries, we’ve had some kids step up there, and our ability to run the football has been a critical part of our success,” he said. “So
it’s starts offensively with the running game, and then defensively we’re still working on some things, but those guys have settled in and played pretty good defense as well.”
Cy Ranch also has received difference-making play in the return game behind R.J. Sneed II, Keric Wheat fall, Amaud Willis Dalton.
“They’ve been extremely explosive in the return game,” Johnson said.
The Mustangs’ running game looks a little different this season.
Quarterback Colin Rock rushed for 1,105 yards last year, averaging 69 yards per game and really coming on in the playoffs. He has 304 yards through eight games this season, dropping his average to 38 yards per game.
“We haven’t run Colin a whole bunch, maybe quite as much as we did last year,” Johnson said.
“For one thing, people probably know who Colin is, and they’re going to focus in on him, so that gives an opportunity to some other kids, when they’re taking things away from us, maybe, with Colin.
“And then he’s throwing the ball well.
“We had a game a couple weeks ago (against Cy Ridge) where he had a couple interceptions and he didn’t play well, but excluding that game (a 38-35 victory), he’s made really good decisions, thrown the ball well and gotten some of those wideouts involved in what we’re doing.”
Rock’s only two picks this season – against 10 touchdown passes – were against Cy Ridge.
E.J. Thompson and Terrence Shaw have emerged as the top running backs in a stable of ballcarriers that includes Rock, Ty Laurent and fullback Dylan Proske, who has six touchdowns on limited carries.
Holden Gourley was a key back early but was hurt against Langham Creek.
Johnson hopes to have Gourley, a junior, back in some capacity before the end of the regular season.
Thompson leads the way with 92 carries for 536 yards and 10 TDs.
“He’s very physical – a very, very physical kid,” Johnson said. “He runs hard and he’s hard to tackle. He’s a smart kid. He understands what’s going on out there, and he’s just a strong runner.”
Cy Ranch corralled a strong stable of Wing-T backs in last week’s 56-21 win over Cy Falls, which took its first two losses back-to-back against the two teams – Ranch and CyFair – that run the ball best.
“We are a running team, so I don’t know if maybe that helped us, but probably the biggest key to that deal was that we were able to get a couple of turnovers,” Johnson said. “That was a big part of that game because it could have very easily gone the other way if we don’t get those turnovers.”
Now Cy-Fair and Cy Ranch collide this week.
They kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Pridgeon Stadium.
“To me, Cy-Fair is CyFair,” Johnson said.
“They are such a great, disciplined team, and they’re going to run the football and they’re going to hog the clock, and quite frankly do some of the things that we learned from them and we try to do.
“They’re the best defense in the district, statistically speaking, so it will be a tremendous challenge for us.”