La Grange Leopards Hammer Smithville Tigers 52-7

La Grange and Smithville met for the 98th time in football Friday.

Rarely has the meeting between these two historic rivals been this lopsided.

The Leps hammered Smithville 52-7 as La Grange improved to 2-1 this season while Smithville (0-3) remains winless.

“It was a bit of a slow start but the kids got rolling,” said La Grange head coach Kyle Cooper. “The defense played dominating football and the offense was able to move up and down the field ... We still haven’t arrived, but you shouldn’t this time of the year.”

This game was actually tied 0-0 through the first quarter and a half before La Grange scored 28 unanswered points in a seven minute span on a pair of touchdown runs from Da’von Giscome, a keeper from quarterback Clayton Cooper, and a 25yard TD pass from Cooper to Mason Kleiber.

The outcome was never in question after that surge.

Friday was a breakout game for Kleiber, a junior who had a whopping eight catches for a team-high 82 yards.

“It felt really good to be a part of it because I haven’t done much the past two weeks,” Kleiber said. “This definitely boosts our confidence, which is something we needed.”

Giscome, also a junior, had another big game at running back, rushing for a teamhigh 154 yards on 17 carries.

'Great experience,” Giscome said of scoring three times. “I’m going to keep trying my best ... I’ve still got a lot to learn throughout the season.”

Clayton Cooper completed 22 of his 31 passes for 241 yards with a pair of touchdowns and he also ran for 63 yards and two scores. He had one of the highlight plays of the season when he hurdled over a would-be Tiger tackler. La Grange kicker Taylor Cook was a perfect seven-forseven on extra points and also drilled a 43-yard field goal in the third quarter, a career long. Sophomore Dillan Johnson also caught a 29-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, part of his four-catch, 57yard receiving night.

Smithville struggled to get much going offensively all night in the face of a swarming Leps defense that had struggled in the first two games of the season

La Grange had allowed 49 points to Cameron in the season opener and 63 points to Columbus the next week, but only allowed Smithville 169 total yards and those seven points.

“Our defense has come light years and I’m very proud of them,” Coach Cooper said. “We had a tough couple of weeks against a tough couple of opponents so I was very happy to see what we did tonight. Our defense flew to the football.”

Max Dixon snagged a interception for the Leps and Ethan Tarnowski recovered a fumble.

“Gives us some momentum for next week. Our D-line did their job and we forced them in and didn’t let them outside,” Tarnowski said of the keys to success against the Tigers.

For the third consecutive week the Leps head out on the road again, this time to Taylor on Friday, where they will face a Ducks team still looking for its first win of the season. Taylor (0-3) is coming off a 29-22 loss to Lago Vista.

La Grange 52 Smithville 7

Score by quarters

La Grange 0 28 10 14 – 52 Smithville 0 0 0 7–7

LG SV

Rushes-yds 35-178 33-106 Passing yards 241 63 Total yards 419 169 Comp-Att-Int 23-32-0 11-20-1 Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-1 Penalties-Yds 10-120 9-64

Scoring summary SECOND QUARTER

LA GRANGE - 6:44, Da’von Giscome 25 run (Taylor Cook kick) LA GRANGE – 4:56, Mason Kleiber 25 pass from Clayton Cooper (Cook kick) LA GRANGE – 2:51, Clayton Cooper 4 run (Cook kick) LA GRANGE – :09, Giscome 1 run (Cook kick) THIRD QUARTER

LA GRANGE – 7:42, Clayton Cooper 1 run (Cook kick) LA GRANGE – Cook 43 yard field goal FOURTH QUARTER

SMITHVILLE – 11:02, Eric Thompson 34 run (Zane Perkins kick) LA GRANGE – 9:03, Dillan Johnson 29 pass from Clayton Cooper (Cook kick) LA GRANGE – 3:18, Giscome 25 run (Cook kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATS Rushing: La Grange – Da’von Giscome 17-154, Clayton Cooper 12-63, Eli Gillum 1-17, Dillan Johnson 1-2, Team 4-(-58); Smithville – Justin Gurley 18-49, Eric Thompson 6-40, Jackson Frazier 6-11, Christian Osorio 1-5, Trip Davis 2-1.

Passing: La Grange – Clayton Cooper 22 of 31 for 241 yards with 2 TDs, Eli Gillum 1 of 1 for 0 yards; Smithville: Frazier 11 of 20 for 63 yards with 1 INT.

Receiving: La Grange: Mason Kleiber 8-82, Dillan Johnson 4-57, Gillum 3-45, Dwodney Thompson 4-37, Giscome 1-9, Cole Collier 1-6, Ryder Price 2-5; Smithville: Eric Thompson 3-40, Bodie Goertz 2-14, Justin Gurley 2-13, Caleb Magden 1-6, Kade Lusty 1-4, Christian Osorio 0-0, Trip Davis 1-(-4).

District 11-4A

Sealy 3-0 La Grange 2-1 Bellville 2-1 Madisonville 2-1 Giddings 1-2 Caldwell 1-2

Friday results:

Sealy 30, Brazosport 6 Malakoff 29, Madisonville 28 La Grange 52, Smithville 7 Salado 55, Giddings 14 Jarrell 30, Caldwell 26 Bellville 62, Almeta 0

This week’s games: Bellville at Hitchcock Sealy at Bay City Columbus at Madisonville Rockdale at Giddings Smithville at Caldwell La Grange at Taylor