The case of the Houston Rockets vs. Tracy McGrady appears to be nearing its end. Read the full story

Tigers leave Unicorns in a fog, return to title game

Defense paves way for shot at third straight Read the full story

• Game statistics

AUSTIN – Cinco Ranch dug a first-half hole that proved to deep to climb out of as the Cougars fell to Austin Westlake 42-27 in the Class 5A Division I semifinals on Saturday at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

The Chaparrals (13-2) advance to the Class 5A Division I championship game, where they’ll face Round Rock Stony Point or Euless Trinity at 2 p.m. next Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Read the full story

Follow: @katysportsphoto Read the full story

K.C. Nlemchi, Cinco Ranch

• Notable: The junior running back had 21 carries for 245 yards and three touchdowns in the Cougars’ 49-26 win over Beaumont West Brook in the Class 5A Division I Region III semifinals on Saturday.

• Quotable: “K.C. is an outstanding football player and even better young man. We always get his best effort and he is definitely a great teammate. We are glad he is on our side.”

— Cinco Ranch coach Don Clayton

Other nominees

• Marquelle Davis, Brazoswood: The junior running back tallied 32 carries for 190 yards and a touchdown in the Buccaneers’ 42-19 win over Alief Taylor in the Class 5A Division I Region III semifinals on Friday. Read the full story

The Cinco Ranch Cougars are short on experience but you wouldn’t know it from the way they’ve played recently.

Despite graduating nine of the 11 players who helped them to 45 wins the past two seasons, they picked up back-to-back wins at the buzzer coming out of the McDonald’s Texas Invitational to improve to 5-2.

And that has second-year coach Neil King feeling pretty good early on. Read the full story

Posted by Gerry Hamilton

Defensive tackle Mike Mustafa (Katy, Texas/Morton Ranch) is one of several defensive line prospects in the Houston area in the 2011 class. The 6-foot-4, 300-pounder burst onto the scene as a big-bodied sophomore flashing his potential. As a junior, he battled through a broken hand and coaching turmoil at Morton Ranch, but continued to show his potential.

“It started off tough this season because of the coaches,” said Mustafa. “I broke my hand on the first day of practice, but I still played the first game. We had a lot of selfish players early on and didn’t come together until the eighth week of the season.” Read the full story

CLASS 5A DIVISION I
REGION III
Cinco Ranch (11-1) vs. Beaumont West Brook (9-3)
1 p.m. Saturday, Rice

CLASS 5A DIVISION II
REGION III
Katy (11-1) vs. La Porte (8-3)
1 p.m. Saturday, Tully

TAPPS
DIVISION IV
State semifinals
Faith West vs. Frisco Legacy
3 p.m. Saturday, Fairfield

Source:  Houston Chronicle

Friday Night Lights, Houston Style: Why Does Everyone Hate Katy So Much?

Standing in the rain on Saturday afternoon, watching Katy High School play Atascocita in a playoff game, Hair Balls remembered something we read on the Washington Post NFL blog this past week.

This question, about the Dallas Cowboys, was asked: “Why are the Cowboys So Hated? How does ‘America’s Team’ remain one of the most loathed franchises in sports?” Different bloggers weighed in on the question.

For example:

From Jimmy Johnson to Barry Switzer to Michael Irvin all circling upstairs to the guy named Jerry Jones who owns and runs the franchise — it’s all arrogance.

Or:

There’s a lot of reasons people hate the Cowboys, but, in my opinion, the biggest is that guy wearing the Cowboys jacket in your office…He’s the same guy in every state, in every town that decided to jump on the Cowboys bandwagon despite having no connection whatsoever to the city of Dallas or the state of Texas.

So, while we were watching the rainy game and enjoying it, we started thinking about all the bad things people have said to us about Katy while we’ve been following the team the last couple of years. (If you want to get a taste of hatred for Katy, just check out the K-Train Station, a blog about the Katy Tigers, even though he started banning people who post nasty things.)

1. The Fans. In a Houston Press cover story from October of 2008, we wrote about a game between Katy and Cypress Bay High School from Florida, and the mother of one of the players from Florida died two days before his team was scheduled to leave for Texas. He decided to make the trip, and after Katy won the game 31-6, he said, “It was an amazing experience up until about 2:30 p.m. (the start of the game). Then it was hell on Earth. I couldn’t wait to get out of that God-forsaken state and get back home to Florida.” It was the ocean of Katy red in the stands that made the player hate Rhodes Stadium. Maybe it’s one of those don’t-get-it-unless-you’re-a-part-of-it things, but it had to be demoralizing to Atascocita on Saturday when the rain started pouring and its fans disappeared under umbrellas. The Katy stands didn’t change, however, because everyone simply pulled out their Katy-red rain gear and continued to scream.

