KATY - On the final week of the regular season, there is one game that everyone in Katy has been waiting for all year. But, before last season, the match-ups between Katy and Cinco Ranch did not draw top billing.
"It makes our district look a lot strong when we have strong components in our district," says Katy senior linebacker Jonathon Fisher. "We always get a lot of trash talking that we don't have a strong district and stuff like that."
That is not the case any more. The only trash-talking that's going on now is between these two neighbors, now that the Cougars have a one game winning streak against the Tigers after their 27-21 OT victory 12 months ago.
"We're still a young program and they have 60 years on us, but we feel like we finally made the head way that we have been searching to do," says Cinco head coach Don Clayton.
"It was a big moment for us and our school," says Cinco offensive lineman Richard Glover. "It was something that had never been done at the school before and it was good for confidence for this year and years to come so that the younger kids know they can do it too."
But while Cinco was on cloud nine, Katy was feeling the sting of the their first district championship failure as they had won 13 of the previous 14 titles.
"It was an intense loss," says Fisher. "Watching them run onto the field after that overtime game really tugged on the heart strings, I'm not gonna lie."
"It was unexplainable, we felt embarrassed in front of our own fans and in front of the community," says Katy running back Will Jeffery.
In Katy, the goal from day 1 is winning a state title so when they look back at 2008, they lived up to what they set out to do. After losing to Cinco the final game of the regular season, Katy went on to win six straight games to capture their sixth state crown. However, that victory didn't take the sting away from losing to their new crosstown rival.
"We really want this district championship and we're not going to let it slip away," says Fisher.
"We worked so hard and we are already 9-0, one more game till we're district champs and that's what we expect, nothing more or nothing less," says Cinco running back K.C. Nlemchi.
And if the early hype is any indication, these two teams will be playing in front of one of the largest crowds Rhodes Stadium has ever seen for a district game."
"During the game, you can't really hear anything because our band and Cinco Ranch's band are loud, so it will be fun," says Jeffery.
