Madison succeeded to a point, holding Katy to 53 rushing yards in the first half.

But the Mavericks ended up like everyone else - left in awe at what Katy can do when it's at its finest.

Bo Levi Mitchell threw three touchdown passes in the first half, then Aundre Dean rushed for 132 of his 176 yards after halftime to guide the Tigers to a 66-21 pounding of the Mavericks.

The Tigers (15-0) opened a two-touchdown lead late in the first half, then doubled it with 28 points in the third quarter.

Dean's 5-yard run with 3:19 left in the first half put Katy ahead for good, 21-14, and two 1-yard scores in the third quarter ballooned the lead to 49-14.

"I had to be patient," Dean said. "The coaches told me at halftime my time was coming. I did what I had to do and it worked out fine. The offensive line worked hard the whole game ... and when you work positives always come out of it."

Katy will return here to play Pflugerville (12-3) in the state championship game at 7 p.m. Dec. 22. Pflugerville defeated Abilene 20-14 in overtime Saturday at Texas Stadium.

Mitchell threw two first-half touchdown passes to Terrence Avie, then found Joey Fuda for a 54-yard score in the final second of the first half to make it 28-14.

But perhaps Avie's biggest catch was a 30-yard reception on fourth-and-5 from the Madison 35 to set up Dean's first score. It was his last of three catches for 89 yards.

The game never was the same after that.

"We needed a big play right then," Avie said. "Coaches always say that great playmakers make great plays. He (coach Gary Joseph) called the play, I knew it was coming to me and I had to make the catch and I did it."

Katy extended its lead to 35-14 on its first drive of the third quarter, an 8-play, 66-yard drive culminating in Mitchell's 5-yard touchdown pass to Marc Ferris.

Ryan Doerr added a 66-yard punt return down the Tigers sideline with 25 seconds left in the third for a 56-14 lead.

After amassing 188 yards in the first half, the Mavericks (13-2) were held to 0 yards in the third quarter until the period's final two plays.

Katy intercepted Ehrlich twice and recovered two fumbles.

"We've been down like this before and we just had to remember to keep playing hard and come out on top," Tigers linebacker Patrick Benson said. "They threw a lot of crazy plays at us (in the first half). The quarterback (Bryan Ehrlich) did a heck of a job running but we were able to stop them."

It was a complete reversal from a sluggish start that affected both offenses.

Katy took a 7-0 lead after Madison muffed a punt. On the first play, Mitchell found Avie wide-open in the right corner of the end zone from 31 yards.

Andrew Green intercepted Mitchell and returned it 82 yards to tie the game late in the first quarter.

The teams traded touchdown passes early in the second; Mitchell found Avie from 26 yars and Ehrlich threw a 21-yard score to Brendan Skipworth.

"They stuffed everybody in the box so coach said we just had to pass the ball because the running game wasn't working," Avie said.

Mitchell was 9-of-15 for 194 yards.

Madison's Joey Boyd caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Ehrlich with 2:50 left, capping the scoring and giving the Mavericks the most points any Katy opponent has scored this year.

Not that the distinction matters, other than possibly to serve as motivation for Katy's already dominant defense.

The Tigers care only that they're coming back here next week.

"It's like it's not even real," offensive lineman Eric Ball said. "I'm speechless. I don't know what to say right now."