2. Gary Joseph. Joseph came to Katy in 1982 as a defensive coordinator and the team won three state championships before he became the head coach in 2004. Katy has won two more championships since then. In the Post blog, one person wrote, “How could anyone not cringe when [former Cowboy's head coach] Jimmy Johnson bellowed “how ’bout those Cowboys” in one particularly raucous postgame locker room scene also captured by NFL Films?” So maybe Jimmy Johnson made the Cowboys easy to hate. But that’s not Joseph. Physically he’s a small man, and away from football, he’s quiet and seems almost timid. He says things like, “There’s no better place to raise kids, or I wouldn’t have stayed in Katy all these years.” It takes a lot to admit you hate a guy like that, which only makes the hate stronger.

3. The success. Few high school teams if any can match the number of wins and, more importantly, the number of district and state championships Katy has racked up during the last two decades. But every year, Katy fields a team of the same group of mostly white, average looking players. Apart from the 2007 state championship team, there are rarely any blue-chip college recruits. It would seem this is enough to drive opposing teams crazy. At the opening game of the season against The Woodlands, one Woodlands fan, almost belligerent with hate, told us, “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great program, but could Katy beat Westfield (a team The Woodlands beat in the playoffs last year)? I don’t think so.” The Woodlands demoralized Katy last year in the regular season, winning 47-0. Katy went on to win another state championship, The Woodlands did not.

Katy won Saturday’s game against Atascocita 45-7 to move on to the next round of the playoffs.

Eagles’ rally earns them Katy

The Atascocita Eagles came up with a miracle rally to beat the Chavez Lobos 43-37 in last week’s Region III-5A Division II playoff game.

Their reward is a date with the two-time defending state-champion Katy Tigers. The two teams will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at Tully Stadium.

“This is definitely going to be an honor to play Katy,“ said Dean Colbert, who has guided his club to a 10-1 record in 2009. “For years, we have kind of set them as the team to emulate. Now, we get to play them and hopefully challenge them. It is going to be a great honor.“

Atascocita kicker Pablo Beltran kicked a 36-yard field goal with no time left to send the Chavez game into overtime tied at 37-37.

Jarvis Neal, who finished the game with 146 yards rushing and two touchdowns, then scored on a 25-yard run in overtime and Jeremy Coleman came up with an interception in the end zone to seal the victory.

“It was incredible,“ Colbert said. “Our kicker has ice water in his veins. But that is the way we have been all year. The kids feel like they are always going to find a way to win. They stick together like a band of brothers. They all try and provide positive energy. In the end, we always seem to get the job done.“

Colbert doesn’t mind being a heavy underdog against the tradition-rich Tigers (10-1).

“Our kids are playing with a lot of confidence and feel like they can win,“ he said. “We will be ready for the challenge and accept it. These young men have invsted so much into this season. They really play hard. They will leave it all out there on the field.“

Colbert said Chavez was very talented.

“The film didn’t do them justice,“ he said of the 7-4 Lobos. “They were a lot better than they looked on film. It was a playoff atmosphere. I think they played their best game, too.“

Tracy McGrady is back.

With his expected return thought to be no sooner than early December, at best, the Rockets swingman told Yahoo! Sports that he will make his return to the court on Nov. 18 against Minnesota.

For the past eight months, McGrady has rehabbed his surgically repaired left knee.

In an email to Yahoo! Sports, McGrady wrote, “Excited to get back and compete at a high level again. For a full year I had to play on one leg against the best and I couldn’t compete with anybody the way I was feeling. It’s gonna be a relief to get out there and play knowing what I went [through] last season and this summer.”

McGrady played in 35 games last season before undergoing microfracture surgery.

He averaged 15.6 points on 38 percent shooting from the field and was clearly hindered because of the knee, relying more and more upon the jump shot.

McGrady was expected to take another MRI on the knee on Nov. 23, but the play of rookie wing Chase Budinger may have led him to move up his return.

Budinger has averaged 10.6 points on 52.5 percent shooting this season and is undoubtedly the Rockets’ swingman of the future due to his athleticism, shooting ability and savvy offensive ability.

The bottom line is, at 4-2 so far, including wins against Utah and Portland, the Rockets have surprised and have played at a high level even without McGrady, a fact that probably doesn’t sit too well with the seven-time All-Star.

With Budinger one of the Rockets’ top bench players, McGrady’s return would likely mean either Trevor Ariza or Shane Battier get sent to the bench.

It would likely be Battier. The Rockets didn’t spend their mid-level exception to have Ariza as a glorified sixth man, plus the professional and team-oriented Battier would not complain about the move.

Either way, it would make sense for the Rockets to see what McGrady can do before February’s trading deadline.

