WACO - Katy's dreams of chasing title No. 10 will just have to wait another year.

The Tigers could not overcome an early deficit en route to a 45-14 loss at the hands of Austin Westlake on Saturday afternoon inside Baylor's McLane Stadium. It marked the worst playoff loss in Katy history.

“I can’t fault our kids, they played hard, they never gave up,” Katy coach Gary Joseph said. “They kept fighting. They had the better team today.”

For Katy the loss drops them to a 14-1 finish for the 2021 season. It is the 19th-straight season that Katy has finished with 10-plus wins.

“It was a great season, a lot of people would take 14-1 to start with every year,” Joseph said. “We faced a great football team today. They executed and we didn’t. I’m proud of our kids and proud of them for getting me here. They took us for a great ride.”

This senior class that walks away, including the likes of linebacker Ty Kana, cornerback Bobby Taylor and receiver Nicholas Anderson, do so with their legacy cemented.

The Class of 2022 helped guide the team through a COVID-riddled 2020 season, which in the end saw them win the program's ninth state title and first since 2015. Over their four years, the Tigers went 51-5.

“It’s always tough when you lose your last one. I’ve got nothing but pride and praise for those seniors,” Joseph said. “They went through COVID last year and then this year. Had a lot of injuries and they always bounced back. They were resilient. Those are the kind of kids they want them to be, and they’ll be successful when they get out of high school and college. They are going to be good people.”

As Joseph reflected on the Westlake loss and looked towards the offseason, the longtime Katy coach already has his list working of offseason to-dos to get Katy back to this point and beyond in 2022.

“For us to be successful we are going to have to be more physical up front on both sides of the football,” Joseph said. “We’re going to have to find a way to do that.”