Leps Put Up 48 Points Before Halftime to Down Ducks
In one of the highest scoring halves of football ever by the Leps, La Grange scored 48 points before halftime and then coasted to a 48-20 win over the visiting Taylor Ducks on Homecoming Friday.
“This was amazing,” said La Grange senior center Braeden Wilder. “We came out, wanted to win and grinded for it.”
Of those 48 points, the Leps scored 34 during a second quarter for the record books as the Ducks really had trouble holding onto the football on kick returns.
La Grange had three takeaways on kick returns in that second quarter as Caleb Burton and Clay Wolff pounced on high arching kicks by Jackson Bundick that bounced away from Taylor players.
But the most dramatic of the recoveries was when Jakobe Wilkerson scooped up a Taylor fumble and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown.
“I just saw the ball and took it in for a touchdown, simple,” Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson also had a 60- yard kick-off return that set up another score. He wears a special towel while playing that says “RIP Papa.”
“My pops passed away a couple months ago, it’s been hard for me trying to get through,” Wilkerson said, adding that he knows his dad is watching from above.
La Grange senior running back D.J. Taylor did a lot of damage to the Ducks early, running for the Leps’ first three touchdowns of the game.
Taylor found the endzone on three of his first seven touches of the game, on scoring runs of 12, 90 and 48 yards.
He ended up with a team high 190 yards rushing.
“We just executed like we know we should, brought the energy from last week,” Taylor said. “We knew how this game should have went and we got the result.”
Taylor came into this game on a 14-game losing streak, but the Leps weren’t about to let the Ducks snap that streak against them.
The 48 points were the most the Leps have scored since they scored 52 in beating Taylor last year.
“I feel for them in a big way. They have good coaches, good kids,” La Grange head coach Matt Kates said of Taylor. “It takes a while to get a program going ... but I couldn’t be more proud of our kids for keeping the momentum from the last 12 minutes of last week (in the comeback win over La Vernia).
La Grange senior quarterback Caden Cooper also ran for two first half touchdowns and then connected with Dana Baker on a 32-yard touchdown pass with just 22 seconds left before halftime.
Baker juggled the ball but made a diving catch as he fell to the ground in the endzone.
Many of the La Grange starters watched from the sidelines as the Lep reserves mostly held the Duck in check in the second half.
Friday’s victory improved La Grange’s record to 2-2 overall heading into this Friday’s game at Lago Vista, the final non-district game for the Leps.
Lago Vista is 2-1 with wins over Teague and Caldwell before they lost to Little River Academy 13-0 last week.
It’s been a roller-coaster first month got the Leps, but La Grange is certainly on the upswing now.
“It’s such a great microcosm of life – a season is. The ups and downs and adversity and learning how to go back to work when it’s tough or like tonight to keep momentum when you’ve got it,” Kates said.
District 13-4A Standings
Giddings 3-1
Navasota 2-2
La Grange 2-2
Smithville 2-2
Cuero 1-3
Gonzales 0-4
Friday’s other scores:
Cuero 42, Navarro 21
Hargrave 12, Navasota 0
Smithville 63, Jarrell 6
La Vernia 47, Gonzales 16
Giddings 50, Caldwell 14
This week’s games:
La Grange at Lago Vista
Columbus at Smithville
Navasota at Yoakum
Giddings at Navarro Uvalde at Cuero
Uvalde at Cuero
Jarrell at Gonzales