By George Slaughter
Seven Lakes claimed the final playoff spot from District 19-6A Friday, hanging on for a 30-22 win over Cinco Ranch at Legacy Stadium.
The Spartans improve to 3-5 overall and 3-3 in District 19-6A. They join Tompkins, Katy, and Taylor as playoff teams from the district.
Tompkins and Seven Lakes will compete in the Division I playoffs because they have the larger student populations of the four playoff teams. Katy and Taylor will compete in the Division II playoffs. Seven Lakes coach Jimmy Hamon joked that he expected a note from Katy coach Gary Joseph because the Tigers will now play in the Division II playoffs.
Friday’s win marks the second time in the past three seasons that the Spartans have made the playoffs. They made the playoffs in 2018 but lost in the first round.
“It’s just huge for this program,” Hamon said. “It’s great, personally.”
Hamon said prior to his arrival in 2018, the Spartans had never defeated Cinco Ranch. Now, in his third year with the program, it’s gone in the other direction.
“They don’t know anything but beating Cinco,” Hamon said of his three-year varsity lettermen.
Junior linebacker Scott Stanford said it was “amazing” to be in the playoffs.
“At the beginning of the season, nobody expected us to be here,” Stanford said. “Nobody expected us to win any games, except this one.”
Cinco Ranch finishes at 1-7 overall, 1-5 in district.
Seven Lakes scored on its first two possessions to take charge of Friday’s game. The Spartans’ opened the scoring with a six-yard pass from senior quarterback Cristian Beltran with 5:58 in the first quarter.
The Spartans forced a Cinco Ranch punt on the next possession, and needed only one play for another score, this one coming on a 73-yard run by senior running back Milton Jones, who finished the night with 118 yards on 14 carries. He said the Spartan offense keyed on the Cougar defensive line in how it ran the ball.
“If they played it in, we had an outside run,” Jones said. “If they played it out, we had an inside run.”
Spartan senior running back Nick David-West scored on a 35-yard run early in the second quarter to give Seven Lakes a three-touchdown lead it took into halftime.
Beltran scored on a one-yard run with 9:57 in the third quarter but the Spartans missed the extra point attempt. At this point, down 27-0, the game was seemingly out of reach for the Cougars. But Cinco Ranch got its first points when junior receiver Seth Salvarino caught a 55-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Gavin Rutherford with 7:51 in the third quarter.
Following a 46-yard field goal by Spartan junior kicker Keegan Sneedon with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter to make the score 30-7, the Cougars began a fourth-quarter comeback. Rutherford scored on a one-yard run with 10:44 left in the game, and led the Cougars to another score, a 14-yard pass to senior running back Roro Nesiama with 6:12 remaining. The Cougars made a two-point conversion to close the deficit to eight points.
The Spartans put together a time-consuming drive and their defense held on for the win.
Hamon praised Cinco Ranch for how it fought to get back in the game. Had the Cougars won, they would have claimed the final playoff spot.
“Every team we face in the playoffs is going to play like that,” Hamon said.
Seven Lakes will play Ridge Point at 7 p.m. Friday at Hall Stadium in Sugar Land.