Madisonville Ends Leps Season in First Round of the Playoffs
La Grange’s season, and with it the high school football careers of 20 seniors, came to an end Thursday as Madisonville overpowered the Leps 41-21 in College Station.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys. We didn’t play great but we kept battling,” said La Grange head coach Matt Kates. “Madisonville had a lot of weapons.”
The Leps turned the ball over three times and with the exception of two drives struggled offensively. La Grange had just 148 total yards from scrimmage Thursday, including a seasonlow 14 on the ground.
The Mustangs, by contrast, had 442 yards. Madisonville excelled at throwing the football as quarterback Ty Williams threw for 281 yards and five touchdowns to four different receivers.
“I’m sad because they say there’s nothing like high school ball,” said La Grange senior Bravion Rogers, who was playing his final high school game in the city, College Station, where he plans to play his college ball for Texas A&M as a highly prized defensive back recruit. “There’s college ahead for me but you’ll never get this back, playing with the kids you grew up with. It was fun.”
La Grange ends its season with a 5-6 record. Madisonville improves to 7-4 and advances to the area round where they will play undefeated Bellville.
“When you play in La Grange you should be here in the playoffs and you should win in the playoffs,” Kates said. “There are no excuses. We had some big people out (with injuries), but that’s life. You either find a way or you don’t.”
The game started off well enough for the Leps when on Madisonville’s first possession of the game Anthony Weikel forced a fumble that was recovered by Cooper Imhoff.
That set up the Leps at the Madisonville 33-yard-line. Eight plays later Rogers ran the ball in for a five-yard touchdown. It was one of the rare offensive touchdowns during the second half of the season for Rogers, who injured his leg in the final non-district game of the season and said he was probably playing at “75-percent” of his ability the final half of the year.
“Yeah I had the bruised leg, I was having some adversity but it’s all about how you are going to face it,” Rogers said.
The lead was short-lived for the Leps as the Mustangs responded with a 32-yard touchdown run by freshman Tristan Whaley to tie the game at 7-7.
A fumble on La Grange’s first possession of the second quarter set up a Williams to Phillop Green Jr. touchdown pass to give Madisonville a lead they would never lose.
Later in the second quarter La Grange’s Jaden Williams intercepted a Mustang pass, but on the very next play La Grange fumbled it right back to Madisonville.
Just before halftime Madisonville took a 21-7 lead on a TavisYork touchdown pass from Williams.
La Grange came out in the second half looking rejuvenated.
After failing to get any passing yards in the first half, Leps See sophomore quarterback Bear Meng completed three of fourpasses on a 79-yard drive. Two were to senior Jaxon Cooper, and then senior C.J. Davis caught a 22 yard touchdown pass from Meng.
The ensuing extra point by Phillip Arceneaux pulled La Grange to within 21-14, but they would get no closer.
Madisonville scored three unanswered touchdowns to take a 41-14 lead.
With 9:38 left in the game, La Grange’s Davis returned a kick-off 93 yard for a touchdown to give the Leps some renewed life. A Jacob Chovanetz interception with six minutes left also gave hope of a cimeback. But La Grange couldn’t get anything else going offensively to get any closer.
Those aforementioned 20 seniors will leave the Leps, but there is reason to be confident about the future.
“This was my favorite year of playing football, and we’re really going to miss those seniors,” said La Grange sophomore safety Max Dixon. “But we had several starting sophomores and juniors.”
For those returnees, the 2023 preseason starts now.