He is in the final year of a contract which reportedly pays around $20 million this season, and would likely play well to showcase for a new suitor and earn one last, big deal.

If he doesn’t play up to par, and he provides no aid at all to the Rockets, the team might consider dealing him, considering it’s a buyer’s market in these hard economic times for NBA teams.

At best, McGrady is a No. 1 offensive option that would allow Brooks and Ariza to assume the complimentary roles that fit them best.

McGrady is a playmaker, and with a Rockets team that struggles in the halfcourt and has no true, legit lead player, he would help immensely in that area as a scorer that could demand a double team and make plays for others.

However, at worst, McGrady is a ball-stopper who settles too often for jump shots, particularly the aggravating kind that are just a step inside the 3-point line.

Yahoo! Sports reported that, while McGrady is awaiting final clearance from team doctors, Rockets sources don’t expect there to be any problems.

- Dennis Silva II/The Katy Capsule

For the first time in a long time, the Houston Rockets have a pair of difference-makers on the bench.

Not since the days of Kevin Willis and Eddie Johnson have the Rockets had as potent a pair as rookie wing Chase Budinger and point guard Kyle Lowry.

That case especially bodes true in the case of Lowry, who was acquired last season in the three-team trade for Rafer Alston, as the Rockets have not had a quality backup point guard since the days of Sam Cassell. Read the full story

It was pandemonium for Katy players #45 Mike Hinks and #87 Manny Alexander, along with the Tiger crowd, and heartbreak for Cinco Ranch holder Austin Goswick after the Cougars’ 36-yard field goal attempt went wide left to end Saturday’s game. (Times photo/Nick Georgandis)

(Photo/caption via Katy Times)

Tigers get a kick out of district title

Jeffery’s late TD run helps avenge ’08 loss

By JENNY DIAL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

Nov. 7, 2009, 10:20PM

KATY — Katy players stood shoulder pad to shoulder pad on the sidelines at Rhodes Stadium with seven seconds on the clock, each holding his breath while Cinco Ranch kicker Jacob Farmen lined up to kick a 37-yard field goal. Read the full story

In an era of basketball where individualism is king and the King is its scene, the 2009-2010 Houston Rockets, through the first five games of this season at least, are a throwback to yesterday.

Only, if yesterday was three decades ago, when teamwork, ball movement and passing graced the NBA during the days of Bird and Magic.

Yesterday, as in back to the days when the give-and-go was as sexy as the alley-oop.

The Rockets are 3-2 so far, with two of the three wins coming against Portland and Utah, two projected Western Conference powerhouses.

One of the defeats was in overtime to the defending champ Lakers.

These Rockets – without their top three scorers from last season – are currently playing .600 ball, when many thought they’d be fortunate to sniff .500 at any point of the season.

Whowouldathunkit.

For old-school basketball enthusiasts, this year’s team is a joy to watch, and further proof that sharp passing, ball movement, and hard screening and cutting are not completely lost arts.

There is no lead star. There is no assured go-to talent. There is no legitimate interior threat, superstar wing and/or blazing-quick point guard … err, scratch that, the “blazing-quick point guard” still does apply.

No, this is a collection of superior basketball energy and unselfishness; a collection that refuses to let up and understands the sum is greater than its parts.

Need proof?

Five Rockets are scoring in double figures. Eight average at least 8.2 points per game.

This is a team that assists on 60 percent of its field goals, and shoots 46 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from 3.

In today’s game, numbers such as those are unheard of.

This is a team whose heart and soul is an undrafted, 6-foot-6 power forward out of Kentucky; an undersized post player who serves as the team’s starting center and, entering this season, had averaged no more than 5.6 points per game – and that was two years ago – and 6.7 rebounds per game.
If you need one player who embodies the heart and soul of these Rockets, it’s Chuck Hayes, human proof that if you pursue the ball, defend and play for your teammates, everything will fall into place.

“We can score,” Hayes said following Wednesday’s heartbreaking OT loss to the Lakers. “As you can see from these last three games (of which the Rockets scored 102, 111 and 113 points, respectively), we can put the ball in the basket. We don’t have one guy who’s going to go for 30 or 40 except maybe every now and then, but everybody can put the ball in the basket when we play well together.”

That, in a nutshell, is the Houston Rockets, and the game is better off for it.

In a league that grossly sensationalizes its superstars and enforces the individual over team, the Rockets are spitting at that message and paving a new path back to the glory days of hoops.

Back to the days of physical screens, hard cuts, quick ball reversal and finding the open man.

Many figured the Rockets to be left for dead this season. Charles Barkley, I’m looking at you.

And, who knows, that may still be the case.

The Western Conference is no cupcake, and you can thank the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets for that.

