Friday, November 14, 2008
By Chad Conine
Tribune-Herald staff wrtier
The Lorena Leopards proved they belong in the playoffs.
Leopards quarterback Tyler Stewart connected with receiver Matt Dowdle for a 50-yard touchdown strike and running back Evan Ward rushed for 108 yards on 26 carries to boost Lorena past Palestine Westwood, 24-14, on Thursday night at Waco ISD Stadium.
Lorena (7-4) made the playoffs after beating a La Vega team that rested its starters for the final three quarters in the regular season finale a week ago.
But the Leopards erased any doubt about whether or not they’re a legit playoff team by controlling the tempo of the game against Westwood.
“This team has worked so hard,” Lorena coach Ray Biles said. “It’s been a long time since Lorena has been in this position. It’s been 19 years since we took home a gold ball.”
The Leopards raised the bi-district trophy on Thursday night and now head to play Carthage (9-2) in the area round of the 3A Division II playoffs.
On Thursday, Lorena made it happen with a hard-nosed effort and one huge play.
Tied 14-14 midway through the third quarter, Stewart tossed a pass across the field to his left to Dowdle in the flat.
Dowdle shook off Westwood cornerback Bryce Lyman, then took off down the sideline.
Dowdle outran Westwood’s Cody Boyd, the last Panther who had a chance to make a stop, and glided into the end zone for the 50-yard go-ahead touchdown.
Lorena held Westwood to one first down the rest of the night and Leopards kicker Josh Sampson booted a 26-yard field goal for a 10-point lead with 1:05 to go in the fourth quarter.
Lorena linebacker Chase Snodgrass, who spent much of the night playing fullback when Lorena’s Jon Bennett was forced to the sideline with an injury, sacked Westwood quarterback Tevin Watson on the final two plays of the game as the clock ran out on the Panthers.
In the first half, Lorena took advantage of poor special teams play by Westwood to send the game to halftime tied, 14-14.
A 12-yard punt by the Panthers set up Lorena at their own 48 and the Leopards proceeded to build a nine-play drive. Bennett rushed seven times and Stewart mixed in a couple of passes to Dowdle to move the Leopards.
Stewart’s second completion of the drive covered 15 yards to Dowdle for a touchdown that tied the game 7-7.
Lorena then recovered the ensuing kickoff when Westwood failed to field it. Colby Gordon jumped on the bouncing ball at the Westwood 37 and Lorena kept rolling on offense.
On the first play of the second quarter, Dowdle took a handoff on a reverse, pulled up to throw a pass, then tucked it and scrambled 29 yards to the Panther 2-yard line.
Ward scored on the next play, giving the Leopards a 14-7 lead.
Behind early in the second quarter, Westwood went to running back D.J. Morrow to tie the game.
Morrow scored the game’s first points on a 59-yard run on the Panthers first offensive play. With Westwood trailing, Morrow carried five times, totaling 39 yards on a 50-yard drive. He scored the touchdown on a one-yard dive to tie it, 14-14.
But those would be the final points of the night and the season for the Panthers, who finished at 6-5.
Comments
By Lorena Fan
Nov 18, 2008 7:32 PM | Link to this
Wow! What a great game the leopards played on Friday. It showed these boys deserve to be in playoffs...and Robinson didn't succeed in bringing our spirits down, no matter how disgusting there display of sportsmanship was. It is not Lorena's fault La Vega chose to rest their players while playing us. If Robinson's coach would have had more sportsmanship to opposing teams, maybe La Vega would have thought Robinson, deserved the spot. I have heard from many adults, coaches, and teachers, from different schools, about Robinson coaches bad sportsmanship. Coach Lewis and the recent students of Robinson are the most cocky and disrespectful kids, I have seen in years. It really upsets me, Lorena students would never go that far to disrespect other schools, and Coach Biles is a great man, and has great sportsmanship! We are very proud of all the Lorena Leapords!
By ***
Nov 17, 2008 9:48 PM | Link to this
Hey Null, I think you are the one that needs to get a life. All in favor say I!!
