Week 3 Football Wrap-Up: The Woodlands Highlanders Come Up Big & The College Park Cavaliers Continue To Fall

THE WOODLANDS – This week, District 13 teams wrapped up their out-of-district schedules and are preparing for district play. This week brought some intriguing matchups, with many teams taking on tough opponents. Let's dive into each game from this week and go over the key points that set us up for district play.

The Woodlands Highlanders vs. The Humble Wildcats

Heading into this game, The Woodlands Highlanders looked to return to a winning record as they traveled to face the Humble Wildcats. The Highlanders came out swinging, never taking their foot off the gas pedal, and won this contest with a decisive 58-0 shutout. Both sides of the ball were elite for the Highlanders, and they look much improved since that tough loss to Bridgeland to start the season.

The offense looked like it was firing on all cylinders in the 1st half, largely due to brilliant play by junior QB Kaden Copelin. The young QB threw an incredible 6 TDs, all to different wideouts, in only the 1st half, with several deep shots that set up some of the shorter passing scores. RB Jason Haskins started the scoring after a deep catch by Kaiden Stewart, followed in order by Colton Weddel, Bryson Bourne, Carter Cass, Daniel Villanueva-Boone, and Harry Miller. This level of offensive firepower is exactly what we wanted to see from the Highlanders, and if Copelin can keep it up with this deep WR core, they will be a force during district play.

While Humble isn’t an offensive juggernaut, a shutout was exactly what this Highlander defense needed before district play. DE Magnus Herndon came out of this game with 2 sacks, while LB Matthew Stuber nabbed an interception for a key turnover. Humble didn’t get into Highlander territory at all in the 1st half, showing how strong this defense can be when everything is clicking. They also recorded a safety, though that was mainly due to the snap flying over the punter's head and out the back of the end zone. Still not bad. Just like the offense, if the Highlanders look like this against district opponents, they could be the team to beat moving forward.

The College Park Cavaliers vs. The C.E. King Panthers

This game on paper looked like a good matchup between some solid contenders, but it turned into an ugly outing for the College Park Cavaliers. The Cavaliers lost this one in blowout fashion, 58-7, looking dead in the water on both sides of the ball.

The starting QB, Camden Hughes, didn’t play in this one, leaving Brian Snodgrass to try to make something happen, and unfortunately it didn’t work. The offense couldn’t run the ball at all, with both RBs, Duke Stephens and Antonio Booker, getting stuffed all night, and Snodgrass getting stood up whenever they ran a wildcat play. The passing game was practically nonexistent, too, as Julian Cromartie was really the only WR who could do anything. Cromartie came away with the lone Cavalier score after a gutsy catch-and-run that came only after they were down 30 points. The Cavaliers rarely got a 1st down, punting more times than we could count and overall looking more like a bottom-feeder team than the contender we knew from last season. Snodgrass is not to blame at all for this, as he was thrust into a position he normally doesn’t play and certainly tried his best all night. We don’t know the timetable for Hughes’ return, but until then, this Cavalier offense needs to figure something out fast, or this season could get ugly quick.

There isn’t much to say about the defense other than that it looked rough all night, getting beat up on almost every play. We talked about how the Panthers’ WR/RB Dillon Mitchell was going to be a threat, and he certainly showed off, but he is not a one-man army. This C.E. King team is very good, and with all the talent on this team, it's no wonder they are ranked among the best in Texas. The QB, Khylan Davis, passed the ball brilliantly, and their WRs have a plethora of guys who can make plays. The Cavalier defense already had a lot to handle coming in, but the C.E. King offense made them look like pee-wee players, and that doesn’t inspire much confidence going into district matchups.

The Willis Wildkats vs. The Westfield Mustangs

This was a surprising game on Thursday night, and even though the Willis Wildkats came out on top, Westfield put up quite a fight. The Wildkats won this contest 12-7 in an ugly game that came down to the wire in the 4th quarter.

