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Katy Jordan junior Trae Gage, second from right, poses for a photo with officials from the Guatemalan national team.
Katy Jordan’s Gage to compete with Guatemalan national team
Trae Gage’s young life so far has been one of adversity, perseverance, triumph and great potential.
The Katy Jordan junior point guard was adopted before he turned one year old. Hoops was his ticket of acclimation to a new country, family and home.
Later this week, Gage will play for La Federación Nacional de Baloncesto de Guatemala, the Guatemalan equivalent to USA Basketball, after earning a roster spot in March to represent Guatemala in FIBA Tournaments starting Tuesday and wrapping up Sunday.
The tournaments will be played Sept. 1-3.
“I’m super blessed to have this opportunity,” Gage said. “Super exciting. To go to another country and do what I love, it’s amazing to me.”
Gage was born in Guatemala. When he was nine months old, he was adopted by Tyson and Laura Gage and brought to the United States.
“He was just an infant,” Tyson said. “As such, he’s had dual citizenship.”
Basketball has always been the bond between father and son. Tyson put a ball in Trae’s hands when he was five years old.
“Basketball is just who I was,” Gage said. “I grew up with it and it’s always been a part of me. I know nothing else, really.”
Gage is a natural, gifted shooter. He led Jordan in 3-point shooting last year at a 41 percent clip, knocking in 22 of 54 attempts in 20 games. He credits Tyson for his consistent marksmanship.
Tyson put Trae through a plethora of shooting workouts when he first started playing. Three-point shots were prohibited. The focus was on foundation, form and fundamentals. Good balance, elbows in, follow-through, high arc.
Gage wasn’t allowed to shoot 3s until he was capable, physically, to shoot them appropriately.
“Shooting 3s was basically like shooting a midrange shot,” Gage said, “because all of my fundamentals were there already.”
\u201cMore college workouts\u201d— Trae Gage (@Trae Gage) 1659810813
Last year, Tyson, to garner more opportunities in basketball for his son, contacted the Guatemalan Basketball Foundation and sent them Trae’s information. Coaches were interested. They brought him in for a tryout over spring break.
There, visiting his homeland for the first time, Gage played in club games with his age group. He scored 30 points. Then he played in an adult club league. He scored 28 points.
Then he practiced with the Guatemalan’s national team, where one skirmish left him with a black eye after being elbowed.
“It’s a different playing style there, so growing up and playing here in the States, my style is different and unique,” Gage said. “I think that made me stand out, as far as playing at a faster pace, how I could handle the ball, how I could score and create. They just liked what they saw.”
Gage earned his spot training with the national team and competing with them this week.
“I’m hoping to expand my game and get better overall,” Gage said. “Attacking the basket to score or kick out. Getting my teammates more involved. I want to come back better than ever next season and help my team be even more successful.”
Gage saw spot time last season for a Warriors team that was loaded with talented guards. Jordan went 21-11 in its inaugural year of varsity play. Gage averaged 3.6 points per game but started a few games and showed off impressive skills as a perimeter shooter and ballhandler.
\u201cBall handling\u201d— Trae Gage (@Trae Gage) 1659395077
He is smart with the ball, a tenacious fullcourt pressure defender and owns a rapid-fire quick release with considerable range.
“I learned a lot,” Gage said. “Coach (Charlie) Jones is a great coach who always encourages me. I’m a good shooter, and he’d always push me to keep shooting. Being at Jordan just gives me so much more confidence because of the coaching. It helped me a lot, and in turn I was able to really help out my team.”
As a 5-foot-6 point guard, Gage knows positive perception does not lean his way, particularly him being Guatemalan.
“Being Hispanic, being undersized and not meeting the eye test, he’s constantly overlooked and underrated,” Tyson said.
Trae said none of that is his concern.
“I try not to think about it,” he said. “I don’t let it bother me. I’m aware I’m short and maybe not as strong as everybody else. But I’m just going to work harder and control what I can, just continue to get better.”
Katy Jordan players, from left to right, Tosin Odulate, Andrew Marsh, Zechariah Sample and Zion Jones pose for a photo.
Katy Jordan wows in 1st varsity game with 50-point win
KATY—As far as first impressions go, fit with eyebrows raised and eyes wide open, Katy Jordan’s first varsity game Saturday evening could not have been more emphatic.
Whether it was the offense, which scored eight touchdowns, or the defense, which gathered seven takeaways, the Warriors played like anything but a third-year program being baptized in Class 6A waters in its 64-14 rout of Aldine Davis at Rhodes Stadium.
