Leps Lose Home Opener to Columbus 63-28
The La Grange football team put up some eye-popping stats Friday.
But Columbus won the only stat that really counts.
The No. 4-ranked Cardinals came to La Grange and beat the Leps 63-28 in their home opener.
La Grange stays winless, but they provided the home fans lots to cheer about, especially on the offensive side as the Leps threw the ball 57 times and gained 521 yards of offense with their hurryup attack.
Nate Scott caught two touchdown passes from Clayton Cooper, and Bennett Barber threw one TD to Austin Roe.
New La Grange head coach Kyle Cooper continued to rotate in each quarterback every series. Cooper completed 22 of 26 passes for 211 yards and Barber completed 19 of 31 passes for 182 yards.
Scott snagged a teamhigh 14 passes for 148 yards.
Lep running back Le’Kayvion Broussard caught 13 passes for 77 yards and also ran the ball 24 times for 78 yards.
But all that offense wasn’t enough to overcome unbeaten Columbus (2-0).
“In all three phases of the game I felt like we took some steps forward,” said Cooper. “The kids had a tremendous week of practice. They are being very resilient during a time when we are facing a lot of adversity, but that’s what life’s about too. We’ll get better as a football team because of this, and we’ll bounce back.”
La Grange actually outgained the Cardinals in total offense (521 to 453) but Columbus was efficient, scoring touchdowns on their first eight offensive possessions including a 90-yard kick-off return for a score by Jackson Hancock.
“The margin of error against a team like that is very small,” Kyle Cooper said.
Columbus running back Ty’Vone Whitehead ran for 214 yards on 18 carries and scored six touchdowns.
Hancock scored the other three touchdowns for Columbus.
Columbus junior quarterback Adam Schobel (who has verbally accepted a scholarship offer from Baylor) completed 14 of his 21 passes for 216 yards.
“They don’t have a lot of weaknesses to be honest,” said La Grange safety Max Dixon. “They are a solid team. The quarterback is going to Baylor and he doesn’t make a lot of bad passes. The running back is very fast. If he gets past you, you are not catching up to him. Their wide receiving corps is stacked.”
The amount of points La Grange has given up the last two games combined is 131.
“What we do offensively puts our defense under a tremendous amount of stress,” Kyle Cooper said. “That’s a decision I made, us playing fast. There are things in all phases of the game we have to get better. It’s an overall system.”
Despite Columbus’ success Friday, La Grange made a game of it after falling behind 14-0.
Nate Scott hauled in a 29-yard TD as time expired in the first half. Then the Leps marched 75 yards on 15 plays to start the second half, capped off by a Broussard one-yard touchdown run.
That cut the Columbus lead to just 35-28, but the Leps never got closer.
“I was proud of the way we battled back, but then the wheels fell off a little,” Kyle Cooper said. “Mistakes happen in football, you just can’t let them kill you.”
Columbus scored the final 28 points of the game to seal the victory. La Grange threw a pair of second half interceptions that halted drives.
“We played hard,” said Columbus head coach Matt Schobel. “La Grange is going to score a lot of points this year. We have to clean some things up ... Our goal is always to win a district championship and eventually a state championship. But our focus has to be one game, one week, one practice.”
La Grange has started the season with back-to-back games against state-ranked teams (season-opening opponent Bellville is now ranked No. 6 in Class 4A), but it hardly gets easier for the Leps.
This Friday they travel to undefeated La Vernia, which beat Burnet 49-27 in the season opener and smashed Gonzales 49-7 last week.
“We definitely did better this week,” Clayton Cooper said. “We played more as a team. We’re going to be good.”