Big Win Over Caldwell Vaults Leps Back in the Playoff Race

On a windy night in Caldwell the Leps turned their season around.

La Grange snapped a three-game losing streak and jumped back in the playoff race with a 48-27 victory over the Hornets.

The Leps used a bruising running attack, behind a dominating offensive line, to rush for a season-high 508 yards.

“We needed one,” said La Grange head coach Kyle Cooper of getting the win. “Proud of our kids. They never stopped fighting, never stopped working.”

The victory improves La Grange’s record to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in district. The Leps can clinch a postseason berth with a victory over last-place Giddings at home this Friday.

Caldwell, meanwhile saw its realistic hopes of a playoff berth fizzle in the loss to La Grange. The Hornets (3-4 overall and 1-2 in district) would need to beat either of the top two teams in the district, Bellville or Sealy, in the final two weeks of the regular season, and get help elsewhere to make the postseason.

The Hornets could just not stop that La Grange running attack.

“Caldwell blitzes a ton and Coach Willard (offensive coordinator) and his team put together a great game plan and we were really able to run the ball well,” said Cooper.

Junior quarterback Eli Gillum carried the ball 24 times for 268 yards and scored three touchdowns. Dillan Johnson added 137 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and Klayton Michalka ran for 72 yards and a score.

“We dominated up front,” said La Grange offensive lineman Luke Anderson.

La Grange also got some points from an unlikely source. Nose tackle Carter Finch scooped up a fumble and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown amidst a second quarter surge by the Leps that was the difference in this one.

“I was just chasing the play and the ball kind of just popped up in my hands and I took off,” Finch said.

Each team scored identical numbers of points in three of the fourth quarters – but the Leps outscored Caldwell 21-0 in the second period.

The game was tied 13-13 going into that second quarter when Johnson broke free for a 79-yard touchdown that would give the Leps a lead they would never lose. Gillum added a nine-yard touchdown before Carter’s scoop-andscore send La Grange into halftime with a commanding 34-13 lead.

The Leps then started the second half with a 14-play drive that didn’t end in points, but used up a bunch of time that Caldwell desperately needed to try to make a comeback.

Meanwhile, the Leps defense was more than up for the challenge.

“Defensively we really did turn up the intensity from start to finish,” Finch said.

“Caldwell does some things that really stress you, they have a good running back and good quarterback,” Cooper said. “We knew we had to shut those guys down.”

The two teams traded a pair of touchdowns each in the fourth quarter as La Grange always seemed to have an answer after a big play by the Hornets.

Chris Supak and Graham Youens recovered onside kick tries by Caldwell in that fourth quarter.

Caldwell’s Coy Becka rushed 24 times for 218 yards.

The Hornets passed for 138 yards split between senior Korbin Burns and sophomore John Fryrear, who replaced Burns midway through the second quarter. Caldwell senior Dylan Carter caught five passes for 126 yards but it wasn’t enough.

La Grange just passed for 41 yards in this game, but they didn’t need more because of that dominant run game.

The Leps now turn their attention to their oldest rivals – Giddings, in what is La Grange’s home finale this Friday.

The Leopards and Buffaloes have been playing one another for more than 100 years, with the first meeting coming in 1916.

The Leps lead the all-time series 51-49.