STATE CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!

(from the Houston Chronicle)

FOR the diehard Katy football fan, the Christmas Wish list was a short one. All they wanted was a Class 5A Division II state championship.
The Tigers delivered with 28-7 win over Pflugerville for Katy's fifth state championship victory at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

The victory put a bow on a perfect undefeated 16-0 season in which they were rarely tested and anytime they were, they quickly righted the ship and went on to win by at least two touchdowns.

"It's been an amazing run," said Katy head coach Gary Joseph. "Anytime you win 16 straight games at the 5A level, you've done something special and our kids did something special, so I give a lot of credit to them and to our coaches. They all put in the work and with an administration that is totally behind us, it's really a total team effort that we were able to accomplish this."

Only six of their 16 opponents scored more than one touchdown and they finished the playoffs by giving up just two defensive touchdowns in three games.

They found themselves behind 7-0 throughout most of the first half Saturday night after the Panthers, who close out at 12-4, scored early in the second quarter on a 50-yard run by Zavier Gooden. But on the final play of the half, the Tigers began to turn their luck around.
Senior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who capped a great week in which he verbally committed to play college football at Hawaii, lofted up a fourth-down 35-yard Hail Mary Pass towards the end zone. It sailed about three yards into the end zone and into a crowd of leaping red Katy and white Pflugerville shirts. It bounced off everybody and back towards the field of play right to where senior receiver Brian Rowe was there waiting for the carom, which he pulled in for a touchdown to make it 7-6 with no time showing on the second quarter clock.

"We do practice that," Joseph said. "We practice that play about once a week and it's one of those deals, you may never need it, but you practice it anyway and we were very fortunate that it worked out for us. But we do practice it and Bo threw it right where he was supposed to and our guys up there tipped it right to (Brian) who was standing right where he was supposed to be standing. There is some luck involved no doubt, but we practice it and the kids executed it perfectly because (everyone) saw that Brian was right where he was supposed to

". And it really looked like an easy catch for him."

Senior kicker Ryan Doerr, filling in for injured Raul Balbuena, made the extra point and suddenly what seemed a for-sure 7-0 Pflugerville lead at halftime was instead a 7-7 tie.

Joseph said that set the tone in the locker room at halftime, where the Tigers settled down but became even more determined than ever.
Senior running back Aundre Dean ran 65 yards for a touchdown on the Tigers' opening drive of the second half and less than three minutes into the third quarter, the onslaught was on.

The Tigers would score touchdowns on their next two possessions, with each drive using four plays, to open the lead to 28-7 late in the third quarter while Pflugerville was suddenly being thwarted, going three-and-out on offense four straight times.

Dean finished with 220 yards on 32 carries and finishes as the all-time leading rusher at Katy High School. Mitchell finishes the year with 37 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

"They, like so many of our kids, played a great football game," Joseph said. "We were a little sidetracked in the first half and they had the long (touchdown) run on us, but I thought once our kids settled down at halftime, we came out and played in the second half, like I thought we would."

Offensive lineman Eric Ball, nose tackle Elvin Tapong, inside linebacker Blake Adler, outside linebacker Cameron Strickler, strong safety Andrew Herrell, defensive end Micah Marks, inside linebacker Patrick Benson, tight end Markham Strayton, fullback John Taylor, defensive end Sean Alexander, and offensive tackle Cameron Travis are all now famous names in Katy football lore. They are among the many unheralded, unsung, and totally underrated Tiger players, but they're guys that Katy fans will now remember forever.

"There's no question we have to regroup a little because we'll be graduating a lot of players," Joseph said. "But we're going to enjoy this for a while. We're losing a lot of quality kids that happen to be good football players, but I'm very proud of those guys. They deserve all the good things that have happened to them."

This group of seniors were freshmen when Joseph took over four years ago for legendary coach Mike Johnston. Going into this year, Joseph said the goal all that time has been to develop them for this moment.
Now they have the school's fifth state championship and fourth since 1997.