Big plays, stout defense lead La Vega past Liberty Hill

Waco La Vega senior linebacker Jared Rogers knew the Pirates would leave AT&T Stadium with a gold medal around their necks Friday night. 

Rogers tweeted on December 22, 2017 that La Vega would play for, and win, a state title this season. He helped ensure that was the case a year later, finishing with 13.5 tackles and one TFL as the Pirates rolled past Liberty Hill 35-21 to claim the program’s second-ever state title. 

“It was a lot of work,” Rogers said. “We started in January coming back from break, we put some things together and now we’re here. We just want to thank God for this moment.”

La Vega rushed for 329 yards against Argyle in the Class 4A Division I Region II final and racked up 480 yards on the ground against Decatur in the state semifinals, but it was a trio of big plays on special teams and in the passing game that pushed the Pirates to the victory against the Panthers. 

Donta Stuart asked coach Don Hyde at halftime if he could get in on kickoff return and opened the third quarter with a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. The Pirates cruised from there, as Ara Rauls tossed touchdown passes of 90 and 61 yards to Malachi Wright in the third to give La Vega all the separation it needed.

Rauls finished with 178 yards and two touchdowns on 6-of-9 passing while Wright was named the Offensive MVP after catching three passes for 163 yards and two scores.

“We can throw the football – we just don’t,” Hyde said. “If you’re not going to let us run the ball, we’re going to throw it. We talked about that at halftime. They did good job stopping the run, so let’s throw a couple passes and get them off of us. Then you have to decide what you want to do.

“We had a good matchup out there and it was in our favor. We just took advantage of it.”

While it was those three big plays that gave the Pirates a comfortable second-half cushion, star running back John Richards did manage to break off the type of run he’s become known for in the fourth quarter to cap off the big night. 

Richards ran through a handful of tackles near the line of scrimmage before exploding into the secondary and bouncing off two more would-be tacklers on a 43-yard TD run that made it 35-14 with 6:59 left.

Despite pulling away down the stretch, the Pirates managed just 157 yards on the ground. Half of that yardage came on a pair of long scoring runs. 

“We have a good defense,” Liberty Hill coach Jefferson Walker said. “We knew that coming in. Offensively, we’ve kind of sputtered here and there and the defense stepped their game up there and played like we knew they could all year long.”

In the second half, Liberty Hill punted, fumbled and turned the ball over on downs on its first three possessions as La Vega took control. The Panthers finally cut into the deficit with 8:48 remaining in the fourth quarter when Jacob Cearley scored on a 9-yard TD run to make it 28-14.

Cearley added another 3-yard TD run after Richards’ long scoring run, but Liberty Hill’s comeback bid was halted there as La Vega eventually ran out the clock and hoisted the championship trophy.

“You have to be disciplined in your approach [against the Slot-T],” Hyde said. “People get in and play those guys and they’re not patient. You have to be patient and understand they’re going to get three or four or five yards – you just can’t give up the big play. Like any scheme, you have to get off blocks, be disciplined with your eyes, stay at home on the back side and make plays when you have an opportunity.

“They’re very good – a quality football team. Coach Walker does a phenomenal job. He’s kind of in the same situation I’m in. He coached with Coach Vance for a long time and then took over for him. We’re just happy we were able to come out of here with a win.”

- Brady Keane

VIDEO RECAP

State title clash was a reunion for former district foes  

Every two years when the UIL realigns districts, there are a couple of curveballs thrown and some unique scenarios that arise.

Friday’s Class 4A Division I state championship game was a byproduct of one of the most unique in recent memory.

After sharing a district the past two seasons, Waco La Vega and Liberty Hill not only were no longer district bunkmates, they ended up in different regions and on either side of the state bracket.

La Vega was in District 5 in Region II, while Liberty Hill landed in Region IV’s District 14, setting the stage for a highly familiar matchup for all the marbles.

And once again, La Vega got the best of Liberty Hill, winning the game in convincing fashion and continuing a streak which has now seen the Pirates win five straight meetings over the past four seasons.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong side of these games,” second-year Liberty Hill coach Jefferson Walker said. “It plays in the back of your head, even as an adult it does. I’m sure it does with the kids, too. I felt confident coming in. We felt like we had a team that could beat them this year. But they’re familiar with us.”

With Liberty Hill, familiarity can be key given the unique nature of its Slot-T offense, which is a bit of an archaic scheme but one that can be lethal if run well.

“We got up on Sealy and Carthage and some of those guys, I think, because they hadn’t seen us offensively,” Walker said. “We’re hard to prepare for in three days. They’ve seen us though, and they played teams in nondistrict that ran a Slot-T, so they had seen it this year. They’re familiar with us, and we’re familiar with them, they just made the big plays and we didn’t.”

The La Vega win gives the Pirates an average margin of victory of just more than 12 points in those five games between the two hard-nosed teams who pride themselves on physicality and on playing with a bit of an edge.

“Coach Walker and I joked about that on the field before the game,” La Vega coach Don Hyde said. “For the last two years, we were district opponents. It helps in the sense that these four guys (all senior defensive players) on the stage with me have seen it before. You can’t simulate that in practice – the speed in which they’re gonna run it – so you have to have guys who have seen it before. We were fortunate to have five or six guys who’ve experienced it before.”

- Adam Boedeker

 

BOX SCORE

Waco La Vega 35, Liberty Hill 21

Liberty Hill	0	7	0	14	-	21
La Vega	7	0	21	7	-	35

Scoring Summary

1st Qtr. 8:13

La Vega – Jar’Que Walton 35-yard run (Ian Chavez kick)

2nd Qtr. 11:53

Liberty Hill – Kyle Harrison 4-yard run (Matthew Shipley kick)

3nd Qtr. 11:44 

La Vega – Donta Stuart 94-yard kickoff return (Chavez kick)

3rd Qtr. 7:39

La Vega – Malachi Wright 90-yard pass from Ara Rauls (Chavez kick)

3rd Qtr. 1:28

La Vega – Wright 61-yard pass from Rauls (Chavez kick)

4th Qtr. 8:48

Liberty Hill – Jacob Clearley 9-yard run (Shipley kick)

4th Qtr. 6:59 

La Vega – John Richards 43-yard run (Chavez kick)

4th Qtr. 2:50

Liberty Hill – Cearley 3-yard run (Shipley kick)

Team Stats

	Liberty Hill	La Vega
First downs	25	10
Rushing yards	70 – 303	26 – 157
Passing yards	39	178
Passing	3-11-0	6-9-0
Punts – Avg.	3 – 40.3	3 – 35.7
Penalties – Yards	1 – 5	6 – 58
Fumbles – Lost	1 – 1	1 – 1
Third-Down Conversions	10-of-16	3-of-7
Possession Time	31:00	17:00

Liberty Hill Individual Leaders

Rushing – Kyle Harrison 27-114; Jacob Cearley 18-85; Kristian Taggart 6-38; Blake Simpson 10-36; Shane Gonzalez 9-30.

Passing – Jacob Cearley 3-9-0-39; Mason Shipley 0-1-0-0; Kyle Harrison 0-1-0-0.

Receiving – Kristian Taggart 2-23; Kyle Harrison 1-16.

La Vega Individual Leaders

Rushing –John Richards 13-81; Jar'Que Walton 11-66; Ara Rauls 2-10.

Passing – Ara Rauls 6-9-0-178.

Receiving – Malachi Wright 3-163; DeMicco Chambliss 2-9; Taequan Tyler 1-6.

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