Whitehouse Faces Tough College Station Defense In Saturday’s Playoff Game

CLASS 5A DIVISION II

Region III Bi-District Playoff

Whitehouse Wildcats (6-4)

vs.

College Station Cougars (10-0)

2 p.m. Saturday

Midlothian ISD Multi-Purpose Complex, Midlothian

Coaches

• Whitehouse: Adam Cook
• College Station: Steve Huff

Last week

• Whitehouse: def. Lindale, 28-17
• College Station: def. Temple, 17-16

Next week

• Winner faces Hutto-Magnolia winner in the area round

Playmakers

Whitehouse

• QB Tanner Roach, Sr., 6-0, 170 (81 of 137, 1,141 yards, 8 TDs, 4 INTs, 37 carries, 269 yards)
• QB Jake Clemons, Jr., 6-1, 170 (75 of 124, 1,065 yards, 9 TDs, 1 INT, 15 carries, 29 yards)
• LB/RB Khyree Key, Sr., 6-2, 243 (47 tackles, 8 for loss, 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles)
• LB/RB Braylon Shackelford, Sr., 5-11, 190 (68 tackles, 5 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery; 33 carries, 129 yards, 1 TD)
• LB Isaac Little, Sr., 6-0, 195 (110 tackles, 9 for loss, 3 sacks, 2 INTs)
• DB/WR Javier Neal, Jr., 5-10, 155 (58 tackles, 3 for loss, 7 INTs, 2 forced fumbles)
• WR/DB Zach Parker, Sr., 6-1, 185 (52 catches, 872 yards, 7 TDs)

College Station

• QB Marquez Perez, Jr., 5-11, 165 (100 of 148, 1,419 yards, 20 TDs, 4 INTs)
• RB Chris Monroe, Sr., 5-7, 170 (147 carries, 876 yards, 9 TDs)
• WR Braden Tschirhart, 5-7, 155 (36 catches, 514 yards, 10 TDs)
• ATH Dylan Carnes, Sr. (5 sacks)

Just the facts

• Whitehouse reached the Class 5A Division II playoffs in the final week of the regular season with a 28-17 win against Lindale and finished the league schedule in fourth place.
• Saturday's game will be Whitehouse's first playoff appearance since 2013. That team, with current Texas Tech starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes II, went three rounds deep.
• College Station launched its football program in 2012, joined the UIL in 2013 and just completed its first perfect regular season.
• College Station has been to the playoffs twice before and advanced to the third round last season.
• College Station only allowed 95 points on defense in its 10 games.
• Whitehouse allowed 190 points on defense.
• Whitehouse will travel 130 miles to Midlothian. College Station will bus 168 miles to the playoff venue.

Key matchup: Whitehouse's collective effort versus College Station's elite defense.

The first Wildcats' touchdown in Saturday's game will raise College Station's defense's points allowed total to 101 before the extra point. The opposition only allows 9.5 points per game and won seven of their 10 games by 35 points or more as consequence.

Only A&M Consolidated and Temple were able to get within 35 points on the Class 5A level. A&M Consolidated lost by nine points and Temple lost by a single point last week in a true District 18-5A championship game.

It's a pretty safe bet, however, that Whitehouse's offense will at least break College Station's points against average. While leaning on an above average defense of their own, the Wildcats average 25.4 points per game with a season low of nine points scored and a high of 49 points.

Whitehouse probably will use two quarterbacks during the course of the game. Senior Tanner Roach and junior Jake Clemons both have a little more than 1,000 passing yards.

Zach Parker will be the big play threat at receiver. He's caught 52 passes for 872 yards.

Three primary running backs have combined for about 700 yards .

The rest of Whitehouse's heavy lifting toward a four-seed versus one-seed playoff upset will have to be done by the defense, which averages 19 points against per game.

Defensive back Javier Neal is a big turnover threat with seven interceptions and two forced fumbles in 10 games played.

Isaac Little anchors the Wildcats' absolute strength at the linebacker spots. He has a team-best 110 tackles and will be supplemented by imposing players in Khyree Key and Braylon Shackelford.

Don't be surprised if: Whitehouse stays in the game and closes the contest with opportunities to win.

It will take a perfect effort in all facets, but the Wildcats have a defense that is in the same category as College Station's as far as points allowed. The two units are separated by 10 points per game and both average less than three touchdowns over four quarters.

Whitehouse has big play capability in its passing game. That's a big deal because the team can't expect to routinely gash the College Station defense.

From there, Whitehouse's defense will have to be at its absolute best.