Leps Stun Smithville With Late Surge, Grab District Runner-Up Playoff Spot

A football season on the brink just three weeks ago has turned into a season to remember for the Leopards.

With the score tied 22-22, La Grange scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of their game Friday at Smithville to stun the Tigers 37-22 for the Leps’ third consecutive victory. That 15-point margin of victory was just big enough for the Leps to leap-frog to the top of what ended up being a three-way tie for second in the district standings.

With that No. 2-seed in hand, La Grange (6-4 overall and 3-2 in district) now gets a very favorable first round playoff draw. The Leps will play Manor New Tech (4-6) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Taylor. Had La Grange won by 14 or less, they could have dropped to the third or even the fourth seed, and had a much tougher first round playoff opponent.

The Leps’ good fortune was all thanks to a regular season finale that had to be seen to be believed.

La Grange jumped out to a 22-0 lead over the Tigers into the third quarter, only to lose that entire lead as the Tigers tied the game up with 2:12 left.

But La Grange junior Bravion Rogers put the Leps up to stay with a 70-yard touchdown run with 1:51 left in the game.

The Leopard defense stopped Smithville and La Grange got the ball back with 52 second left. Rogers threw a 36 yard pass to Jaxon Cooper, who made a highlight-reel-worthy catch of the ball. Then Rogers dove into the endzone after a nine yard run with just three second left on the clock to put La Grange up 35-22

“I told Coach Meng (offensive coordinator) to put the ball in my hands,” Rogers said. “Jaxon made a life-saving catch, the line did great, everybody was working together.”

A final two-point conversion run by Rogers made the Leps’ ascension to second place official.

“That last two minutes is something people will be talking about for a long time,” said La Grange head football coach Matt Kates. “Not just to win the game but to go get 15 (margin of victory) and grab the two seed is an unbelievable thing.”

“We knew that was the mark to get and to come here and do it was huge.”

Smithville had only lost twice this season prior to Friday.

“They are really good, really explosive,” Kates said of Smithville. “But our guys played their tails off.”

This game couldn’t have started any stronger for the Leps as they put on a power football clinic. Using their single wing formation perfectly, the Leps marched 58 yards on 12 plays (all runs) and milked seven minutes off the clock before the Tigers ever touched the ball. That drive was punctuated by a fiveyard touchdown run by Ryder Imhoff, who ran for a team-high 114 yards in the game.

“It feels incredible,” said La Grange senior offensive lineman Travis Stokes. “At the beginning of the year we were picked fifth and to be out here and do this feels great .... We knew we could attack their d-line and we did.”

After lulling the Tigers’ defense to sleep with all those runs, the Leps then went up 14-0 when quarterback Clay Wolff completed a pass to Dana Baker, who took it 73 yards for a touchdown.

That score had been set up by a Thai Scott interception one play earlier. Scott, a sophomore defensive back, was called up to the varsity midseason and kept Tigers’ star wide receiver Charles Hodge IV quiet in the first half Friday.

Early in the third quarter Smithville failed on a fourth down try deep in their own territory and La Grange capitalized. The Leps capped a three-play, 26-yard mini-march with a 15-yard touchdown run by Rogers.

Up 22-0 at that point the Leps were feeling pretty good.

But Smithville stormed back. Tiger junior quarterback Derrick Roberson (who completed 15 of 32 pass for 191 yards Friday) tossed a 53-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Hancock. Then early in the fourth quarter Jackson Hancock scored on a three-yard touchdown run to trim the La Grange lead to 22-13.

Two minutes later, when a snap went over punter Jaren Woods’ head and he was tack led in the endzone for a safety Smithville trailed just 22-15. La Grange penalties fueled

La Grange penalties fueled Smithville’s game tying drive before Tyson Hancock caught a seven yard touchdown from Roberson with 2:12 left.

But from there it was all Leps.

La Grange limited the Tigers to just 75 yards rushing.

“We had to come out here and do a job and we did it,” said La Grange linebacker Kadyn Hall. “It got a little dicey there for a little bit but we figured it out. Smithville was really athletic so we knew we had to match that and be fast.”

La Grange, whose postseason plans were on life-support three weeks ago after starting district 0-2, now is flying high.

“Practice has been going better, we’ve become more of a team. We’ve found ourselves,” Rogers said. “We’re peaking at the right

“We’re peaking at the right time,” Kates said.

But they are not looking past Manor New Tech, though New Tech has been shut out four times and allowed 40 points or more in a game six times this season. “They’ve got some good

“They’ve got some good looking kids and we’ve got to be ready to go. It’s playoff football for a reason,” Kates said. “We’re just going to keep

“We’re just going to keep trusting each other and keep pounding the ball,” Stokes said. “One play at a time,” Hall

“One play at a time,” Hall said.

The winner of the La Grange/New Tech game advances to play the winner of the Sinton(9-1)/Bandera(6-4) game.