By the time Saturday evening rolled around in Week 10, there were only a handful of teams that took the field who were already playing for their playoff lives.  Win-or-go-home time.  Sure, there would be several games that would determine seedings or district championships, but only a few meant the right for a team to keep playing beyond this weekend. 

Mayde Creek was one of those teams. And they seemed to have the easiest of tasks.  The Rams just needed to beat winless Morton Ranch to clinch a playoff spot out of District 17-5A.  But, the Mavericks spoiled the party with a 28-21 win and ended Mayde Creek’s season.

Across town, at Thorne Stadium, the Humble Wildcats held their playoff fate in their own hands as they took the field against the Nimitz Cougars.  The Wildcats had gotten off to a rugged start to the 2009 season before putting things together in District 19-5A play.  Nimitz would be finishing off a disappointing season, having been eliminated from the playoff picture seemingly early.

But, the Cougars would also bring a disappointing end to Humble’s season as well, pulling out a 33-28 win that allowed Kingwood and Aldine to claim the final two playoff berths from 19-5A thanks to tiebreakers over Humble.

The one team that seemed unlikeliest of all to accomplish the task of winning a game to earn a playoff spot was the Cypress Falls Golden Eagles.  Cy Falls needed a win, against district co-leader Cypress Woods, coupled with a loss by Cypress Springs to the other district co-leader, Cypress Creek. 

It seemed like an impossible task, a fact that Eagles’ head coach David Raffield acknowledged on Saturday night.

“Everybody had us as an underdog in this game,” Raffield stated. “But these kids love each other and play for each other.”

In the unlikeliest of necessary wins, in the unlikeliest of second-half comebacks, Cy Falls outscored Cy Woods 24-7 in the final two quarters to come away with a 46-43 win and earn District 15-5A’s fourth and final playoff spot.

Brice Christian capped the comeback with a 22-yard field goal with 1:55 left on the game clock.  After the Cy Falls defense fended off a last minute drive by the Wildcats, the celebration began on the Eagles’ sideline.

Trailing at halftime, 36-22, following a barrage of points in the last two minutes of the half by Woods, Raffield admitted his team went into the locker room in a less-than-optomistic mood.

“Their heads were down,” said the coach, “but we said, ‘We’ve got 24 minutes left to play. We’re going to go out and send the seniors out with their heads held high.”

Because of the effort, those seniors will have at least one more week to play before they move on with their lives.  Cy Falls plays Round Rock Stony Point, a state-ranked team in almost every statewide poll, on Friday night at Round Rock ISD Stadium.

For Cypress Falls fans, the last weekend of the 2009 season had a similar feel to the final weekend of the 2005 season, Raffield’s third as head coach.

That year, Cy Falls had lost in Week 9 to Tomball, 24-21, to all but eliminate themselves from playoff contention. There was a chance, going into the final weekend of play, for the Eagles to make the playoffs, but it would be a slim one and they’d need some help.

Cy Falls needed to beat Magnolia (in a Thursday night contest), and have Jersey Village beat a high-powered Langham Creek team on the last Saturday of the season. 

Cy Falls defeated Magnolia, 52-22, and then waited for a couple of days and crossed their fingers hoping Jersey Village could help their cause.  And the Falcons did squeak out an 18-16 win over Langham Creek, sending Falls into the playoffs while bumping the Tomball team who had beaten the Eagles a week earlier.

It’s a neat story, but it doesn’t end there.

After the Golden Eagles made it into the Class 5A playoffs by the skin of their teeth, that same team wound up taking the vaunted Katy Tigers down to the wire in the 5A Region III championship game, losing when Katy made a furious fourth-quarter rally to win 32-28 at Rice Stadium on the first weekend in December that season.

It’s my guess that Raffield and Company wouldn’t mind seeing 2009 take a similar path to that season.  And, because of Saturday’s results, they still have that chance.