Bellville Overpowers La Grange in Season Opener

Rowe’s Record

For so many things in life, it’s not how you start, but how you finish.

That’s especially true in high school football.

So in the grand scheme of a 10-game regular season, Friday’s 68-20 loss to Bellville by the La Grange football team doesn’t mean all that much.

But Friday’s outcome wasn’t exactly how Kyle Cooper envisioned his first game as Leps head coach playing out.

“Let’s be honest: Not good,” said Cooper. “They gave it to us, and that starts right here with me. I thought our kids responded well to an adverse situation and came out in the second half and did some good things. That’s where we’re at, that’s where we are going to build from.”

Bellville, which has now won 23 regular season games in a row, took control of this game early.

The Brahmas forced a fumble on the game’s first drive and Jacob Sheperd recovered the ball at the Leps’ one yard line.

DD Murray ran the ball in one play later, the first of what would be three touchdowns and a game-high 151 yards for the junior rusher.

“We were really worried about their pace and what they were going to do offensively,” Bellville head coach Grady Rowe said of La Grange. “We were able to force a turnover early and scored quickly. That was big momentum-wise.”

Bellville would go on to score 42 points in the first quarter alone, needing just 13 plays from scrimmage to do so, as their Slot-T offense churned up big chunks of yardage.

In all Bellville ended up with 506 yards rushing and got three more touchdowns each from Corrian Hood and Sam Hranicky.

“I thought we had a good game plan, it just came down to execution, missed tackles and we didn’t have enough energy in the beginning,” said La Grange sophomore linebacker Oliver Gunn.

Bellville didn’t attempt a single pass.

Meanwhile, the bulk of La Grange’s offense did come through the air. The Leps passed for 202 yards and rushed for just 38.

See Quarterbacks Bennett Barber (a senior) and Clayton Cooper (a junior) alternated series operating the Leps’ new hurry-up offense. Barber threw for 92 yards including a 30-yard touchdown to Thai Scott. Cooper threw for 110 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown to Julian Sherman. Junior running back Le’Kayvion Broussard also added a four-yard rushing touchdown for the Leps.

“Our offense last year was a slower pace. We’ve gotta get used to this and figure out how it works,” Barber said. “The goal is to focus on the five games (the district contests) that matter, and we just want to improve week to week for that. We’ve just gotta put this one behind us and focus on the next one.”

That next one is another stiff challenge as No. 4-ranked Columbus comes to town for the Leps’ home opener Friday.

The Cardinals are coming off a 47-12 win over Giddings Friday, and they beat the Leps 44-7 last season.

“It’s definitely going to be a work in progress for us but I feel like we’re going to hit our stride pretty soon,” Gunn said. “We’ve got a lot of great coaches and a lot of great players, and we’re just putting the pieces together now.”

Friday’s game was the 116th career victory for head coach Grady Rowe which moves into first place all time for wins at Bellville, one ahead of Huey Chancellor.

“It’s a honor. I have tons of respect for Huey Chancellor and what he did here,” Rowe said. “It’s a community thing. It goes back way before Grady Rowe. Our staff does a great job and you have to give credit to the kids. They bought into 13 years.”

Bellville 68, La Grange 20,

Score by quarters

Bellville 42 20 6 0 – 68 La Grange 7 6 0 7 – 20

LG Bellville Rushing Yds 38 506 Passing yards 202 0 Total yards 240 506 Comp-Att-Int 19-34-2 0-0-0 Fumbles lost 1 0 Penalties-yds 4-30 2-30

Scoring summary

First Quarter

BELLVILLE – 11:20, DD Murray 1 run (Fernando Grajales kick) BELLVILLE – 10:02, Sam Hranicky 12 run (Grajales kick) BELLVILLE – 7:06 Corrian Hood 37 run (Grajales kick) LA GRANGE – 6:50, Clayton Cooper 74 pass to Julian Sherman (Jeffrey Cabrera kick) BELLVILLE – 6:00, Murray 48 run (Grajales kick) BELLVILLE – 2:58, Hranicky 4 run (Grajales kick) BELLVILLE – :54, Murray 44 run (Grajales kick) Second quarter

LA GRANGE – 9:40, Le’Kayvion Broussard 4 run (kick failed) BELLVILLE – 8:07, Hood 61 run (Grajales kick) BELLVILLE – 6:10, Hranicky 18 run (Grajales kick) BELLVILLE – :12 Hood 3 run (kick blocked) Third Quarter

BELLVILLE – 8:30, Nic Carlile 4 run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

LA GRANGE – 4:25, Bennett Barber 30 pass to Thai Scott (Cabrera kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATS Rushing – La Grange: Le’Kayvion Broussard 17-57, Bennett Barber 2-(-8), Clayton Cooper 6-(-11), Cody Krupala 1-0; Bellville: DD Murray 9-151, Corrian Hood 8-135, Sam Hranicky 11-92.

Passing – La Grange: Barber 11 of 20 for 92 yards with 1 TD, Cooper 8 of 14 for 110 yards with 1 TD and 2 INTs.

Receiving – La Grange: Julian Sherman 1-74, Nate Scott 6-39, Thai Scott 2-35, Austin Roe 4-23, Broussard 4-20, Clayton Cooper 2-13.

District 12-4A

Cuero 1-0 Gonzales 1-0 Smithville 1-0 La Grange 0-1 Giddings 0-1 Caldwell 0-1

Friday’s scores:

Bellville 68, La Grange 20 Smithville 37, Austin Travis 0 Gonzales 55, Cedar Creek 17 Cuero 41, El Campo 7 Columbus 47, Giddings 12 Groesbeck 31, Caldwell 6

This week’s games: Columbus at La Grange Gonzales at La Vernia Robinson at Caldwell Smithville at Sealy Cuero at Navarro Jarrell at Giddings