La Grange @ Liberty Hill 8/26

[Pudlugger]

Time to put on my LG cap and kick butt and take names as football season is now officially open. The Leopards travel to Liberty Hill Friday to meet the Panthers for the third time in as many years. The Leps lead this series 2-0 but can they extend their streak another game in the Panthers new stadium? Much has been said about the Panther slot t which is famous for ball control and racking up big numbers. The Leps have defensed this offence well since many of our defensive starters were sophomores. Notably two wins against the Panthers and one playoff win against Hardin-Jefferson in round three in 2014. Dobbins makes his senior season debut Friday and after only two touches in the El Campo scrimmage and none last Thursday against Lockhart will be chomping on the bit. As always with great slot t teams the defense will be the key to a win. Our offense will get the points up on the board quickly with the explosive Dobbins and a surprisingly strong passing game this year with senior qb Siptac. I will naturally go with the Leps by 14.

[Scoop27]

Webcast
http://www.kvlgkbuk.com/

[solocam]

Panthers looked bad in first scrimmage,looked ok in second scrimmage,they don't look as strong as they have in the past,Hate to say it but Leopards will roll in this one,La Grange by a lot

[Pudlugger]

Panthers looked bad in first scrimmage,looked ok in second scrimmage,they don't look as strong as they have in the past,Hate to say it but Leopards will roll in this one,La Grange by a lot

Scrimmages are not the best measure of a team since the coaches are trying to sort out who will start and where their strengths and weaknesses are rather than winning. I'm certain that LH will play a very good game Friday and the Leps will need to show up with their A game to get the win.

[greendawg84]

This is where I will be Friday night ! Should be a great game to start the season off . Gotta go with Da Hill ( yes that pains me panfan ) . This will be my first time to watch Dobbins so really looking forward to it .

[Pudlugger]

Greendawg84 you will not be disappointed in seeing Dobbins and LG play only in the outcome.:)

[d0tc0m]

One of my favorite Week One matchups. I think Liberty Hill will have the defense to keep this thing close for a bit, but La Grange will eventually pull away. Too much JK Dobbins in this one. I think he sets the tone for what should be an exciting senior season. I also expect the Leopards to try and work on that passing game a bit this week, too. Give me La Grange by 14. Great game to build on for both teams though, win or lose.

[SaltySixes]

Very exciting week 1 matchup. It will be intresting to get to see how LaGrange will play defense against an experienced Slot-t team!

[Pudlugger]

Very exciting week 1 matchup. It will be intresting to get to see how LaGrange will play defense against an experienced Slot-t team!

Pretty much how they have done the past two seasons, hold them to 21-28 points and put up 35 of their own. They beat LH twice 2014 and 2015 and 11-1 Hardin Jefferson who ran a very stout slot-t in round three 2014. The leps defense is strong against the run it is the pass that has been their achilles heel. This season should be an improvement in pass defense. Remember that ball control is not as great factor when you can score in one play anywhere on the field. That's what JK Dobbins can do. Our defense is solid with many returning starters including linebackers and a DE from 2014 as sophomores. Furthermore our passing game will take much of the pressure off JK this year as it will be much improved. Finally the Leps have depth at rb with sophomore Haardt and senior Johnson available to spell JK. I expect this game will be in the neighborhood of 35-21 LG.

[SaltySixes]

Pretty much how they have done the past two seasons, hold them to 21-28 points and put up 35 of their own. They beat LH twice 2014 and 2015 and 11-1 Hardin Jefferson who ran a very stout slot-t in round three 2014. The leps defense is strong against the run it is the pass that has been their achilles heel. This season should be an improvement in pass defense. Remember that ball control is not as great factor when you can score in one play anywhere on the field. That's what JK Dobbins can do. Our defense is solid with many returning starters including linebackers and a DE from 2014 as sophomores. Furthermore our passing game will take much of the pressure off JK this year as it will be much improved. Finally the Leps have depth at rb with sophomore Haardt and senior Johnson available to spell JK. I expect this game will be in the neighborhood of 35-21 LG.

I was not questioning the stoutness of the Leps defense, I was enquiring more towards the blitzing scheme's and and defensive fronts that the Navarro Panthers will likely see a few weeks down the road.

P.s. I am rooting LaGrange in this one. :wave:

[Pudlugger]

I was not questioning the stoutness of the Leps defense, I was enquiring more towards the blitzing scheme's and and defensive fronts that the Navarro Panthers will likely see a few weeks down the road.

