41 Points in The First Quarter!
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LHS Beau nominees: left to right – Graham Youens, Jacob Bridgefarmer and Jeffrey Cabrera. Photo by Jeff Wick -
LHS Sweetheart nominees: left to right – Diamond McKenzie, Kaylee Soto and Jaden Melton. Photo by Jeff Wick -
Ayden Gunter, left, and Travis Hill, right, celebrate Hill’s fourth quarter touchdown. -
La Grange quarterback Eli Gillum picks his way through the Taylor defense Friday. Photos by Jeff Wick
It what very well may have been a school record for points in a quarter, La Grange scored 41 points in the first 12 minutes of Friday’s homecoming game against Taylor.
Then the Leps cruised to a 55-18 victory as La Grange improved to 3-1 this season.
Nothing in football is ever perfect, but that first quarter was about as close to perfection as the Leps could get.
“Coach Willard (offensive coordinator) came to me today and said, ‘I know you like to defer (the coin flip) but I want the ball first today,’’La Grange head coach Kyle Cooper said. “He had a great game plan. We marched down the field and scored and then the defense came out and made a great stop and we continued to roll from there.”
La Grange scored on all five first quarter offensive possessions and also got a punt return for a touchdown.
Quarterback Eli Gillum ran for touchdowns of 18 and 50 yards and he also threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Mason Kleiber. Dillan Johnson and Klayton Michalka ran for first quarter touchdowns and Trey Broussard returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown in that first period.
La Grange really asserted itself with their run game Friday, rushing for 348 yards.
“We established the running game right away. That was the plan and once we established that, that opened up the passing game and we put up points pretty quick,” said La Grange receiver Mason Kleiber, who had a pair of touchdown catches.
The Leps increased their lead to 48-0 at halftime when Gillum found Kleiber for a 57yard touchdown pass.
In the second half it was mostly Leps reserves against Taylor starters.
Taylor did score three times in that second half (touchdown runs by Kayvon Godwin and Eric Walker and a touchdown pass from Johnny Guzman to Jeremiah Caldwell) but the outcome was already decided.
In the fourth quarter La Grange back-up quarterback Quade Gillum found Travis Hill with a nine-yard touchdown pass. It was the first varsity touchdown for each player.
“It’s a thrill you can’t even imagine. It’s special,” Brothers said.
“I was wide open, Quade threw it, easy touchdown,” Hill said.
The touchdown capped a busy night for Hill, who pulls double-duty every Friday, playing football and marching in the band.
“It’s hard work, doesn’t give me time at the house that much,” Hill said. “But I split the practices in half and it helps me out a lot. I’ve been trying to keep my grades up to help me do both (football and band) at the same time.”
Gillum and Brothers combined to throw for 137 yards.
Defensively La Grange got a fumble recovery by Ramon Ortiz and a interception by nose tackle Carter Finch.
“D-linemen, you don’t get picks that much,” Finch said. “I recognized the screen, I dropped back and that’s all mine.”
Finch credited the entire defensive front for giving Taylor fits all night.
“If the defensive line is getting push back and putting pressure on the quarterback, there’s not much they can do,” Finch said. “It was a great win.”
The Leps now turn their attention to Navasota which is 3-1 and coming off a 56-21 win over 5A Waco High. After three weeks at home, La Grange heads on the road to race the Rattlers at 7:30 p.m. in the final non-district tuneup for each team.
“This is a good bunch, a spirited bunch and they are a lot of fun,” Cooper said of his Leps team. “We took a step forward in figuring out some things our kids could do this week but we’re still tweaking.”