Giddings Edges Leopards 23-21
In a 32-second span of the fourth quarter Friday, 21 points were scored and the lead changed hands three times.
Maybe at no point in the 106-year history of the storied La Grange/Giddings rivalry had these two football teams taken their fans on such a roller- coaster ride in such a short span.
By the time that rollercoaster came to a halt Giddings had a 23-21 victory, a win that snapped their five game losing streak.
“If you come to our practices, you wouldn’t believe what our record is,” said Giddings head coach Michael Adams. “Each week we’re getting better.”
Meanwhile, the Leps saw their three-game win streak snapped.
“Giddings did a good job. We didn’t score (offensively) in the second half. That’s the difference in the ballgame,” La Grange head coach Kyle Cooper said. “Giddings is big and strong and we’ve got to get stronger. We aren’t where they are strength-wise, but we’ll flip that narrative.”
Other than that wild scoring streak in the mid-fourth quarter (which saw back-toback kickoff returns for touchdowns), the play of the game came when Giddings’ Landan Gaertner wrestled away a pass as La Grange was driving for a potential game-winning score with 4:13 left in the game.
“We practiced it all week long, not letting them have the fast screens they like on the outside,” Adams said. “All week long No. 18 (Gaertner) has been on that play, to pick one off or break it up.”
Giddings got three first downs to completely run out the clock from there to preserve the victory.
Friday’s win improves Giddings’ overall record to 2-6 and their district mark to 1-2.
La Grange falls to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in district with the loss.
Giddings had a real advantage on the ground Friday, rushing for 235 yards compared to just 42 for the Leps. In overall yardage, Giddings outgained La Grange 347 to 202.
This game started in dramatic fashion. After the Little Leps Tunnel run (in which hundreds of elementary kids ran onto the field pregame) the La Grange varsity players took the field wearing their Paws for the Cause jerseys, which had names on the back honoring locals affected by cancer.
See Several of the Leps had jerseys with the name of the late Cesar Villasana, a former Leps football player who would have been a senior this year. He died of Leukemia in 2022 at the age of 15.
The Leps took control early, going up 7-0 on a Clayton Cooper to Thai Scott 45-yard touchdown pass on their first possession.
Giddings didn’t answer until they got a 29-yard field goal by Andres Cardenas early in the second quarter.
No one knew at the time, but that kick would end up being the difference in the game.
Late in the second quarter a 60-yard catch and run by Julian Sherman set up a two-yard keeper by Clayton Cooper to send the Leps into halftime with a 14-3 lead.
“In the first half we had it going, 14-3 going into half, we were on top,” La Grange lineman Austin Williams said. “We came out in the second half thinking we were going to steam-roll them. Everything just went downhill.
“It hurts. This one hurts, losing to your rival, especially as a senior.”
In the second half Giddings scored 14 unanswered points on a pair of touchdown runs by Cade Patschke, and a two-point conversion pass from Gunnar Fromme to Rex Shoemaker.
That gave Giddings a 1714 lead.
As Giddings prepared to kick-off, Cooper, the Leps junior quarterback lined up in one of the return positions.
The ball came right to him, he took a couple of steps forward before launching a perfect lateral pass the entire width of the field to a waiting Dwodney Thompson.
“Amazing call. When the ball was in the air I was like, wow, I wish I had called that,” Adams said.
The freshman, all alone in front of the Giddings sideline, took the ball and returned it 81 yards for a touchdown.
“It was crazy. When coached called it I was ready for it,” Thompson said. “I was going out there to make a play.”
The ensuing Taylor Cook point after put the Leps up 2017 with 6:57 in the game.
But the Buffaloes got their own big return on the next play, an 80-yard return for a touchdown by Bryson McDaniel to grab the lead right back.
“Using the proverbial term, we out-kicked our coverage,” Kyle Cooper said.
But La Grange wasn’t done.
They engineered a seven play drive but on a third-and one from the Buffaloes’ 15yard line, Gaertner got his big takeway interception, and the Leps never got another chance on offense.
This week the Leps go to Gonzales, which was a 45-33 winner over Smithville last week. The Apaches are 4-3 overall and tied with the Leps at 2-1 in district play.
“We have to come back and work harder,” Thompson said.
In a scary moment Friday a La Grange player was taken off the field by ambulance as a precaution but he is okay.