State-Ranked Bellville Runs Past Leopards 56-21
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State-Ranked Bellville Runs Past Leopards 56-21 -
Above: La Grange’s Dillan Johnson hurdles over Bellville’s Jacolby Walker during Friday’s game. Left: La Grange Klayton Michalka leaps to avoid a tackle during Friday’s game. Photos by Darrell D. Gest
Like a group of traveling red-clad magicians, the Bellville football team has built a dynasty on misdirection.
Their who-has-the-ball Slot-T offense has given defenses fits for years, and the story was the same Friday as Bellville rushed for 538 yards in a 56-21 victory over the Leps.
“It’s a tough offense (to stop) and they do it with good players,” said La Grange head coach Kyle Cooper. “They’ve been doing it for a long time. They are very confident in what they do and how they do things. Their kids execute well. You see it once or twice year. We just have to get better.”
The loss was the third in a row for the Leps and drops La Grange to 3-4 overall and 0- 2 in district.
“We’re not that far off,” Cooper said. “It always seems like it’s a long way from the penthouse to the outhouse, but it’s really not.”
State-ranked Bellville improved to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in district.
Bellville junior Travis Turner ran for 219 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Kendrick Turner ran for 162 yards and two scores. Sophomore Rody Luera rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns of his own.
“It’s a whole different offense,' said La Grange junior defensive end Christian Biles of trying to stop Bellville. “We didn’t get the job done today. It’s not even about making the tackle, it’s just about everyone doing their job.”
Bellville rarely passes the football, but junior Knox Bauerschlag completed two of his four passes for 67 yards and a touchdown Friday.
In a game where silver-linings were few and far between for the Leps, there was this: La Grange was the first team to score more than 20 points against Bellville since their season-opening loss to Celina. “I thought we did some good things (offensively), but got inside the 25-yard-line three more times and didn’t come away with points,” Cooper said. “Those are the types of things on both sides of the ball we have to clean up.”
La Grange junior quarterback Eli Gillum ran for a team-high 127 yards and a pair of touchdowns and he also completed nine of his 17 passes for 128 yards.
Dillan Johnson ran for 75 yards and a touchdown.
“They were a tough team. They were strong,” said La Grange senior offensive lineman Erick Guevara. “I thought we were going to do better, but we are going to get better ...
“Everybody still has their head up and hoping for a good playoff run.”
The Leps now turn their attention to what are essentially do-or-die games the next two weeks to keep those playoff hopes alive.
That stretch starts Friday at Caldwell, a team the Leps beat 52-35 last season, but the Hornets appear improved. Caldwell, like La Grange, is 3-4 overall, but they blasted Giddings 44-14 in the district opener before falling 45-21 to Madisonville last week.
“It’s an extremely important game,” Biles said of this week’s matchup. “It’s do-ordie.”
“I just want to see us come out and play to our potential, I don’t care who we are playing against,” Cooper said. “We’re going to keep hammering, keep getting better.”