The Katy football program has made the playoffs 32 seasons in a row. In that time they’ve played for 14 state championships, are 117-22* in the playoffs, and have won eight state championships. It’s been 21 years since Katy won fewer than 10 games in a season. No other program in state history comes close to matching both Katy’s level of success and duration of excellence.
That insane level of success is a direct result of community buy-in. The program wouldn’t be near the juggernaut we enjoy today if parents and fans didn’t give their unwavering support year after year to the coaches, players, band, brigade, kids in the stands, and everyone else who takes the Katy Tiger show on the road fourteen or more weeks a year.
I’ve been going to Katy games since 2003 and I’m still considered a newbie in some groups. This is my 20th season following the team, but even before I joined the bandwagon there was already a long history of program-defining moments that I had missed, and which are still held in high regard. I didn’t see us throttle back-to-back champion Converse Judson in 1994. I didn’t see Rian Green truck a Longview defender en route to the end zone because he “wanted some water” in 1997. I didn’t get to see the real Greatest Show on Turf, the Kaspar-Branch-and-Mouton-led 2000 Katy Tigers. But I still consider myself incredibly lucky to have experienced all the moments that came after and that have been just as special.
Moments like the 2003 upset of Southlake Carroll who were on a 31-game win streak, the comeback season and state championship of 2008, the then-highest scoring state champion season in 5A history in 2012, and the greatest defense in high school football history in 2015 (’83 Daingerfield can get bent).
30-plus seasons of success is only marred by seasons 99% of programs would kill for. We’ve lost six state championships since 1994, which is more than most schools have ever even played for. In that time period, when we haven’t played for a championship, we’ve lost to the eventual state champion four times. In literally half of our playoff losses since 1994 it’s taken a state champion to beat Katy!
It is so, so, so unbelievable and unprecedented what the Katy program has done since returning to the playoffs in 1986. KISD has opened six high schools since then, but the staffs assembled and led by Coaches Joseph and Johnston have just trucked right along. No one else in the state has weathered the storm of school openings like Katy. It’s just another feather in the program’s cap. One that most people won’t ever consider, but one that might be the most remarkable and improbable accomplishment of all.
All of those accomplishments tell us one thing because no one else has done these things: none of this should be taken for granted. Success IS about perspective.
*Not including 1998’s forfeits