\u201c.@JHSWarriors_FB 2024 ATH @SampleZechariah discusses tonight\u2019s 64-14 win over Aldine David. Sample had 112 yards and 3 TDs rushing, a pick-6, and two interceptions total in the Warriors\u2019 first varsity win. #txhsfb @KatyISDAthletic @KPRC2RandyMc @JordanHSAthlet1 @JhsWarriors\u201d— VYPE Houston (@VYPE Houston) 1661655390
At this time last year, Jordan, Katy ISD’s ninth high school, was playing an outlaw varsity schedule and ultimately won three of nine games. Saturday, Jordan had 49 points at halftime and forced turnovers on Davis’ last four drives of the first half to force a running clock to start the third quarter.
“We wanted to play a complete four-quarter game,” said coach Mike Rabe, who left Katy ISD neighbor Mayde Creek to take over at Jordan when the school opened in 2020. “They were focused all week, and we just wanted to come out, get a good start and see how it goes.”
Um, it went pretty well.
Junior Zechariah Sample, playing receiver and defensive back, got the Warriors off to a blitz of a start with three touchdowns in the first quarter—two runs of 3 and 90 yards, respectively, and a pick-6 of one yard after Davis quarterback Josh Williams panicked and tossed a pass from deep in Davis’ own end zone after a bad snap.
\u201cWow, Mr. Sample! @SampleZechariah 90-yard TD. He\u2019s got two rushing TDs and a pick-6 in the first nine minutes of this game. 21-0 @JHSWarriors_FB, 2:49, 1Q. #txhsfb @JordanHSAthlet1 @KatyISDAthletic @JhsWarriors\u201d— Dennis Silva II (@Dennis Silva II) 1661646672
Sample scored his last touchdown on a five-yard end-around with 3:21 left in the first half. In all, he had 112 yards and three touchdowns on four carries to go along with two interceptions.
“Work hard, play hard,” Sample said. “Show Texas what I can do. We’re coming in as the underdogs. A lot of people thought we were going to lose. We wanted to run it up tonight, but, you know, we can’t. We have to show everybody we can get our way to the top.”
Rabe said Sample’s talent is “unique.” The 5-foot-11, 160-pounder holds an offer from Deion Sanders and Jackson State.
“He does good on both sides of the ball,” Rabe said. “He does good on special teams. He’s fun to have in the fieldhouse; he brings energy to practice every day. He’s a good one.”
If it wasn’t Sample carving up Davis’ defense—which was simply overwhelmed by Jordan’s speed and physicality—it was sophomore receiver Andrew Marsh.
\u201cThis is getting ugly. @willetts_colin to @AndrewaTmMarsh for a 30-yard flare. Easy. 28-0 Warriors, 2:05, 1Q. #txhsfb @KatyISDAthletic @JhsWarriors @JordanHSAthlet1\u201d— Dennis Silva II (@Dennis Silva II) 1661646974
Marsh dominated late in the first quarter and all the second, catching five passes for 91 yards and three touchdowns.
“They were slow, and it was easy to get past them,” Marsh said. “Our offensive line was giving us great time out there and (junior quarterback Colin Willetts) was just putting the ball where it needed to be.”
Marsh is arguably the Warriors’ most tantalizing prospect.
The 6-foot dynamo is a four-star recruit, per 247Sports, and already holds offers from LSU, Houston, Baylor and Arizona.
“I want everybody to know where I should be (ranked),” Marsh said, “and that I’m No. 1.”
\u201c.@JHSWarriors_FB 2025 WR @AndrewaTmMarsh discusses tonight\u2019s 64-14 win over Aldine David. Marsh had 91 yards and three TDs on five catches in the Warriors\u2019 first varsity win. #txhsfb @KatyISDAthletic @JordanHSAthlet1 @JhsWarriors @KPRC2RandyMc\u201d— Dennis Silva II (@Dennis Silva II) 1661656983
As electric as Sample and Marsh were, however, the Warriors showed they have much more to offer.
Willetts was smart and accurate all evening, completing nine of 16 passes for 170 yards and four touchdowns. Senior receiver Nathan Salz showed off his 4.3 40 speed with a nice 59-yard catch-and-run score to open the second half.
Defensively, senior defensive lineman Tosin Odulate collected a few punishing sacks, senior defensive back Braden Franklin and sophomore defensive back Zion Jones intercepted passes and senior linebacker Davis Duhon recovered a fumble.
“They fly to the football,” Rabe said of a defense that surrendered 123 total yards. “I saw a lot of sound assignments. They stayed inside the game plan the whole time. We scored quick and we had to stay out on the field quite a bit, so you could see their conditioning really pay off. They did their job the whole game.”
Rabe believes things can only go up.
“This is a team that has a chance to grow every single week,” he said. “We still have a lot of young guys out there. But you watch them in practice, they get better every week. They take the weight room seriously. I expect to see them improve each game.”
For now, though, not too shabby.
“It feels great for all of us,” Marsh said. “We’ve put in the work all spring, all offseason. It’s what we’ve been waiting to come out here and do. I just want everybody to know we’re coming, and we’re not scared of anybody.”