Katy survives North Shore Revenge Mission

November 27th, 2010

The North Shore Mustangs fought mightily, but Katy ultimately prevailed in a 32-27 thriller at Pasadena's Veterans Memorial Stadium. The third round win puts Katy in the state quarterfinals for the ninth year in a row.

North Shore led the bout in both the first and fourth quarters, but the Tigers were able to battle back late and seal the winning margin with clutch offense and defense down the stretch. Katy junior quarterback Brooks Haack found junior receiver Jordan Thompson on a 22-yard touchdown strike for the game's eventual winning points.

The Katy defense had to preserve the win after North Shore stopped the Tigers on a late 4th-and-short attempt deep inside Mustang territory. The Tigers forced a turnover on downs around midfield to remove any doubt.

North Shore seized the early momentum with the game's initial points in the first quarter, and it took Katy nearly 16 minutes to get into the action. A back-and-forth second quarter resulted in a somewhat fortuitous 23-21 halftime lead for the Tigers.

The second half wasn't as eventful scoring wise with just 15 combined points, but the competition rivaled anything this level can produce. The five point winning margin is the closest Katy's experienced in the third round since beating Eisenhower 20-13 in the 1997 5A Division 1 playoffs.

The 2010 Katy football team is second all-time in program scoring for a season with 654 points through 13 games. The Tigers passed the 2000 team with the 32 points against North Shore. Katy is 48 points shy of breaking 2007's record mark of 701 points scored.

Katy will play Pearland in the Region 3 championship game at Rice Stadium next Saturday (12/4) at 1 pm. This will be the first meeting between Katy and Pearland since 1959.