P.s. I am rooting LaGrange in this one. :wave:

That's great. I am looking forward to Navarro as well but we have LH Argyle and La Vernia to contend with first. Our D is not big but they are quick and get off the blocks well up front. Our LBs are very physical and good size. We will show the 4-4-3 most likely with occasional safety blitz. The whole point is to take out anything coming through the middle up front and let the lbs shoot the gaps. We defense the slot-t very tight and most tackles are made by the linebackers and safety. We give up 3 or 4 yards but load up for third downs and 3 or 4 ytg situations. We will give up some first downs but should get enough stops to get our offense up on the board. Navarro can pass effectively so there's always that to worry about. I do not expect LH to throw much but when they do they can get the completion so our D will need to adjust.

[speedbump]

The Leps soph RB looks really good. That along with Dobbins and 14 starters back,makes me think LG should handle everybody on their schedule with Argyle and a playoff matchup with WOS the only questions. Leps 35 - 13

[Pudlugger]

The Leps soph RB looks really good. That along with Dobbins and 14 starters back,makes me think LG should handle everybody on their schedule with Argyle and a playoff matchup with WOS the only questions. Leps 35 - 13

I appreciate the hat tip especially regarding Jericho Haardt our soph rb. He really impressed against Lockhart with several long gainers including a 65 yard sprint down the sidelines out running the Lion's safety to score. The Ricebirds were much stronger on both offense and defense than Lockhart but Haardt had some decent runs and should prove to be very valuable going forward. Remember JK is a threat as a receiver as well as a running back so Haardt may get some looks even with JK in the lineup. Our passing game looked much improved against Lockhart. Siptak gets the ball away quickly with plenty of mustard and seems very poised in the starting role as a senior. Liberty Hill will be looking to get some payback tomorrow night at home so the Leps will have their work cut out for them. Our pre-district schedule is a gauntlet with three top 10 teams and a solid La Vernia and improved Taylor.
I think it might be likely that we enter district 3-2 considering the toughness of the schedule but I can always hope for better. We will see tomorrow how well this team stacks up. I do know we are well coached and well conditioned and should be ready to roll.

[AP2364]

I will be on the Panther side on this one and have some significant concerns for the season. There were some significant losses to graduation on the defense and the replacements have a lot to learn. I am really worried about their inexpeinexperience when it comes to defending Dobins and many others in our very tough schedule. LH could easily be 6-4 at the end of district play. The offensive has never been the same under this OC who took over after the second state championship in 2007. In tough games he gets extremely predictable and has never mixed the pass in as well as the previous OC did. LH also has a lot to prove in the back field. The only returning starter is the QB. Last years game against LaGrange was just plain sad. Dobins did a lot but LH got out coached. Hopefully they learned something but I'm not betting on it since this have looked the same since 2008. Last year we had a championship defense and proved that by holding LaVega to a 0-0 tie at the end of regulation but it looked like crap for a few games and especially in game one against LaGrange/Dobins. If Liberty Hill wins it will be a nail bitter.

[greendawg84]

Da Hill always looks bad in the early part of their schedule which does not matter . They WILL look good at the end when it does matter . I would bet there are a lot of HC's out there that would argue the fact that Jerry Vance got out coached . :vrycnfsd:

[toddg]

front 7 looked pretty stout a couple of weeks ago..whats the problem?

[AP2364]

front 7 looked pretty stout a couple of weeks ago..whats the problem?

The most concerning spots right now are one under sized strong safety and 2 in the secondary on defense. We lost one stud on the line but they are still fairly close to last year. I think the offensive line is a little smaller, but not sure on the stats. One of the quick guards that graduated was a significant loss in strength and speed. We'll just have to see how the new kids stack up. Every school losses kids with graduation so only time will tell.

Referencing getting out coached............Coach Vance has taken significant steps back in recent years. He really allows the coordinators on each side of the ball a lot of room to work. During the state championships he ran the defense. My son plays so I knew some of the game plan and watched it blow up on us on the runs to the outside last year. We'll see if that changes tonight. I

[solocam]

Da Hill always looks bad in the early part of their schedule which does not matter . They WILL look good at the end when it does matter . I would bet there are a lot of HC's out there that would argue the fact that Jerry Vance got out coached . :vrycnfsd:

X2 that's what I was thinking

[panfan]

I was hoping to gt back into town for this one, but won't make its so I'll be listening on the ol interweb. LH will experience some growing pains tonight. I'm always gonna hope for them to win, but it won't surprise me if they fall short the first few games. I do think they will gel and be a stout team by playoff time. I saw the scrimmage the other night against a small Taylor team and I was not impressed. But, as usual for this time of year, the defense will keep them in games until the offense gets rolling. Go Panthers!!!!!!

