North Shore Mustangs 42 – Katy Tigres 28
By Allan Jamail
Friday, November 29, 2024 at Houston’s NRG Stadium, thousands of high school football enthusiasts came to watch two of Texas’s powerhouse teams compete in the Class 6A Division I Region III semifinals; a part of the UIL Football State Championship contests.
As the winners, the North Shore Mustangs will advance to the state quarterfinals, while the losers, the Katy Tigers, have ended their season. The Eastside Boys convincingly won over the Westside Tigers, 42~28.
This was the GPISD Mustang’s program’s 80th playoff victory and 10th consecutive regional championship appearance. The win keeps them with a perfect 13 – 0 undefeated season.
The Mustangs will take on District 23–6A rival the Humble ISD Atascocita Eagles (12–1) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7 at the new Aldine ISD Thorne Stadium. The Eagles Friday pulled out a squeaking thriller 47–42 win over Fulshear to advance to play the Mustangs in the Region III quarterfinal for the fourth consecutive year.
In preparing for the Eagles rematch, the North Shore team will be doing some homework on their last meeting, when they squeaked by with just 12 seconds left, on their last offensive play of the game. That 27–23 victory made nine consecutive wins in their matchups. Along with the homework, the Mustangs need to look into cutting back on penalties. They continue making excessive penalties game after game, with 6 penalties against Katy.
This next playoff rematch will determine which powerhouse moves one step closer to the state championship.
“We know what kind of team we’re going to play,” Coach Willie Gaston said. “They’re a tough team, they do a good job coaching, and Coach (Craig) Stump has been there for a long time. I’m pretty sure they’re trying to figure out a way to break our 9-game winning streak against them. My coaches and I must make sure our squad understands this is a completely different game than before. Just because you beat these guys this year, you can’t relax and let that affect the way you play them this time.”
GAME STATS: Total yards, NS 451 – Katy 260; rush yards NS 177–Katy 151; pass yards NS 274–Katy 109 & 1st downs; NS 18 – Katy 14.
Mustangs scorers: Kaleb Bailey made 5 TD passes; leading scorer D’Andre Hardeman Jr. had 2 TD’s; Deion Deblanc had 1 TD; Quanell Farrakhan Jr. had 1 TD; Cameron Smith had 1 TD; Chris Thomas had 1 TD; and place kicker Daniel Cruz was perfect with 6 extra points.
Linda Jamail, statistician/photographer
