Skip to main content

Tag: Class 4A Div. I State Championship

Argyle win State Title

Written by Tucker Stephenson on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

ARLINGTON — Argyle’s 49-21 victory over Lindale in the UIL Class 4A Division I state championship felt more like a coronation than an actual competition.

The Eagles (16-0) wrapped up an immaculate 2020 season after jetting to a 28-point lead and cruising to the finish line from there. Along the way, senior running back Tito Byce rushed for 152 yards and found the end zone four times en route to being named the game’s Offensive MVP.

“It’s a joyous event,” Argyle head coach Todd Rodgers said. “I’m proud of my football team. I think they played like champions tonight. They were really focused the entire week. It was amazing to go out there and apply it in such an unusual environment. This is the biggest crowd we’ve played in front of all year. We loved it.”

Argyle left little doubt which team reigned supreme in 4A-I after flexing its potent offense on the opening snap of the contest. The Eagles saw quarterback CJ Rogers toss a 44-yard pass to Cash Walker, and eight plays later, Byce bulldozed his way across the goal line from 1 yard out.

Byce added three more scoring runs prior to halftime, and Argyle took a 28-0 lead into the locker room. Byce capped drives with TD rushes of 4, 2 and 2 yards as the Eagles left Lindale in a cloud of dust at AT&T Stadium.

The performance was even more meaningful for Byce given the fact that he was forced to watch the end of 2019 from the sidelines after suffering a torn ACL.

“It’s been a crazy journey,” Byce said. “I went right to work after I got surgery. All of my teammates and my coaches just pushed me super hard and I had the whole community behind me and it turned out great like we wanted it to.”

Lindale (13-3) broke up the shutout in the third quarter when Sam Peterson tallied a 6-yard TD run, but Argyle was content to trade scores with the Eagles during the second half.

Rogers threw three scores for Argyle after halftime, finding Jasper Lott on throws of 2 and 4 yards in addition to connecting with Ward McCollum for a 43-yard TD strike. The signal caller finished 23-of-30 passing for 357 yards as the Eagles romped to the program’s second state title on the gridiron.

“He’s been a fabulous quarterback and an amazing leader on our team,” Rodgers said of his QB. “I’m glad it all turned out that way for him and the rest of the people that did the work when nobody else was watching.”

Argyle’s defense also held up its end of the bargain by slowing down sensational Lindale running back Jordan Jenkins, who managed 112 tough yards on 26 carries.

“You’re never going to stop a great running back like that,” Rodgers said. “You just need to slow him down a whole bunch and kind of take him out of the game per se. And we were able to do that.”

Following the completion of the contest, Argyle senior defensive back Zach Stewart was named the Defensive MVP after he recorded 6 1/2 total tackles and also broke up a pass.  “I think we played all year with an edge,” Stewart said. “We felt we needed to go out and prove ourselves every game, and I think we did that.”

Wimberley QB Cooper McCollum

Written by Tucker Stephenson on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Not many folks outside the halls of Wimberley High School thought the Texans would end up playing for a Class 4A Division II championship this season.

But senior quarterback Cooper McCollum has been confident in his team’s ability all season. In fact, the signal caller has been planning on a special 2019 campaign since before Wimberley sewed up a spot in the playoffs.

“We actually had to turn in goals for our team — we had to turn in three goals — and one of mine was to be the leader of a team that’s remembered,” McCollum said in mid-October. “We don’t want to be a team people forget. We want to get our name written in stone up on the state champs wall so when they walk in, they see our name first and they know we mean business.”

McCollum has since raised his game to a new level while helping the Texans’ offense become even more unstoppable. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior came into the state title game having already accounted for over 4,000 yards of total offense and 61 touchdowns.

They key for McCollum and the Texans has been balance. Not only can McCollum torch an opposing defense with his arm, but he’s shown the ability to keep plays alive with his feet until his wide receivers gain separation down the field.

McCollum has plenty of weaponry at his disposal, as Wimberley’s receiving corps is made up of seven players who have collected 10 or more receptions. The leader of the pack is junior Christian Marshall, who has used his 6-foot-3 frame to haul in 61 passes for 1,282 yards and 18 TDs prior to the state championship matchup against Pleasant Grove.

Juniors Josh Limely (628 yards, 11 TDs) and Jaxon Watts (692 yards, seven TDs) are also prime targets, as is senior Kolby Goforth (287 yards, TD).

Wimberley also has a solid running back in Moses Wray, who excels at getting the tough yards that help set up the Texans’ play-action passing game. Wray’s 1,223 yards and 15 scores force defenses to stay honest when attempting to game plan for Wimberley.

Of course, it hasn’t been smooth sailing the whole way for McCollum and the Texans. The quarterback was forced to leave Wimberley’s 42-14 loss to Navarro with an injury that he sustained with his team holding a two-touchdown lead.

However, that type of adversity has only led to bigger and better performances down the line. Since the postseason began, McCollum has thrown for 1,320 yards and 19 TDs, including five each in back-to-back weeks against Navarro and Silsbee.