On offense, the Wildkats were solid enough but couldn’t punch through in any meaningful way. QB Linc Frazier wasn’t bad in this game, but it wasn’t the performance we usually see from him. Frazier threw some very questionable passes all night, including one that was picked off and several that slipped through the hands of the Westfield DBs. WRs Preston Stephenson and Trey Finney made some solid catches but couldn’t do much with them, keeping the scoring stagnant for most of the game. Finney connected with Stephenson in the end zone for the lone score after RB Jamarcus Williams had a great catch-and-run that finally got them into the red zone, but a safety and a field goal were all Willis was able to do scoring-wise. Westfield is a weird team; they always force these crazy low-scoring dogfights against teams, and Willis was forced into the same type of game despite all the talent. The passing game felt disconnected, maybe that’s just Westfield’s defense getting to them, but we hope this isn’t a trend going forward.

The defense was at least solid, with several key plays that kept the Mustangs in check for most of the game. The only score they allowed came on a fluky run play, the result of a long, worn-out drive that saw Westfield run the ball down the field. The defense was the key factor in the end, though, as Westfield had a chance to win in the final seconds of the game, getting all the way to the 1-yard line before the Wildkats finally stuffed them on the final play to keep their undefeated season alive. It’s one of the best stops we’ve seen all season and just adds to some of the crazy things we’ve seen in this out-of-district schedule.

The Grand Oaks Grizzlies vs. The Langham Creek Lobos

We haven’t checked in on the Grand Oaks Grizzlies much this season, so let’s look at their game this week against Langham Creek. The Grizzlies hosted the Lobos at Woodforest Bank Stadium Thursday night and won comfortably, 38-14. It gets them back to a winning record as a tough loss last week to Montgomery put them on alert this week.

The offense was solid, with both the run and pass game in full swing. Junior QB Harley Adams looked good in this one, throwing 2 TDs to Darnell Jackson Jr. and Pierceson Lackey and finishing with 223 yards through the air. On the ground, RB Kaden Carter took over, rushing for 157 yards and 2 TDs, while Adams added his own rushing TD. This offense had questions coming into this after a rough ending against Montgomery, but they answered them well and look much improved heading into district play. They are still firmly in playoff contention, but we’ll have to see what the rest of the district looks like next week.

Cleveland, Conroe, Oak Ridge, and Caney Creek Wrap-Up

Finally, we’ll end this recap with a lightning round to cover everyone without making it too long. We’ll go in order by the day these games happened and try to get through them briefly.

The Cleveland Indians traveled to Montgomery to play the Lake Creek Lions in a 5A vs. 6A matchup on Thursday. The Indians have had a surprising start to the season, entering this game with a 2-0 record. Unfortunately, that winning streak was cut short, as Lake Creek dominated the Indians 70-6 in a game that was over before the 2nd quarter. Lake Creek is a very good team despite being 5A, and compared to some of the other teams Cleveland played, they probably felt like Duncanville. Still, the Indians have a 2-1 record heading into district play, and we don’t know anyone who had that on their bingo card going into the season.

The Caney Creek Panthers also played Thursday, dominating an Aldine team that had just been thoroughly beaten by Cleveland last week. The Panthers won decisively, posting a 48-7 score and getting into the win column for the 1st time this season. Caney Creek has had a tough opening slate, losing to 5A Splendora and Porter, so it's nice for them to get a win. It really makes us wonder: what the heck is going on with Aldine?

The Conroe Tigers hosted the Waller Bulldogs at Moorhead Stadium last night, looking to build on last week's win. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as Waller put away the Tigers in a 47-24 game that wasn’t as close as it might seem. The Tigers scored 14 points in the 4th quarter, despite being down 40-10 at one point and looking dead in the water. Conroe has faced some difficult opponents in the non-district, but falling to 1-2 isn’t where you want to be heading into district competition. We’ll have to see if they have any more firepower as the season goes on, but right now it is rough.

Lastly, we’ll finish with our favorites, the Oak Ridge War Eagles, who have been struggling these past few weeks. The War Eagles had a game removed from their record because the Katy Taylor game was rained out and never rescheduled, leaving them 0-1 heading into this game. They unfortunately ran into a buzzsaw in the Montgomery Bears, losing 42-35 after a promising start that kept it close all game. The killer was the Bears’ 28 points in the 2nd quarter, which gave them a lead they never relinquished, despite the War Eagles holding them to just 7 points in the 2nd half. It was a valiant effort, but ultimately the War Eagles remain winless on the season and head into district play looking for something. Some of the easy wins from last year might not be so easy anymore, so Oak Ridge really needs to find something if they want to do anything this season.