But if the Rockets are headed toward a subpar this season, and if this early start is nothing but another cruel arrow into the hearts of Rockets fans, know this much: The Rockets will keep fighting, playing the way basketball is supposed to be played.

Somewhere, the NBA gods are smiling.

“When you lose your star players, people don’t expect very much from you but we’ve had the attitude that we’re going to play hard, compete and we’re going to see what we can do with this group,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman told Rockets.com following the team’s 113-96 win over Utah on Monday. “That’s how these guys have approached every day and that’s what makes them fun to coach because they do compete.”

- Dennis Silva II/The Katy Capsule

Tigers pound Rams, 42-7

K.C. Nlemchi (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch) is another in a terrific junior class of running backs in Texas. The ESPNU 150 Watch List member has been on the radar of college programs, since the spring of his freshman year and is closing in on his first offer.

“I’m pretty sure Texas A&M will offer me and maybe Texas Tech too. UCLA is recruiting me hard,” said Nlemchi.

Like all talented juniors, the 6-foot-0, 210-pound back is being bombarded with mail on a daily basis. Programs from the Big 12, Pac-10 and Notre Dame keep the mail box full.

http://insider.espn.go.com/

Within the Greater Houston boundaries, there are not many teams that can claim the undefeated title after eight weeks of play. But out West, the Katy Cinco Ranch team holds steady at 7-0 and has had several decisive victories over opponents during the 2009 campaign.

Though solid play is going on across the board, one could make the argument that the hardcore groundwork of running back K.C. Nlemchi plays a major factor in the Cougars’ success.

But let the 6-foot-1, 206-pound junior tell it, he is just doing what needs to be done.

“Pretty much I go and do what I have to do. I don’t want to let anyone down because there is a lot expected of me and I take that to heart because it’s a blessing to play on this team and be a part of this community,” Nlemchi said. “I know my role and I know my part and a lot of teams key on me. But we are all a team. As long as I have everyone blocking for me, then I am going to just grab the ball and run with it.”

And in the latest 40-0 win over rival Morton Ranch, Nlemchi handled up. He had 10 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Though the numbers seem solid, Nlemchi, and even the Cougar offense, wanted to bring a little more to the table.

But, judging by the numbers, it was a slow start and strong finish.

“I mean when the defense is doing their part, the offense needs to come out and do our part too,” Nlemchi said. “They (Morton Ranch) expected a lot and was ready for me. You could tell by the way they played. They hit hard and I came off the ball twice. I haven’t fumbled much in my life. I never do that so I give them much respect for that.”

So far for the season, Nlemchi has been updating his resume weekly. In 2009, he is averaging 8.75 yards per carry and is well past the 1,000-yard mark with 1,146 yards with 15 touchdowns. Nlemchi is active in the passing game as well with nine catches for 151 yards and two scores.

This level of play has brought some awareness to Cinco Ranch back and is hearing from quite a few schools, mainly in the Big 12 Conference.

“I don’t have any offers yet, but I am hearing from a lot of schools,” Nlemchi said. “I getting a lot of letters from Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Notre Dame and Texas Tech.”

In speaking with Cinco Ranch coach Don Clayton, the Aggies have shown quite a bit of interest in his running back. Also, in recent talks with Nlemchi himself, the idea of keeping his talent within the borders of the state would be nice.

But a few exceptions could be made.

“It would be a blessing to be able to stay in the state, and I really like Texas, but that is not like I am claiming a favorite or saying much about that,” Nlemchi said. “But if I were to go out of the state to like a Florida or USC, you know somewhere big like Oklahoma.”

With Oklahoma, Nlemchi said that there have not been a heavy dose of communications, but the ones that have come were good.

“I have been invited to a few games, but haven’t made any yet,” Nlemchi said of his Sooner interest. “I would love to know more about Oklahoma. They are talented, aggressive and disciplined. And they execute well as a team.”

Nlemchi and the Cougar team get ready for another district match up this Friday against Mayde Creek.

http://oklahoma.scout.com

Olympic ‘nopes’ beat out hope in Chicago
By Jessica Ravitz
CNN

(CNN) — The announcement that Chicago, Illinois, will not host the 2016 Olympic Games took the hopeful wind out of many in the Windy City.

Read the full story

XXCowboys benefit from bye week
By Stefan Nolet Sports Writer sports@ocolly.com

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Published: Monday, September 28, 2009
Updated: Monday, September 28, 2009

(From left to right) Defensive end Jeremiah Price, running back Kendall Hunter and cornerback Perrish Cox did not play in the Cowboys 56-6 victory against Grambling State Saturday. The Cowboys now have a week off before traveling to College Station to play the Texas A&M Aggies. Read the full story