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Tag: Hutto coach Brad LaPlante

Cedar Park defeats Hutto

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

Cedar Park’s 20-16 win over Hutto Friday night at John Gupton Stadium in Leander, TX, was far from a masterpiece. But as the Timberwolves have shown many times before, grit goes a long way in the game of football.
Cedar Park hung around with defense while its offense had an off night. Then, when it mattered most, that same offense flipped the switch with a decisive late touchdown to win the game and put the Timberwolves in the driver’s seat of District 11-5A Div. I.


“They just stuck with it,” Cedar Park coach Carl Abseck said of his team. “It’s a game of ebbs and flows. You’re going to have some good things happen and some bad things happen, but our guys stuck through it and fought until the end… We did enough at the end to pull it out but I couldn’t be more proud of them.”


Going into its final drive, Cedar Park had just 140 yards of total offense on 49 plays for less than three yards per play. The run-game was nonexistent and junior quarterback Ryder Hernandez was misfiring left and right. But with less than three minutes left, no timeouts and the game on the line, Hernandez fired darts of 15, 11 and 20 yards to juniors Josh Cameron, Gunnar Abseck and Preston Scott. A facemask penalty on the last of those got Cedar Park into the red zone, where Hernandez broke through the middle on a quarterback draw for the 15-yard game-winning touchdown.
“We just had to overcome a lot of adversity. (Hutto had) a great squad over there. It was a great game throughout the four quarters. We just came out on top at the end. It’s just a testament to what our coaches are about there. We just had to finish the game out,” Hernandez said. “Their front came after me the whole game. They did a great job of that, and I think on that last drive we were just getting out quick, letting the playmakers make plays.”

The Cedar Park defense did a magnificent job throughout, holding the Hippos to 271 yards on 57 plays for 4.8 yards per play and 4-of-15 on third downs. They also forced back-to-back three-and-outs before the game-winning touchdown drive, ensuring the offense got the ball back with enough time to score.


The unsung hero of the game was senior defensive back Caden Combs, who chased down Hutto senior wide receiver Dajon Harrison on a long pass play to prevent a touchdown in the third quarter. The next play, senior Ronald Caldwell got around the edge for a strip-sack fumble that was recovered by sophomore defensive lineman Murray Robinson and returned to almost midfield. Without that sequence, the Timberwolves almost surely would’ve taken a loss.


“Defensively, I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Abseck said. “(Harrison is) one of the fastest players in Williamson/Travis County, and Caden’s pretty fast, too, but what he didn’t do was give up. To chase him down and make them snap it again and get the turnover, that’s huge… A lot of people don’t remember that. They just think, oh, the fumble happened right after that. But they don’t realize that that kid ran 60 yards to catch one of the fastest guys around.”

Hutto Reloads 2019

Written by Daniel Jones on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Despite losing key players, this year’s team shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Last season, the Hutto Hippos stomped its District 5A-11 competition, many times outright embarrassing their opponents and taking no mercy whatsoever. The team beat Pflugerville Connally 78-14, Cedar Park 65-21, Pflugerville 59-13, Manor 65-35, Rouse 40-0 and McCallum 58-7. Thanks to two powerhouse players and Division I commits, quarterback Chase Griffin (UCLA) and running back Chux Nwabuko III (Texas Tech), the team continued its prowess well into the playoffs but found its match in Foster, who beat Hutto 41-31 in the third round of the state championship semi-finals. “I think everybody knows that the target is on our backs,” Hutto head coach Brad LaPlante said. “I think that’s a big challenge for our kids to repeat as district champions. Yet I know they’ve worked hard to get that opportunity to repeat.” He said his players have a winning mentality, and they care about each other and give their best to their teammates and their coaches. “And that’s a great place to be.”

The 2018 season was the fifth consecutive year Hutto made the playoffs when the team had an 11-1 (6-0) record; so that team isn’t a one-year wonder. Coach LaPlante said that’s because he and his staff are building a program, not just a team from season to season. Sure, last year’s team lost a lot of experience and talent, but he said this year’s team also has a lot of talent and experience returning. This includes a hard-running offense lead by senior tailback Mekhi Kimble, who runs the forty-yard dash in 4.4 seconds; just as speedy is senior slot receiver Dajon Harrison. Coach LaPlante believes senior outside receiver Trey Pinelli “is the best blocker in all of CenTex,” who LaPlante also anticipates will get more ball action this season.

Of course the big question mark is filling the quarterback position now that Chase Griffin graduated and off to UCLA. Hutto has two or three possible quarterbacks, with rising sophomore Grayson Doggett and senior Brock Bujnoch being the top two competing for the position. Key returners on defense are senior outside linebacker Landyn Watson, “a key to the defense’s success.” Senior noseguard Lordswill Uwa has some Division I interest, and junior defensive end Braylon Sugg “at times has the best hands and feet out of all them,” coach LaPlante said. Senior Logan Tipton is a three-year starter at left tackle, and Jayson Vogelpohl is a returning all-district linebacker. 

