Points Aplenty as Madisonville Beats Leps 56-42

The gap between the La Grange and Madisonville football teams may be shrinking.

But the Mustangs are still beating the Leps.

The past two seasons Madisonville knocked La Grange out of the playoffs in the first round. This time, as new district rivals, the Mustangs beat the Leps 56-42 Friday in the district opener for both teams..

That’s a lot closer than last year’s 48-point loss to Mustangs in the postseason, but the Leps weren’t in the mood to claim any sort of moral victories Friday.

“There are no moral victories. We are here to win,” said La Grange head coach Kyle Cooper. “Hats off to Madisonville. I thought they made some great plays tonight. They played with a lot of energy but our kids did too. We were just a few plays away and then it kind of got away from us in the third quarter ...proud of our kids for fighting themselves back into it.”

A 28-point second quarter gave Madisonville a lead it would never lose. The Mustangs also scored 14 unanswered to start the second half.

Madisonville (3-3) put on an offensive show, amassing 594 total yards. Senior quarterback Ty Williams threw for 346 yards and four touchdowns and also ran for a score.

“They spread their athletes out tonight more than they had been, and they have some dynamic guys,” Cooper said. “They got the ball in their hands in space.”

Senior Phillip Green Jr. ran for a team-high 118 yards and two touchdowns.

“They were really good offensively. It was really tough,” said La Grange defensive lineman Bryan Jimenez-Hogan. “We’ve just gotta work hard, watch film tomorrow and get better from that.”

But La Grange went toeto- toe with the Mustangs much of the night.

La Grange senior quarterback Clayton Cooper ran for 102 yards and four touchdowns. Da’von Giscome ran for a game-high 162 yards and two scores. But the Leps only had 68 yards through the air Friday.

The Leps (4-2) had some miscues early, failing on a pair of fourth-and-ones in the first quarter.

Also in that quarter La Grange’s Cordale Knapik intercepted a pass and returned it for an apparent 80-yard return for a touchdowns. But the play was called back when a teammate made an illegal block on the return, and the Leps failed to score.

Down 56-28 in the third quarter, La Grange did score two unanswered touchdowns to trim the Mustang lead to 14. After that second score, with 2:45 left in the game, the Leps tried an onside kick but could not recover it and Madisonville was able to run out the clock from there.

“We’re a totally different team,” said La Grange offensive lineman Bradyn Prasek, comparing this year’s Leps to the one that played Madisonville last year. “We are all very connected, all great friends.. That has stepped us up ... We can come back from this. I know we can.”

The Leps now turn their attention to another formidable foe – last year’s state runner-up Bellville.

The Brahmas are 3-3 this season but coming off a 35-28 win over Sealy in their district opener.

Madisonville 56, La Grange 42

Score by quarters

La Grange 7 14 7 14 – 42 Madisonville 7 28 14 7 – 56

LG Mad

Rushes-yds 48-264 37-248 Passing yards 68 346 Total yards 332 594 Comp-Att-Int 7-14-1 21-32-1 Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0 Penalties-Yds 3-26 8-85

FIRST QUARTER

MADISONVILLE – 7:46, Ty Williams 19 run (David Zaragoza kick) LA GRANGE – 5:04, Clayton Cooper 1 run (Taylor Cook kick) SECOND QUARTER

MADISONVILLE – 11:45, Phillip Green Jr. 23 run (Zaragoza kick) MADISONVILLE – Camelo Gilbert 16 run (Zaragoza kick) LA GRANGE – 6:11, Cooper 1 run (Cook kick) MADISONVILLE – Kamron Simpson 61 pass from Williams (Zaragoza kick) LA GRANGE – 3:53, Cooper 10 run (Cook kick) MADISONVILLE – :21, Anqwan Morning 9 pass from Williams (Zaragoza kick) THIRD QUARTER

MADISONVILLE – 8:22 Tristan Whaley 26 pass from Williams (Zaragoza kick) MADISONVILLE – 1:11 Morning 11 pass from Williams (Zaragoza kick) LA GRANGE – :43, Da’von Giscome 62 run (Cook kick) FOURTH QUARTER

MADISONVILLE – 10:37, Green Jr. 8 run (Zaragoza kick) LA GRANGE – 8:51, Giscome 1 run (Cook kick) LA GRANGE – 2:35, Cooper 15 run (Cook kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATS Rushing: La Grange – Da’von Giscome 17-162, Clayton Cooper 31-102; Madisonville – Phillip Green Jr. 21-118, Tristan Whaley 7-83, Ty Williams 5-30, Carmelo Gilbert 4-17 Passing: La Grange – Cooper 7 of 14 for 68 yards with 1 INT; Madisonville – Williams 21 of 32 for 346 yards with 4 TDs and 1 INT.

Receiving: La Grange – Dillan Johnson 5-52, Dwodney Thompson 2-16; Madisonville – Anqwan Morning 7-88, Kamron Simpson 4-84, Whaley 5-73.

District 11-4A

District Overall

Bellville 1-0 3-3 Giddings 1-0 2-4 Madisonville 1-0 3-3 La Grange 0-1 4-2 Sealy 0-1 4-2 Caldwell 0-1 2-4

Friday’s scores:

Madisonville 56, La Grange 42 Bellville 35, Sealy 28 Giddings 52, Caldwell 35

This week’s games: Giddings at Sealy Madisonville at Caldwell La Grange at Bellville