Leps Snap Losing Streak vs. Giddings, Clinch Playoff Berth

The La Grange football team had a three word slogan going into Friday’s game “Rewrite the Script.”

They even had the initials “RTS” on all their helmets.

They wanted to rewrite the script against a Giddings team that had beaten them six years in a row.

And they wanted to rewrite the script after failing to make the playoff last year.

“We wanted to rewrite the script and we rewrote two things tonight,” said La Grange head coach Matt Kates. “We’re hitting our stride when we need to.”

The La Grange Leps snapped that six-year losing streak to historic rival Giddings and at the same time clinched a football playoff spot Friday with a 27-14 victory over the Buffaloes.

“Oh my gosh, this is like the best feeling ever,” said La Grange senior offensive lineman Carlos Anaya. “This team has battled so hard since the summer started. We’ve been working towards this moment and to beat a team like that, our rivals, it feels like winning the lottery.

“A lot went into this week, we were focused ... Last year we were sad not being able to go to the playoffs, but now to be able to go, this is awesome.”

The Leps (5-4 overall and 2-2 in district) now head into the regular season finale Friday at Smithville with a chance to jump up into second in the standings with a win over the Tigers.

Regardless of this Friday’s outcome, however, La Grange is ensured a postseason berth. Their 13-point win over Giddings trumps Navasota’s 12-point win over the Leps should those three teams end up in a three way tie for the final playoff spots.

Giddings (2-7 overall and 1-3 in district) still controls its own playoff destiny.

The winner of the Giddings/ Navasota game this week also goes to the playoffs. The loser won’t.

Friday’s game couldn’t have started out any stronger for La Grange as the Leps scored a pair of touchdowns in their first three offensive plays.

Bravion Rogers ran for an early 64 yard touchdown, followed two minutes later by a 36- yard touchdown pass from Clay Wolff to Jaxon Cooper, and suddenly the Leps had a 14-point lead they would never lose.

Philip Arceneaux recovered a Giddings fumbled punt in the second quarter to help keep the Buffaloes scoreless in the first half. La Grange went up 20-0 in the third quarter on a 51-yard touchdown run by Rogers, who ended up with a team-high 145 yards rushing on just nine carries.

Meanwhile, Giddings could get nothing going on the ground against the La Grange defense. The Buffaloes ran the football 30 times Friday but only had 68 yards to show for it.

“The way they run the football on people, I thought we played the run well and when you play the run well you have a chance to beat people,” Kates said.

But down 20-0, Giddings tried to make a comeback through the air.

Quarterback Holden Jatzlau (who was 15 of 29 passing for 149 yards Friday) hooked up with Cade Patschke on a 62- yard touchdown that cut the Leps’ lead to 20-7.

La Grange responded with a 15-play drive, but it stalled at the Giddings three yard line. The Leps were going to try a 20-yard field goal but Giddings jumped offside.

With a fourth-and-goal at the one instead of the three, La Grange opted to go for it, and Rogers punched the ball into the endzone for a 27-7 lead.

That play would loom large because had La Grange only gotten three points there and won by 10 points instead of 13, they wouldn’t have the necessary point margin tiebreaker to truly ensure they were playoff bound.

Giddings scored again with 3:39 left in the game on another Jatzlau to Patschke pass, this one a 22-yarder to cut the La Grange lead to 27-14.

After a La Grange fumble, Giddings had new life, but Cooper intercepted a pass to essentially end any hopes of a Buffaloes comeback.

A big touchdown and a big interception for Cooper. What was more fun?

“I’ve got to say the touch down because you have all the guys celebrating around you, but the interception was nice too,” said Cooper, a junior. “We were just trying to do everything we could to get these seniors to the playoffs.”

All it took was beating their century-old rivals for the first time in a long time.

“We’ve been on the wrong side of this rivalry for six years, believe me I know,” Kates said. “I think they had five district championships in that stretch, We’ve got all the respect in the world for Giddings, that’s why it’s such a great rivalry – one of the best in the state of Texas. I’m so proud our of our kids for getting it done tonight.”