BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

On February 22, Fort Bend Elkins star wing and Texas signee Donovan Williams retweeted a schedule pairing of his team’s upcoming regional quarterfinal matchup against Morton Ranch.

“This is what y’all wanted right?” Williams noted in his own personal caption of the retweet, along with a pair of emojis. It was a looming showdown between two state-ranked teams, and arguably the finest programs in the Greater Houston area this season.

Morton Ranch star guard LJ Cryer retweeted Williams’ tweet almost as soon as Williams had sent it.

Continue reading “Elkins rallies to oust Morton Ranch, advances to Class 6A-Region III semifinals” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

Hayden Conner does not remember when his fascination with space started.

“I’m not sure,” the Taylor High sophomore offensive tackle said. “It was weird. Whenever I would go visit schools, they’d ask me what I wanted to major in, and I’d just say something in engineering. Eventually, I narrowed it down to mechanical, but even then I knew there was something missing. And to be honest, I don’t know what happened, but I got interested in space. I’ve just fallen in love with it.”

Just as much as he is pleased pancaking helpless defensive linemen, Conner, a four-star recruit who holds 19 offers from schools like LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and others, is just as happy studying space. And he’s good at it.

Continue reading “A force on the field, Taylor’s Conner also has visions of a career in space” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

Rebuilding programs is becoming Anthony Fobb’s forte.

It happened in Aldine. After five consecutive years of not making the playoffs, Aldine High introduced Fobb as its new head coach in 2015. He immediately led the team to the postseason his first year.

When Fobb took the Mayde Creek High job last April, his task was greater. He was asked to bring to relevance a listless Rams program that had not made the playoffs since 2010, had made the playoffs just six times since the opening of the school in the mid-1980s, and had never won as many as 21 games in a year.

“My first impression was they were score-first guys,” said Fobb, who took the Rams job to move to Katy, his home since 2011. “A lot of their scores were in the 70s, 80s. I’m from this community and area, and I’d known some of the kids and mentalities. I always knew they could score the ball. They had to get stops.”

So Fobb went to work. It started with building relationships, continued with an intense focus on discipline and defense, and then the idea was to let everything fall into place.

Continue reading “RISE OF THE RAMS: Fobb’s arrival lifts Mayde Creek back to playoffs” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

Before practice on Thursday, Taylor High senior guard Ky Blodget walked up to coach Matthew Brayton and put his arm around him.

The Mustangs’ season was on the brink with a looming District 19-6A playoff play-in game against Katy, and Blodget felt Brayton, who’d lit into his team during a video session following Tuesday’s loss to Katy that forced the do-or-die game, needed reassurance.

“It’ll be different,” Blodget told Brayton. “I promise.”

Continue reading “Blodget, Mustangs earn redemption with playoff play-in win over Katy” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

Last season, around this time of the year, William Coakley hit a mental block.

Then a junior at Seven Lakes High, Coakley found himself worrying too much about results going into the state swimming meet. It was not an ideal predicament.

“It was getting into my head too much, and swimming is a mental challenge,” Coakley said. “You get in your head about wanting a certain time so badly or you set expectations too high, but at the end of the day you just want to show how hard you’ve worked. I’m ready to do that.”

Continue reading “Seven Lakes’ Coakley ready for one last shot at state gold” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

During the fourth quarter of a close game Tuesday evening, a win-or-go-home contest for Katy High in the District 19-6A regular season finale, Justus Mouton could not have been calmer.

Whenever Taylor, which had impressively rallied from a 15-point third quarter deficit to force a 43-all tie with 5:12 left, threatened, the senior guard took control, finishing what teammate Chermane Sims had started.

Mouton scored 14 of his 19 points in the final period as Katy outlasted Taylor 59-54 at Taylor High, forcing a three-way tie along with Mayde Creek as all three teams finished 5-7 in 19-6A. Because of tiebreaker rules, Mayde Creek advances to the playoffs and will be the third seed. Katy and Taylor, which split the district season series, will partake in a playoff play-in game for District 19-6A’s final playoff spot later this week at a time and place to be determined.

Continue reading “Mouton finishes what Sims starts as Katy keeps season alive with win over Taylor” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

Morton Ranch girls basketball coach Kisha Jones gambled and won.

During the second overtime of Saturday’s District 19-6A playoff play-in game at Paetow High, with the Mavericks tied with Cinco Ranch at 68 with 3 seconds left, Jones called a play that Cinco Ranch was familiar with.

She threw in a wrinkle, however. It might work, it might not, Jones thought. Her players might see it, they might not.

Continue reading “Hunter, Wiley spark Morton Ranch to intense 2-OT win to advance to postseason” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

Junior center Eddie Lampkin had a tough time choosing which pass of his was his most favorite: a high-low, quick bullet pass to a cutting teammate or a behind-the-back pass to another teammate moments later.

Junior guard LJ Cryer was impressed with his team’s energy. Junior guard Westley Sellers emphasized teamwork and leadership.

Friday’s 81-58 win over Taylor wasn’t just another game for No. 17 state-ranked Morton Ranch. It secured the program’s first district championship. Still, it was a loose, fun contest for the Mavericks, complete with smiles, playful celebration with teammates and laughs. A significant step forward for a program that has grown leaps and bounds in a relatively short period of time.

Continue reading “Morton Ranch’s rapid rise continues as first district title secured with big win” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

Jimmy Hamon’s first impression of David Ugwoegbu came not via the film room or a stat sheet.

It came whenever he checked out Ugwoegbu’s Twitter page not long after he was hired on as head coach at Seven Lakes High in late February of 2018.

“The first thing I noticed is when I looked at his social media, you don’t see what you see with every other kid,” Hamon said. “He didn’t have all 21 offers pinned to his profile. He had a big one there in Alabama, but it was the only one sitting there, and honestly, if you didn’t know any better, you wouldn’t know just how national of a recruit he was.”

Continue reading “Seven Lakes’ Ugwoegbu has help along way to Oklahoma” →

BY DENNIS SILVA II | email: densilva2@gmail.com

Growth, tangible and otherwise, has been substantial for Cinco Ranch.

After a 14-20 campaign last season, the Cougars rebounded impressively this season, with the same core of precocious talent, after Tuesday’s 53-60 win over Taylor at home booked a ticket to the Class 6A playoffs beginning in two weeks.

Aside from star senior sharpshooter Jaron Presley, who is one of the top 10 scorers in the city of Houston, the Cougars have a roster of gifted playmakers that leave fans grasping for their game programs because they fly under the proverbial radar.

But guys like junior forward Jayden Collymore, senior guard Jerzy Tati, junior forward Derek Dickenscheidt and senior wing Andrew Adebo have all starred in leading Cinco Ranch back to the postseason.

Continue reading “Collymore, Cinco Ranch headed back to playoffs” →