Tuesday, November 19, 2019
SPORTS
B1
The Fayette County Record
The members of the Round Top-Carmine converge at mid-court to celebrate their regional title Saturday in Brenham seconds after they beat Fayetteville for the title.
Photo by Jeff Wick
RTC Volleyball Advances to State Tourney By JEFF WICK
The Fayette County Record
A group of young girls wrote an exciting new chapter in the tale of the most storied athletic program in Fayette County Saturday. The Round Top-Carmine Cubettes, (already winners of six state volleyball titles and 20 state tournament appearances) are headed to their 21st state tournament this week after winning the IV-1A regional tournament title Saturday in Brenham. “These girls are something special,” said first-year RTC
head coach Caitie Carney. But the way the Cubettes punched their ticket to state this time was truly unique, as RTC downed district rival and Fayette County neighbor, Fayetteville in three sets, 26-24, 25-14, 25-16. “It’s a small town rivalry, right down the road. They wanted to beat us just as bad as we wanted to beat them,” Carney said. “We just stayed composed and did the little things right.” RTC (21-11) now advances to play Water Valley at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the state semifinals in Garland’s Curtis Cul-
well Center. The winner of that match faces the Neches (39-5)/ Blum (30-14) winner at 3 p.m. Thursday in Garland for the 1A title. There was hardly a volleyball fan left in Northern Fayette County as these two neighbors squared off for the third time this season. RTC had beaten the Lady Lions twice in district play, but early on Saturday Fayetteville tried to show this time would be different. With Fayetteville freshman Brooklyn Jaeger dominating, the Lady Lions built a 22-18 in
Under pressure from a La Marque defensive player, La Grange quarterback Jacob Brandt prepares to unleash a pass in Thursday’s playoff victory in Katy.
that first set, only to see RTC rally for a comeback. “That seems to be a common theme with us, we run slow in the first set. Then they are much better at fighting back,” Carney said. “RTC is deep,” said Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger. “They rotate a lot of players in and out. They have a lot of hitters, a lot of height. It’s tough for us to cover all that. We did our best. The first set we almost had them. We lost the momentum in the second set and never could get it back.”
RTC was much more in control of the final two sets. Senior Bayley Ward served the match-winning point with junior Brooke Schobel spiking down the final shot, after which the Cubettes dog-piled on top of one another at mid-court in celebration. “I was ready for it. I was like ‘heck yeah,” Schobel said of that last point. “I’m excited for what the future holds (at state).” Megan Krause led RTC in kills Saturday with 13 and Schobel added 11 kills to go along with a team-high 13 digs. Eilers
La Grange’s D.J. Taylor runs the ball in Thursday’s game. Photos by Darrell D. Gest
Short-Handed Leps Oust La Marque
By JEFF WICK
The Fayette County Record
Short on players but not on determination, the La Grange football team put years of postseason frustration behind them with a 12-7 victory over La Marque in a 4A playoff first round game at a chilly Rhodes Stadium in Katy Thursday. The Leps were 0-for-3 in playoff openers over the last four years, with each of those losses coming by a touchdown or less. “After three years of wanting it, and waiting, this feels so good,” said La Grange safety/receiver Brock Gardiner, who had a touchdown catch Thursday. On paper, it hardly seemed like this would be the Leps team to break that string – especially after a disastrous series of events over the past several days that left La Grange missing numerous key players out with everything from injury to ineligibility to a flu-bug that swept through the team. The Leps faced the fivetime state champion Cougars
by starting a third-string quarterback, third-string kicker, and without their leading rusher, and second-leading receiver. “We suited out only 28 kids from our initial roster (of 40 from opening day),” La Grange head coach Matt Kates said. “We had some JV kids step up, the freshmen stepped up.” How far down the depth chart did the Leps have to dip? Consider this: Freshman Jakobe Wilkerson, who may be a future star but one who had not played a varsity game this season, was running and catching the ball Thursday. Somehow, some way, these Leps overcame the adversity of missing so many. “Coach always says you gotta love adversity and overcome. That’s what we did tonight,” said La Grange’s D.J. Taylor, who scored the game-winning touchdown with 3:04 left in the game. “This was about the perseverance, belief and character of La Grange kids,” Kates said. The La Grange defense was
