Cougars’ streak with Cards comes to a quick end
Loss to Bellaire doesn’t dampen Cinco Ranch’s hopes for 2016
It was bound to happen sometime.
After five consecutive first-round meetings, Bellaire finally found a way to break through, beating Cinco Ranch 35-31 on Saturday at Rhodes Stadium in the Class 6A Division I Region III playoffs.
Cinco Ranch won the first four games from 2011 to 2014.
“You can look at it that way,” coach Don Clayton said.
“I just felt like this is 2015 and it was our team (and) they’re team, and they made more plays than we made.
“We didn’t run it as well as we have been running it, and we threw it well, we just had too many sacks to get into a good rhythm. They had nine sacks, and we haven’t given that many up in a long time.”
The Cougars (9-2) averaged only 3.1 yards per carry, and quarterback Russell Morrison was the leading rusher with 62 yards.
Still, the two teams traded scores throughout the game.
Cinco Ranch took a 3128 lead with 6:46 left in the game on Brant Kuithe’s one-yard touchdown run, but Bellaire (6-5) answered with a touchdown with 1:48 left, then held off Cinco in the final minute. It was a tough ending for a team that started the year 9-0.
“They took it hard, just from the standpoint of they’ve committed themselves to this program and have done an outstanding job preparing for the season, and obviously throughout the season,” Clayton said. “We had two games where we won on the last play of the game and another one we won in the last minute. So they had the fight in them and that’s all you can ask out of kids.”
They had they fight – just not enough big plays.
The result was their first bi-district playoff loss since falling 40-27 to CyFair in 2007.
“It’s that dreaded time when you’ve got to store things away, and when
you store them away that obviously signals the end of that season,” Clayton said. “That’s always a tough part because that’s not what any of them want to be doing at this time of year.
“This group had designs on playing much longer, but the defending (6A Division II) state champion, Cedar Hill, lost, Euless Trinity lost (and) San Antonio Reagan – one of the top teams in San Antonio – lost in the first round.”
Clayton brought up those results from last week with his players to make the point that plenty of upsets happen early.
He doesn’t, however, call Bellaire’s win a huge shocker.
“It’s not like we’ve been that much better than them over the years,” he said. “Two years ago it was 5043, and we scored the last one and intercepted tone at the goal line to keep it from going to overtime, and last year we were down by 18 at half and came back and had a great second half.
“So it’s been a challenging matchup.”
Now the challenge facing the program is finding a way to replace several seniors who played key roles, including Morrison, leading wide receiver Corey Rau, who is verbally committed to SMU, running back Devin Johnson, cornerback Jacob Smith and standout linebacker Dami Ilesanmi.
“There are a lot of seniors who have done a great job of getting us to this point,” Clayton said. “That’s always hard to replace, and the onus is on the players who played this year as juniors or sophomores. The challenge for them is to step up and make their mark. That’s how the process begins.”
Morrison came a long way from last season, finishing with 1,718 yards and 13 touchdowns on 58-percent passing (111-of-192).
He also supplied 722 yards and 13 TDs on the ground.
The early candidates to succeed Morrison included junior backup QB James Klingler, the youngest son of David Klingler, Kuithe, who supplied seven TDs this season, and sophomore QB Zach Brown.
“We’ve got some guys who will battle,” Clayton said. “There’s still a lot of work to do, but those three, in particular, have shown they are capable of getting the job done. It’s going to be a heck of a battle.”