Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes has played in seven Divisional Weekend games, and the Chiefs have advanced to the AFC Championship Game seven times. Mahomes kept his record perfect as Kansas City defeated the Houston Texans 23-14 on Saturday.

Houston lost even though it outgained the Chiefs in yardage 336-212.

Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn missed a field-goal attempt and an extra point and had another field-goal attempt blocked, Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud got sacked eight times and the Texans incurred eight penalties for 82 yards.

“Some unfortunate things are out of our control,” Houston coach DeMeco Ryans said. “Didn’t go our way today. …

“We knew going into this game it was us versus everybody. When I say everybody, it’s everybody – all of whatever. The naysayers, the doubters, everybody, we had to go against today. With that, going into this game what we were up against, we can’t make the mistakes that we made. We had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes that happened, whether it was special teams, not converting our kicks, defensively not being where we were supposed to be in coverage, offensively not protecting our quarterback and keeping him clean. You marry that on top of everything else we had to deal with, it’s going to be a really tough, uphill battle.”

Leading 13-12, Kansas City went on a 13-play, 81-yard touchdown drive. The Chiefs converted a fourth-and-1 snap at the Houston 37 and got a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty against Houston linebacker Henry To’oTo’o on the way to a 11-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to tight end Travis Kelce with 11:52 left to play.

With his ninth 100-yard receiving game, Kelce took sole possession of first place in NFL playoff history. He had seven receptions for 117 yards and one touchdown on Saturday.

Eight players from Alabama high schools and colleges got on the field during the Houston-Kansas City game:

• Will Anderson Jr. (Alabama) started at defensive end for the Texans. Anderson made four tackles, recorded two sacks and had three tackles for loss.

• Texans cornerback Anthony Averett (Alabama) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
• Nico Collins (Clay-Chalkville) started at wide receiver for the Texans. Collins had five receptions for 81 yards.
• Texans wide receiver Tank Dell (Alabama A&M) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.
• Texans linebacker Christian Harris (Alabama) did not record any stats.
• Tytus Howard (Monroe County, Alabama State) started at left guard for the Texans.
• Kamari Lassiter (American Christian) started at cornerback for the Texans. Lassiter made three tackles.
• Texans wide receiver John Metchie III (Alabama) had two receptions for 12 yards.

• Texans tight end Irv Smith Jr. (Alabama) had one reception for 2 yards. Smith played in five regular-season games for Houston without catching a pass.
• Chiefs quarterback Chris Oladokun (Samford) is on the practice squad and not eligChiefs wide receiver Justyn Ross (Central-Phenix City) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
• Henry To’oTo’o (Alabama) started at linebacker for the Texans. To’oTo’o led Houston with seven tackles.
• Texans safety Jimmie Ward (Davidson) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.
• Chiefs wide receiver Montrell Washington (Samford) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
• Texans offensive tackle Kilian Zierer (Auburn) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play. 

After a 15-2 regular-season record earned Kansas City a bye into the Divisional Weekend, the Chiefs will play in the AFC Championship Game at 5:30 p.m. CST Jan. 26 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, against the winner of Sunday’s Baltimore Ravens-Buffalo Bills game.

After a 10-7 regular-season record, Houston defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 32-12 on Wild-Card Weekend to advance to Saturday’s game.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.