Another week... another exciting district matchup for the North Cougars 7th grade football squad. This week, North hosted the Colts of Colleyville Middle School as both teams have their eyes set upon first place in the district this year.

As usual, the A teams took the field first; and it didn't take long for North to show up on this night. Making the most of his first touch of the game, Kotaro Matsumoto took the ball for a 60 yard TD run to fire up the team. Following an extra point completion from QB Nolan Wright to Lucas Cuberos, the Cougars were up 7-0 and just getting started! On the next North possession, Matsumoto once again wound his way to the end zone for another score and added the extra point himself to put North up 14-0. However, The Colts were not willing to just roll over and let this game get away. Completing a long pass down field, the Colleyville wide receiver was able to shake off his defender to score; cutting the lead down to 14-6. However, as the clock would down to half time, it was Matsumoto once again sprinting down the field to score on the final play as the clock expired. This time, Wright hit Max Myers for the extra point completion and North led at the break 21-6.
As if that wasn't enough, after North received the second half kickoff, it was again Matsumoto scoring from 50 yards away on the first play from scrimmage. He again added his own extra point, and the Cougars were rolling up 28-6. But once again, the Colts found an answer on a wild play on which they ran down the field, fumbled the ball, recovered the fumble, shrugged off some Cougars, and found the end zone to cut their deficit to 28-12. However, North ended up answering right back with QB Cooper Zingelmann taking the ball around the end to find another Cougar TD. Zingelmann also completed a pass to wide receiver Nelson Ogbolugo to add the extra point and drive the score up to 35-12. On the night, North was bolstered by some stellar defense by Jackson Dunstan as he wreaked havoc upon the Colts' backfield. However, Colleyville once again struck through the air to score again... showing they were not going to back down even with the score of 35-18. Another Cougar defensive effort was on display by Luke Siale who busted through the line to block the Colt's extra point kick! And finally, to cap off the night and put an exclamation point on the Matsumoto Show, it was another run around and through the Colleyville defense for a 60 yard TD. Wright to Cuberos hooked up once again on the extra point and North took home the resounding 42-18 victory!

Buoyed by the energy of the first game, the B teams were up next! However, it was a very different storyline as both sides dug in defensively. Despite fumble recoveries for North by both Mateo Mettlen and AJ Frausto, neither side could find a way down the field to score. That is, until the 4th quarter when the Cougars handed it off to Haruki Imai who ran it in from 20 yards out. QB Jackson Ketcherside ended up running in the extra point try and North was on the board up 7-0. Shortly after, Tristan Phor forced and recovered another fumble to get the ball back to North. And this was followed up by Ketcherside pulling the RPO and busting down the field for another score. Getting someone else involved, Isaac Stanback then ran in the extra point and the Cougar lead now stood at 14-0. But the Cougars were not yet done as Imai once again took the ball around the end on North's next possession to score and sealed the 20-0 win for North... sweeping Colleyville on the night!


UP NEXT:
Away vs. CMS East on Monday, 9/21/26. ***Different date than originally scheduled
A team starts at 5:00; B team to follow

#GoCougars!