Turnovers Doom Leps in 42-27 Loss at Gonzales
Despite Loss,
La Grange had five turnovers, including four inside the Gonzales 25 yard line, and those missed scoring chances were more than the difference in a 42-27 win by the Apaches Friday.
“It’s not just the turnovers, but the momentum that comes with those turnovers,” said La Grange head coach Kyle Cooper. “It was just a frustrating night.”
On a wet night in Gonzales, the Apaches also had trouble holding onto the football with four lost fumbles themselves, but they were able to overcome that with as bruising rushing attack that amassed 473 yards on the ground.
“They were physical offensively, had a lot of big bodies in there and ran the ball well,” Kyle Cooper said.
Three different Gonzales players, Davonte Smith, Rocky Gallegos and Cole Duty all ran for more than 130 yards Friday.
La Grange by contrast only managed 155 total yards rushing. Leps junior quarterback Clayton Cooper completed 27 of his 44 passes for 238 yards with one touchdown, but he was also picked off twice. Thai Scott had nine of those catches for 93 yards.
Gonzales jumped out to a 14-0 lead early in the first quarter but La Grange fought back to tie things by the end of the opening period.
That was thanks to a Oliver Gunn fumble recovery in the end zone for a touchdown followed shortly after by a eight-yard touchdown run by freshman Dillan Johnson.
“It slipped out of the quarterback’s hands, I got through the line and it was there,” Gunn said of his score. “Nobody seemed to see it. I just jumped on it and got lucky.”
But Gonzales answered with a pair of second quarter touchdowns on long runs by Smith to take a 28-14 lead into halftime.
“They were just really big and strong and out-hustled us today,” said La Grange linebacker Hunter Sabo.
The teams exchanged scores in the third quarter as Clack’s 33-yard touchdown run was answered by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Cooper to Johnson. After that score, which trimmed the Gonzales lead to 35-21, La Grange tried an onside kick and it was recovered by freshman Dwodney Thompson, but the Leps fumbled the ball away at the Apache six yard line to end the drive. Two minutes later La Grange’s Max Dixon recovered a Gonzales fumble still deep in Apache territory.
But the Leps were stopped on a fourth-and-goal at the one yard line to end the scoring threat. The Apaches marched 99 yards on 11 plays, capped off by Gallegos’second touchdown of the day and Gonzales was back up 42-21.
La Grange did get a final touchdown on a Cooper keeper with 18 second left in the game to make the final 42-27.
Leps Clinch
Playoff Berth
The victory clinches a playoff berth for Gonzales (5-3 overall and 3-1 in district), and strangely enough, thanks to developments in other district games Friday, the Leps (3-6 overall and 2-2 in district) also clinched a postseason berth.
No matter what happens in Friday’s home finale against state-ranked and undefeated Cuero (9-0), the Leps know they will be in the playoffs – though the best they can hope for now is third place.
La Grange’s 15-point win over Smithville earlier in the year gives the Leps the tiebreaker over the Tigers in any district tie scenarios.
“We’ve got things we’ve got to improve on and get better at and we’re excited to be able to do that in the playoffs,” Kyle Cooper said.