By George Slaughter
The Katy Tigers continue their march in the Texas High School Class 6A Division 1 playoffs by playing Austin Lake Travis this weekend.
Kickoff is at 3 p.m. Saturday at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio. The historic stadium, located at 110 Tuleta Dr., has been in use since 1940 and is just north of downtown. It serves as home to San Antonio Independent School District football and track events.
The game was moved to Alamo Stadium as the Alamodome, where this game might have been played otherwise, hosts UTSA graduation ceremonies Saturday.
To get to this point, the Tigers pulled off an impressive 31-3 victory of North Shore in the quarterfinal round Saturday at NRG Stadium. In taking early control of the game and never relenting, the game proved an anticlimactic rematch of last year’s Katy-North Shore game, in which the Mustangs pulled off the victory.
This year the Tigers have a 12-0 record. They are led offensively by quarterback Austin Marshall, who had two touchdown passes against North Shore, and running backs Deondrick Glass and Josh Oglesby. Glass had two touchdown runs against North Shore.
The Tigers also have a strong defense, which has allowed no touchdowns and only one field goal in the last three playoff games.
Like Katy, the Lake Travis program has enjoyed considerable success in recent years. The Cavaliers are the defending state champion, having defeated the Woodlands 41-6 in last year’s state title game.
Coach Hank Carter’s Cavaliers enter the game with a 12-2 record. Last week, the Cavaliers defeated San Antonio O’Connor in the quarterfinal round. Lake Travis defeated Los Fresnos, Converse Judson, and San Antonio Madison in the regional, area, and bi-district rounds, respectively.
The Cavaliers are led by senior quarterback Matthew Baldwin, who committed to play his college football at Ohio State University. Against O’Connor, Baldwin completed 20 of 28 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns.
Katy this season has defeated Atascocita, Cy Falls and Fort Bend Austin in the regional, area, and bi-district rounds, respectively.
The Lake Travis-Katy winner will face the winner of the Allen-Cedar Ridge game in the state championship game. The Allen-Cedar Ridge game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium in Waco.