Leps Smash Gonzales 50-18 to Win Third in a Row
La Grange has 20 seniors on the football team, and what a show they put on in their final home game at Leopard Stadium Friday.
The Leps demolished Gonzales 50-18 to break out of a three-way tie in the district standings and now sits all alone in second place heading into this Friday’s season finale at first place Cuero.
As improbable as it might have seemed after La Grange lost its district opener to Smithville over a month ago, after three consecutive wins since, the Leps (5-4 overall and 3-1 in district) could actually win the District 12-4A title Friday with a victory against the No. 3-ranked Gobblers (8-1 overall and 4-0 in district).
“Three weeks ago we were disappointed as heck to let one slip away and now three weeks later we’re still where we need to be, controlling our own destiny,” La Grange head coach Matt Kates said.
Beating Cuero is a tall order, certainly, but La Grange (which officially clinched a playoff berth with the win over Gonzales) seems to be peaking. They haven’t allowed more than 18 points in any of their last three games, while scoring at least 38 each of the last three Fridays.
“We’re more of a team now that ever before,” said senior linebacker Landon Little, who had a key interception in the first half. “We’re scoring early, getting stops early and that’s what you have to do against good teams, and Gonzales is good. They’ve moved the ball on a lot of people,” Kates said.
The game against Gonzales was a new high for the La Grange offense. Those 50 points were the most scored by the Leps since last year’s 54-20 playoff opening win over Manor New Tech.
The offense Friday was led by senior C.J. Davis, who had a team high 150 yards rushing and an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
“He’s fast,” Kates said of Davis. “We know what kind of juice he has.”
In all Davis found the endzone three times Friday in his best-ever game in a Leps uniform.
“Three touchdowns in one game – that’s a hard thing to do and I’m proud I did it,” Davis said. Davis said he had a Subway sandwich and four Gatorades prior to Friday’s game and after that big performance, he now plans to make that his regular pregame meal. Fellow senior Jakobe Wilkerson also ran for a touchdown and rushed for 86 yards. Senior Jacob Chovanetz caught a touchdown pass from sophomore Bear Meng. Bennett Barber threw a touchdown pass to fellow junior Jaden Williams. Even recent varsity call-up Le’Kayvion Broussard got in the endzone. In just his second game with the Leps after lighting things up on the JV, Broussard scored La Grange’s final touchdown of the night with a 1-yard run with less that four minutes in the game.
Leps senior kicker Phillip Arceneaux booted a 41-yard field goal to start the scoring Friday for the Leps and again was regularly knocking kick-offs into the endzone for touchbacks.
Defensively, the Leps did a good job of limiting damage from a pass-happy Gonzales offense, which tried a whopping 30 passes Friday. But through the air the Apaches only managed 130 yards on all those attempts. Little snagged one of those passes after it was tipped for an interception. “It felt like a pop fly in baseball,” Little said. “I just didn’t want to drop it.” Little didn’t miss his chance and neither did the Leps. It was a celebratory night all around for the Leps, who now head to Cuero with lots of momentum.
“It’s a big challenge, but we can’t wait,” Kates said.
Tiebreaker situations
• La Grange will be the No. 1 seed in the district if they beat Cuero Friday.
• La Grange will be the No. 2 seed in the district if La Grange loses to Cuero and Gonzales beats Giddings.
• La Grange would be the No. 3 seed in the district if the Leps lose to Cuero, Smithville beats Caldwell and Gonzales loses to Giddings.
• The Leps will face off against one of these three District 11 teams in the first round of the playoffs – Madisonville (5-4), Gatesville (-7-3) or Salado (3-6), but a lot is yet to be decided in that district.
La Grange 50, Gonzales 18
Score by quarters
La Grange 9 14 14 13 – 50 Gonzales 0 6 0 12 – 18
LG Gonzales
Rushing Yds 289 198 Passing yards 76 130 Total yards 375 328 Comp-Att-Int 8-12-0 14-30-1 Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-1 Penalties-yds 4-40 6-45 Scoring summary First Quarter
LA GRANGE – 6:50, Phillip Arceneaux 41 field goal LA GRANGE – 1:46, Jakobe Wilkerson 39 run (kick failed) Second Quarter
LA GRANGE – 11:02, C.J. Davis 11 run (Arceneaux kick) GONZALES – 6:14, Rocky Gallegos 19 pass from Jarren Johnson (run failed) LA GRANGE – 6:01. C.J. Davis 80 yard kickoff return (Arceneaux kick) Third Quarter
LA GRANGE – 11:39, C.J. Davis 60 run (Arceneaux kick) LA GRANGE – 4:40, Jacob Chovanetz 8 pass from Bear Meng (William Bundick kick) Fourth Quarter
LA GRANGE – 11:55, Jaden Williams 13 pass from Bennett Barber (Bundick kick) GONZALES – 10:12, Travis Malveaux III 4 run (conversion run failed) LA GRANGE – 3:40, Le’Kayvion Broussard 1 run (kick failed) GONZALES – :34, Gallegos 6 run (conversion run failed) INDIVIDUAL STATS Rushing – La Grange: C.J. Davis 12-150, Jakobe Wilkerson 7-86, Le’Kayvion Broussard 7-41, Jaden Williams 5-26, Bear Meng 1-(-2) Team 2-(-12); Gonzales: Rocky Gallegos 7-68, Travis Malveaux III 4-60, Jarren Johnson 12-37.
Passing – La Grange: Bear Meng 6 of 10 for 50 yards with 1 TD, Bennett Barber 2 of 2 for 26 yards with 1 TD; Gonzales: Johnson 13 of 26 for 106 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT, Malveaux 1 of 4 for 24 yards.
Receiving – La Grange: Jaxon Cooper 3-28, Jaden Williams 2-21, Matthew Garza 1-13, Jacob Chovanetz 1-8, C.J. Davis 1-6,; Gonzales: Weston Ruddock 5-50, Gallegos 3-42.
District 12-4A
District Overall
Cuero 4-0 8-1 La Grange 3-1 5-4 Gonzales 2-2 4-5 Smithville 2-2 3-6 Giddings 1-3 2-7 Caldwell 0-4 0-9
Friday’s scores:
Giddings 17, Caldwell 7 Cuero 61, Smithville 16 La Grange 50, Gonzales 18
This week’s games:
La Grange at Cuero Giddings at Gonzales Smithville at Caldwell