“We’re going to control our own destiny. We’re really good when we want to be. But we have to make that decision every day to be really good. I like the fact that we are in control. I think we have the pieces to the puzzle to make a run. We may just have to do it in a different way that we did last year.” Coach LaPlante said the returning players have to create a team identity, which will have to start on defense, an element of the team that he feels particularly confident about. Altogether, Hutto’s defense will have about eight returning starters on the line, at linebacker or in the backend as well. Naturally, Hutto’s offense will be forced to fill in big shoes left by Nwabuko and Griffin, who last year was named a Gatorade Player of the Year in quarterback for the state of Texas. Last year, Griffin had 4,051 passing yards, 51 passing touchdowns, 415 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. “You can’t replace them,” coach LaPlante said. “But you find a way to manage the players that you do have. Our offensive coaching staff has done a good job at that. I think everybody thinks we’re done. We had a lot of big-time seniors leave last year, but I think we’re going to sneak up on some people with our team’s speed and how well we play together.”

Hippos edge out Panthers in OT Thriller

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

Some games neither team deserves to lose. Friday’s non-district clash between Liberty Hill and Hutto at Hippo Stadium in Hutto, TX, was one of those games.
The Panthers and Hippos went punch-for-punch in a high-scoring bonanza before a two-point conversion stop in overtime gave Hutto the 52-51 win.
“We knew we were going to have a hard time stopping them,” said Hutto coach Brad LaPlante. “That team will play four or five rounds deep (in the playoffs). But I hope that’s also a sign that we’ll play four of five rounds deep, too. It’s not that their defense was bad. It’s not that our defense was bad. We’re two really good offensive football teams.”
Hutto had the ball at Liberty Hill’s 18-yard line with an eight-point lead and barely more than five minutes to go after senior linebacker Hunter Blair recovered a fumbled snap by the Panthers. A score likely would’ve put it away, but the Hippos gave it right back when senior running Chux Nwabuko fumbled a swing pass on the next play.
Liberty Hill took advantage of its second life with a 12-play, 66-yard drive that ended with junior quarterback Jacob Clearly sneaking it in from one yard out with 23 seconds left. Still needing a two-point conversion to tie, senior running back Shane Gonzalez powered through the Hippo defense to reach the end zone and silence a Hutto crowd that was getting increasingly raucous throughout the second half.
Hutto scored on the opening possession of overtime when senior quarterback Chase Griffin placed a perfect pass on the right cornerback’s back shoulder and senior wide receiver Caleb Forrest made the necessary adjustment for the 15-yard touchdown. Liberty Hill scored on its first overtime possession, too, with an 11-yard touchdown run from senior Kyle Harrison.
Rather than take the extra point and force another overtime, however, Liberty Hill coach Jeff Walker decided to go for the win. He called for a handoff to senior running back Connor Kuykendall, but the handoff was awkward and Hutto’s defense collapsed on the ball and made the game-saving stop at the one-yard line to send its sideline and crowd into a euphoric eruption.
“Well, you call a timeout, settle your kids down. Whatever else happened, it doesn’t matter to that point. If we can make one play, game’s over,” LaPlante said. “We just needed that one stop.”

Griffin completed 30-of-44 passes for 455 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions as he continues to make his case for best quarterback in the state. His top target was Forrest, who hauled in 10 grabs for 230 yards and four touchdowns. Nwabaku took six carries for 31 yards and added seven catches for 52 yards with a 16-yard score. Junior wide receiver Dajon Harrison had six receptions for 76 yards and rushed for 31 yards on three jet-sweeps.
“Offensively, I think I did a good job, along with the receivers, O-line and the running backs of just sticking to what we know,” Griffin said. “We know that we can take five yards and turn it into ten yards with our playmakers. Kudos to the O-line and kudos to all the playmakers who really extended yards after catch… They don’t blitz a whole bunch. They’re very steady. But we saw we had some athletic advantages on the outside so just kept on trying to get the ball to the perimeter.”
Liberty Hill racked up 585 total yards, with 531 of those coming on the ground, as its Slot-T offense flummoxed Hutto’s defense with its bevy of fakes and misdirections. 302 of those yards came on 21 carries from Harrison, who scored five touchdowns. Kuykendall also hit the century mark with 113 yards on 15 totes. Gonzalez plugged away for another 87 yards on 17 attempts.
“You don’t prepare for a team like that every week,” LaPlante said.  “Our defense can stop our offense in practice. They feel really good. They have a lot of confidence. They have to understand what they’re going against in that machine, and just the different type of offense that of these kids may have never seen. Maybe youth football, fourth grade. Some of them, they haven’t seen it, and that’s OK. That’s why you didn’t see our coaches get down. We kept on playing… and eventually, we got what we needed.”