[lostaussie]

Go Liberty Hill........not because I have anything against LaGrange........I just have LH in an upset in my picks:D

[LH Panther Mom]

We've been on lightning delay since 5:55 left in the first. Score still 7-0 LG.

[BuckNut75644]

I was at this game. Lightning started moving down from the north. Waited for a while, but did not see how they would get it started again with the storm stalling just about right over the stadium. Was a good 6 minutes or so game though.

[pirate4state]

What happened to Dobbins? FoxSportsSW said he was on crutches?

[WOS87]

What happened to Dobbins? FoxSportsSW said he was on crutches?


http://www.statesman.com/news/sports/high-school-football/la-grange-star-jk-dobbins-suffers-ankle-injury-aga/nsMqb/

Doesn't sound good at the moment. Hopefully he recovers in time for district

[pirate4state]

oh man, not good! :( Hope he can get back on the field soon!

[Pudlugger]

What happened to Dobbins? FoxSportsSW said he was on crutches?

On the very first play of the game JK took the hand off around the left corner and was tackled near the sideline after a 30 yard gainer. He unfortunately injured his right knee. The trainers packed it with ice.


Later in the drive on third down the Leps threw an interception midfield and the Panthers returned it to the 25. On the first LH play they fumbled and Leps recovered. With our two backup rbs Haardt and Johnson coupled with two outstanding deep receptions by Ramirez and Cooper the Leps scored on a qb sneak at the 1 foot line. PAT good LG 7 LH 0. After the ensuing KO the game was delayed for lightening and then after an hour or so cancelled.

Hopefully JK's injury will not be too serious so he can be back soon. Meanwhile the Leps really looked good on that 75 yard drive and will be making some adjustments for our game next week with Argyle.

[regaleagle]

Geez......I'm really sorry to hear about Dobbins. It would have been a great test for Argyle so early in the season to try to defend such a great back. I sure hope it's just a bruised situation and he can regain his form soon. Kind of a bummer it happened like it did.....esp. on a cancelled game where there was no result.

[bd62]

I Hope and Pray that this is not serious. This is not only a great football player but a great kid .I seen him when LG and Yoakum played the past 2 yrs. and he is a class act. all the best to JT and the Lep Nation.

[hookandladder]

On the very first play of the game JK took the hand off around the left corner and was tackled near the sideline after a 30 yard gainer. He unfortunately injured his right knee. The trainers packed it with ice.


Later in the drive on third down the Leps threw an interception midfield and the Panthers returned it to the 25. On the first LH play they fumbled and Leps recovered. With our two backup rbs Haardt and Johnson coupled with two outstanding deep receptions by Ramirez and Cooper the Leps scored on a qb sneak at the 1 foot line. PAT good LG 7 LH 0. After the ensuing KO the game was delayed for lightening and then after an hour or so cancelled.

Hopefully JK's injury will not be too serious so he can be back soon. Meanwhile the Leps really looked good on that 75 yard drive and will be making some adjustments for our game next week with Argyle.

Ice is on his ankle, not knee.

[Pudlugger]

Ice is on his ankle, not knee.

You are correct here is the story from the Statesman:

http://www.statesman.com/news/sports/high-school-football/la-grange-star-jk-dobbins-suffers-ankle-injury-aga/nsMqb/

[AP2364]

Geez......I'm really sorry to hear about Dobbins. It would have been a great test for Argyle so early in the season to try to defend such a great back. I sure hope it's just a bruised situation and he can regain his form soon. Kind of a bummer it happened like it did.....esp. on a cancelled game where there was no result.

I watched the HUDL video over and over. It looks like here turned that ankle pretty hard. Hopefully he didn't damage the tendons. I bet he will be out more than one week though. With his future already set, I would expect them to hold him out as long as needed until district games.

On the game itself. The first play of the game they ran Dobbins over the left side just like last year. LG does a great job of blocking and went right around the corner on our under sized strong safety. Dobbins ran for 14 yards and was untouched for 12. LG's offense looked great except for the cross field pass that was picked. That one was a pretty easy pick. The downfield passes picked on 2 of our spots that I was worried about. LG mad great pass and catches. The good news for LH is that these new players were in the right spot and made the tackle so they can improve from there. LH only got one offensive play and fumbled. Sadly this is how LH started last year where they fumbled on the second play.

They didn't get to play long enough to get past the first game jitters but the game was already set up to look like the last 2 years. LG looked better early and LH started slow.