particularly inspired, allowing La Marque just 96 total yards (all on the ground) after allowing more than 50 points in backto-back weeks the final two weeks of the regular season. “That’s not how we play Leopard defense and we needed to step up,” Gardiner said. “It all started with the defense tonight,” Kates said. “You are how your defense plays most of the time and Coach Cauthern (defensive coordinator) had them ready to play tonight.” No defensive play was bigger than Jacob Brandt’s interception of a Cougar pass with 2:31 left in the game. La Grange had a distinct advantage in the passing game. The Leps managed just 56 yards in the ground, but Brandt threw for 144 yards, while La Marque completed just one pass for no gain on eight attempts. The scoring started in the wildest way imaginable for the Leps. With 4:42 left in the first quarter La Grange lined up to
try a 26 yard field goal, but the snap somehow bounced up and into the arms of back-up kicker Jackson Bundick. He had the presence of mind to lateral the ball to holder and quarterback Jacob Brandt who scrambled around for what felt like an eternity, until lofting up a prayer into the endzone, that Brock Gardiner snagged for a go-ahead touchdown. “I pretty much know that Jacob’s a much better playmaker than I am, I just thought I was doing what was best for the team,” Bundick said. “I don’t even know what I was doing, I was just running for my life,” Brandt said. The ensuing extra point was blocked, but La Grange held onto that 6-0 lead into the third quarter. The Leps missed a golden opportunity to go up by more right before halftime when La Grange’s Coltin Whitaker recovered a fumbled La Marque punt attempt at the Cougar three-yard line with 1:23 left in the half.
But four Brandt quarterback keepers right into the heart of the La Marque defensive front yielded no points. Then to begin the third quarter the Cougars marched 60 yards to take a 7-6, capped off by a DaMarcus Nelson one-yard touchdown run and a Jonathan Hipolito extra point kick. That would be the only lengthy drive La Marque had all night. The Cougars did have a punt return for a touchdown called back because of penalties. The Leps finally re-took the lead with 69-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. Key plays in that march were passes by Brandt of 20 yards to Gardiner and of 30 yards to freshman Bravion Rogers – both on third down. That drive was punctuated by a 15 yard touchdown run by D.J. Taylor with 3:04 left in the game. “This game could have gone either way tonight,” Taylor said. “The O-line stepped up and I got See Leps, next page
led in assists with 27. For most of the Cubettes, this will be their first taste of the state tournament, but the team’s three seniors, Krause, Ward and Cassidy Tiemann were all freshmen on the team back in 2016 when the Cubettes advanced to the state semifinals before losing to Bronte. “Our seniors have preached from the get-go (about going to state),” said Carney, who had never been to state as a coach, but went to state as a basketball player at Giddings High School. See RTC, Page B3
La Grange 12, La Marque 7
Score by quarters La Grange 6 0 0 6 – 12 La Marque 0 0 7 0 – 7 LG La Mar. Rushes-Yds 44-56 29-96 Passing yards 144 0 Total yards 200 96 Comp-Att-Int 9-20-1 1-8-1 Punts-Avg. 3-24 6-37.8 Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-yds 5-30 9-86 Scoring summary FIRST QUARTER LA GRANGE – 4:42, Brock Gardiner 9 pass from Jacob Brandt (kick blocked) THIRD QUARTER LA MARQUE – 9:18, DaMarcus Nelson 1 run (Jonathan Hipolito kick) FOURTH QUARTER LA GRANGE – 3:04, D.J. Taylor 15 run (conversion try failed) INDIVIDUAL STATS Rushing – La Grange: D.J. Taylor 20-58, Jacob Brandt 19-10, Jakobe Wilkerson 3-4, Team 2-(-16); La Marque: Marquis Tarver 11-42, DaMarcus Nelson 9-33, Armond Robinson 3-12, Jauron Reid Jr. 3-6, Izeal Owens 3-3. Passing – La Grange: Jacob Brandt 9 of 20 for 144 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT; La Marque: Cory Halford 1 of 8 for 0 yards with 1 INT. Receiving – La Grange: Ryder Imhoff 3-58, Brock Gardiner 3-37, Bravion Rogers 1-30, Alijah Grant 1-12, Jakobe Wilkerson 1-7. La Marque: Armond Robinson 1-0.