Cypress Ranch 35, Cypress Woods 34 OT

October 26, 2024

Pridgeon Stadium

Cypress, TX

Unbeaten Cy Woods was looking to push their record to 8-0 in a tough Saturday afternoon tilt against a Cy Ranch squad that was playing their best football of the season winning three straight games to run their record to 5-2 under first year head coach Will Blaylock.

The first quarter and a half of the game was without scoring, Cy Ranch would go three and out on the opening drive of the game, while Cy Woods would march to the Cy Ranch seven- yard line, but the Wildcats would turn the ball over on downs.

Cy Ranch on the first play of the second quarter would block a Cy Woods punt out of the end zone, but the Mustangs were called for a penalty which nullified the play which would have given the Mustangs a 2-0 lead. Ranch would break through with 6:50 left in the second quarter as WR Joelle Arnett hauling in a 20-yard touchdown pass from Owen Cossette to give the Mustangs a 7-0 lead.

Cy Woods would answer on the ensuing drive to cut the lead to 7-6 as RB Thomas Bryant would score from eleven yards out, the PAT was blocked by DE Niklas Fisher which kept the score at 7-6. That theme of Fisher blocking kicks would be something we’d absolutely see later on in this game.

Cy Woods’ defense would get a big play on the next drive as Carson Randall would pick Cossette off and the Wildcats would take a 14-7 lead with 2:55 left in the second quarter as WR Tyler Cogdill would score on a five-yard jet sweep and QB Darien Rogers would get the two-point PAT.

After a Cy Ranch punt, Cy Woods was looking to add more points before the half, but the Cy Ranch defense would make another massive play as DE Ryan Seymour would pick Rogers off and he’d rumble all the way down to the Cy Woods one-yard line with under a minute left in the half. It was Rogers’ first interception of the season.

Sophomore QB Braden Baker, who stepped in for Cossette who was injured earlier in the quarter would tie the game up at 14-14 with a one-yard touchdown run with 0:24 left in the second quarter. That would be the score heading into the locker room for halftime.

After an exchange of punts to open the second half, Cy Woods on their second drive of the third quarter would get into Cy Ranch territory, but the drive would stall and the Wildcats would settle for a field goal. However, Fisher would again get into the act as he’d block the Cy Woods field goal to keep the score at 14-14 with 4:15 left in the third quarter.  

Cy Ranch would open the final quarter with a thunderbolt as RB Peyton Thomas would score on a 56-yard run to give the Mustangs a 21-14 lead with 11:46 left in the game. Cy Woods would have themselves an answer as the Wildcats would tie the game up at 21-21 with 8:22 left in the game on a one-yard touchdown run from QB Darien Rogers.

Neither team would be able to get much going for the middle part of the final quarter but after an exchange of punts Cy Woods would get the ball back and begin to get a bit of movement with under three minutes left in the game. Woods would take the lead with 1:02 left in the game as RB Bryant Thomas would score from 46-yards out to give the Wildcats a 28-21 lead.

Ranch would get the ball back and go into a five-wide set with QB Baker dialing up two quick passes to get the Mustangs to the Cy Woods 21 with 0:36 left in the game. Ranch would tie the game up with 0:28 left as QB Baker connected with WR Brendan Salder for a 21-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-28 and eventually send the game into overtime.

In overtime, Cy Ranch would win the toss and they elected to go on defense and Woods would have the first strike as WR Brandon Brown would haul in an eleven-yard touchdown pass from Rogers to make it 34-28, but Ranch’s Niklas Fisher would again make an impact blocking the PAT to keep the score at 34-28. Ranch on their drive would punch it in as Peyton Thomas would score on a three-yard run and Diego Alfaro’s PAT was true giving the Mustangs a 35-34 win and ending the unbeaten season of Cy Woods.