The Texans punished Navarro 42-12 in their playoff rematch, and it looked as though McCollum was going to lead another rout in the state semifinals against Silsbee. As it turned out, Wimberley needed all five of his scores versus the Tigers, as Silsbee made a late comeback to pull within six in the fourth quarter.

The Texans once held a 49-16 lead in that game, but McCollum never showed any panic. Instead, he did what he does best — get the ball in the hands of his playmakers on the outside as Wimberley prevailed 56-43 to punch its ticket back to state for the first time since 2011.

“I wasn’t scared,” McCollum said. “I know who we are, and I knew we’d execute when it mattered the most.”

Liberty Hill Falls to La Vega

Written by Steven Ryan on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Waco La Vega has had Liberty Hill’s number for some time, and that was the case again in the Class 4A Div. I State Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. The Panthers played evenly for most the game but came undone during a disastrous third quarter in a 35-21 loss, their fifth straight defeat to the Pirates in the last four years.

“(The losing streak to La Vega) plays in the back of your head. Even as an adult it does,” said Liberty Hill coach Jeff Walker. “But I felt confident coming in. We felt like we had the team that could beat them this year, but they’re familiar with us. We got up on Sealy and Carthage and some of those guys because they hadn’t seen us offensively and it’s hard to prepare for us in three days, but (La Vega) had seen us… They’re familiar with us. We’re familiar with them. They just made big plays and we didn’t.”

The decisive third period got off to an ominous start with La Vega senior Donta Stewart returning the second half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. It only got worse from there. La Vega scored on the second play of its next possession when junior wide receiver Malachi Wright caught a short hitch route, juked his defender and raced down the sidelines for a 90-yard touchdown. 

Liberty Hill drove down to La Vega’s 15 on the ensuing drive but fumbled a handoff that was recovered by senior defensive lineman JaCorrey Coaster to extinguish the threat. Five plays later, the Pirates struck gold again as Wright got behind his defender for a 61-yard yard touchdown reception. Wright won offensive MVP honors with four catches for 172 yards and those two game-breaking touchdowns. In the third quarter, La Vega scored 21 points on just seven plays from scrimmage.

“I told the guys all the time earlier in the year (that) late in the season (and/or) playoffs, you have to win turnovers, you have to win special teams and you can’t give up big plays, and we (lost) all three in that quarter,” Walker said. “Momentum is a big part of all sports… At halftime it’s 7-7 and we thought it’s an even football game and it’s gonna be a two-quarter game. Let’s go out and fight, and we kicked off and they returned it (for a touchdown). I think it took a little wind out of our sails.”

Looking at the final stats, you wouldn’t think Liberty Hill lost by double-digits. The Panthers racked up 15 more first downs, almost doubled the time of possession and out-rushed the Pirates by 154 yards with their famed slot-T offense in a game that was expected to be decided on the ground. Senior running back Kyle Harrison capped his stellar career with 114 yards and a score on 27 carries, and in the process set a new Austin-area single-season rushing record with 2,875 yards.

“It sucks to lose but my team made it here and we did leave a legacy,” Harrison said. “That’s also an award for my lineman, too, because they’re the one getting me there. All year it’s been them. That’s pretty cool but it’s not really what I was thinking. I was thinking, come in and get the job done, but it’s pretty cool for me and my lineman… We didn’t get it done, but we got here and not very many teams got here like us, and it’s pretty fun playing in Jerry World.”

La Vega found the end zone on its opening possession when sophomore quarterback Ara Rauls converted a fourth-and-1 with a two-yard sneak and sophomore running back Jar’Que Walton broke free for a 35-yard touchdown run three plays later. 

Liberty Hill’s defense forced punts on each of the Pirates’ other three first-half drives and the offense evened the score with a four-yard touchdown run by Harrison on the first play of the second quarter. That score was set up by a rare pass completion, only Liberty Hill’s 18th of the season, where senior Kristian Taggart caught a throwback screen and followed his blockers for 18 yards and a first down on third-and-8. 

The Panthers got back within shouting distance when junior quarterback Jacob Cearly scampered for a nine-yard touchdown with 8:48 remaining to cap a 13-play, 65-yard scoring drive. But one last home run, a backbreaking 43-yard touchdown run by La Vega senior running back John Richards with 6:59 to go, extended the lead back to 21 and put the game away.

“We had a good season. We had a lot of ups and downs. We had a lot of injuries. We fought and we battled kind of like we did today,” Walker said. “I’m just proud of them. I’ve been proud of them all year long. They’ve given me everything. It’s a group that when they don’t win they apologize to me and say ‘I’m sorry, coach.’ This program has never been about me and never will be about me, and it kind of hurts me when they say that but I’m just proud of them. They put in the time, the effort, the energy. These guys didn’t miss a day in the summer. They come every day. They pay a price and you’d like to see them get rewarded and of course, we didn’t get the reward today.”