‘We’re Playing for Jaren Now’

Leopards Lose Star Lineman for Season in Opening Night 24-14 Defeat to Bellville

The four turnovers were problematic, but the Leps lost something far more important than the football Friday.

La Grange star lineman Jaren Woods was lost for the season after suffering a broken leg on a play early in the second quarter Friday, an injury that cast a cloud over the rest of what would be a 24-14 victory by Bellville in the season opener for both teams.

“To see a teammate go out like that is a tough, tough thing especially someone as vital as Jaren,” said La Grange head coach Matt Kates. “I told them, ‘You can’t ask ‘Why?’ You live with God’s will and know things happen for a reason.”

The 6-foot-4, 265-pound two-way senior starter for the Leps has collegiate offers from 10 schools, and had verbally committed to accept Baylor’s offer.

After a whole team of medical personnel attended to Woods following the injury, he was taken off the field in an ambulance, but not before he gave a thumbs up to the Leopard fans from the stretcher as he was being loaded up. “Jaren’s a great young man,” said La Grange quarterback Jaden Williams, whose family opened up their home to let Woods live with them after his mother died in 2019. “He’s such a leader on this team, and every where he goes. Everybody loves him. We’re praying for him.”

Woods underwent successful surgery to repair the leg Saturday, and though he is out for the rest of the football season, he is expected to make a full recovery.

La Grange was already losing 7-0 when Woods was injured and in the aftermath of his departure, the Leps struggled, losing turnovers on three consecutive possessions before halftime.

“Jaren is everybody’s rock. We lean on him,” La Grange linebacker Andrew Faske said.

Despite the problems, Bellville only led 10-0 at the break, and La Grange scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the second half to take a 14-10 lead. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way we responded,” Kates said. “We’ve got a team of fighters.”

came when Nathan Scott made an acrobatic 24-yard touchdown catch despite being well covered on a pass from Jaden Williams.

That score had been set up by a fumble recovery by Hayden Splawn.

Four minutes later the Leps scored again on an 82-yard run by Williams.

“We were down early, we couldn’t get anything going. It seemed like we’d take three steps forward and four steps back. We had penalties, mistakes,” Williams said. “Once Jaren went down we were like, it’s go time, we’re playing for him now. We’ll be playing for him every game.”

But up 14-10, La Grange couldn’t hold the lead.

Bellville responded quickly with a four-play 68-yard drive, capped off by a one yard touchdown run by Tanner Knode.

Up 17-14, Bellville added some insurance with a nine-yard touchdown run by DD Murray with 8:51 left in the game.

Overall, Bellville amassed 379 yards rushing, led by Sam Hranicky’s 221 yards. He also ran for a touchdown Friday.

Williams, La Grange’s junior QB had a team-high 179 yards rushing. Bravion Rogers added 55 on the ground.

In total, the Leps threw three interceptions Friday to go with a lost fumble. Williams and Bennett Barber split time at quarterback.

Bellville had turnover issues of their own, losing three fumbles. Splawn, Thai Scott and Phillip Arceneaux recovered those fumbles for the Leps, but La Grange was really only able to make the Brahmas pay on the scoreboard for one of those turnovers.

“Offensively we were not where we need to be. We were sloppy at times. It looked like a Week 1 game from a team that had only one scrimmage,” Kates said. “Defensively, I thought we played well in spots. That’s a tough offense to hold to just 24 points.”

It gets no easier this week for the Leps as they travel to Columbus, a team ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 3A this preseason. Columbus opened its season with a 42-7 victory over Giddings as Adam Schobel threw for 313 yards and four TDs, and James Hurd and NiJay Johnson each ran for 100 yards.

“We had that rain out last week (of their second scrimmage) so I think it took a while tonight for us to get back in our groove to start making some tackles, making some stops. But we finally started clicking a bit,” said Faske. “Columbus is a different type of team than Bellville. We’ve got all the talent in the world to bounce back, we just have to move forward and forget about this one.”