TNG Timeline: Katy Tigers

When excellence becomes tradition...

The purpose of this feature is to help provide some historical context behind the Elo ratings referenced throughout the blog - methodology/primer here.

If you’ve missed the previous releases in our TNG Timeline series, those can be accessed here… Historical Superlatives. Next up on the list is a program that rarely spends the holiday season without football, leading class 6A as nine-time champs, the Katy Tigers.

Longevity in any program is a difficult concept to fathom in the modern era due to how many new schools are built across the state of Texas every couple of years as communities burst at the seams with new growth. In the 1980s and 1990s, programs like Odessa Permian and Converse Judson were models for the emerging Katy Tigers.

Katy started its run of consistent playoff success 30 years ago in 1992, and it has continued largely unabated since thanks to a combination of coaching continuity, which has allowed for decades of refinement to a proven approach, and the school’s unique geographic location near the convergence of Harris, Fort Bend and Waller counties. Katy High School has been directly impacted by no less than six new high school openings since 1998 (Cinco Ranch, Seven Lakes, Morton Ranch, Tompkins, Paetow, Jordan; all 6A participants as of 2022), but its aforementioned location has allowed for constant renewal enrollment-wise. Located on the outer fringes of suburban development, Katy High School has been extremely landlock resistant.

From the chart above, it’s easy to appreciate the consistently elite level of Katy’s program under longtime head coach Gary Joseph. Joseph joined a fledgling Katy as a young assistant in the 1980s, and eventually took over as head coach in fall 2004 after serving as defensive coordinator for several seasons. Joseph has become well-established as one of the most successful coaches in Texas high school football history while the program has exceeded all expectations for longevity and continued elite performance despite the unprecedented growth of the school district. In Joseph’s 18 seasons at the helm, Katy has reached 9 state championship finals, bringing home the trophy on 5 of those occasions. In the 9 years that Katy did not reach state under Joseph, they were knocked out by the eventual champion in 4 of those seasons, including 3 of the last 4 (North Shore in ‘18 and ‘19; Westlake last year). Put another way, in the last 18 years only 5 teams who did not finish as the eventual state champions have managed to end a Katy Tiger season.

While Katy endured a gut check at the hands of a historically dominant Austin Westlake in the 2021 state semis (45-14 loss), it’s worst playoff loss since 1996, the state championship success of the 2020-2021 season proved this program is not showing any imminent signs of fading into the history books as the 2022 season beckons with the program’s 10th state championship on the line.

“When excellence becomes tradition, greatness has no limits”. That’s what’s written above the trophy case in the Katy fieldhouse. At one time it would have been a message of hope, but now it stands as a powerful reinforcing statement of fact.

Katy enters 2022 as our #5 rated team: TNG Preseason Top 50

See below for videos corresponding to the chart annotations above:

2008: A narrated story of the 2008 Katy Tigers.

2009: K-Train’s quest for the three-peat was stopped dead in it’s tracks by Abilene and “the Sims twins” (Ronnell - QB, Herschel - RB).

2012: The start of another multi-year run of state title appearances. Katy’s quarterback, Kylie Huddleston played this game on one leg.

2013: Held an 11-point halftime lead in this one, but would fumble it away in the 2nd half (quite literally)...and DaMarkus Lodge.

2014: Another halftime lead lost, Cedar Hill kicks game winning FG…and DaMarkus Lodge again.

2015: The most talented class to come through Katy. The defense went down in history as one of the greatest of all-time. Fourth state championship appearance in a row proved to be the winning appearance, bookending the 2012 title.

2020: After a long break by Katy’s standards, they resurfaced in another state title game against a familiar foe and exacted a measure of revenge. The championship series between these two programs now stands at 2-2.