By null
Nov 17, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
To Football Fan, after reading your comment, somehow I don't think you are as unbiased as you claim to be. You protest too much! This is the way playoffs are determined . . . . I'll bet if you go back and look, Robinson went to the playoffs at some point in time, because some other district team either lost or won. Please get over it! and move on!!!!
By Football Fan
Nov 16, 2008 11:09 PM | Link to this
OK. Everyone on here needs to get all of the facts straight. Those of you that say that Lorena deserves to be in the playoffs over Robinson need to remember a few short weeks ago when the Rockets beat you 38-12 fair and square. Now, that doesn't mean that I am saying Robinson absolutely deserved to be in, I just think over Lorena they should be. But anyway, I would like to bring all of the Lorena people's attention to the fact that when Robinson went to state two years ago some of your "classy" students held up signs at a basketball game saying "You should have kicked the extra point" not to mention the fact that there were Lorena fans at SMU that day cheering for Liberty-Eylau on the Robinson side. So you are not spotless either. This is called a rivalry for a reason. There is retaliation, and if you cannot deal with what is given back to you, then don't do anything to start with. It was not hostile in any way other than Lorena PARENTS bringing violence into this. I am very proud of the Robinson staff for taking away the signs and protecting their students from an obviously dangerous situation that was partly their fault, but more the Lorena parents' fault for yelling obscenities and giving them rude hand gestures. As an unbiased third party outsider, this is what I saw. I believe that before you point the finger at others Lorena, check the skeletons in your own closet.
By ex soldier
Nov 15, 2008 10:39 PM | Link to this
our constitution expert apparently is forgetting that in a civilized society there are constraints on free speech. In your job, school, church, traffic, etc. Uil has dictated certain policies to ensure fans are separated. Why don't you check out the incident in Florida this week to see what is at stake? If students came to create a disturbance for the fans on the lorena side, they obviously then don't understand the concept of a polite society. Might need to work on that Robinson!
By Congrats Leopards
Nov 15, 2008 10:34 PM | Link to this
To Seniors 09 LL What a great post. If you are truly a student then you are wise beyond your years. Iıd be proud if you were my child. And hopefully you are. After reading your perspective on this I was hoping that it would be the last one, that adults and students alike would see how out of control this has gotten.
I want to say how proud I am of our football team. They played an amazing game Thursday night working as a team to get the job done. If they go no further Iım still extremely proud that theyıve gotten this far and they should be proud of themselves as well. Congrats Leopards on a great season!
By null
Nov 15, 2008 9:19 PM | Link to this
RHS Mom, I am impressed, you can use the Internet. Thanks for looking up the freedom of speech blurb for me. I guess you can't read can you? Not just to me, but plenty of people out there would have said your kids signs exhibited "hate speech". No, you would have to see the signs, not just look at the Trib's pictures, because those gutless wonders of yours showed true cowardice in hiding them when the Trib took their pictures. They only showed the tamest of pictures. Next time, do your self a favor, don't try to be a arm-chair lawyer. It doesn't suit you.
By CHELSEA
Nov 15, 2008 9:00 PM | Link to this
hey robinson people out there if you arent gonna support lorena then get the heck off our side! thats why theres two sides to begin with! also you need to leave the so called hazzing incident out of this because these are two different matters! you dont even know what happen with that ordeal and if you want to know yes it was blown out of proportion! it was a freakin swirley not the end of the world GET OVER IT! i think you all just need to congradulate your teams and move on. i agree with senior 09 cheer on your teams and quit worrying about why or how they got where thay are. whoever is there obviously deserves it and the others dont. The only person in control of any of this is God himself so quit blaming each other and move on with your lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You all have better things to do with your time then argue over the dang internet! give it up and go support the football teams that represent your community no matter what the school colors are!
By RHS Mom
Nov 15, 2008 8:10 PM | Link to this
Hey "Null" Here is the definition of freedom of speech since you obviously don't know what your rights are.
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to denote not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. Freedom of speech and freedom of expression is closely related to, yet distinct from, the concept of freedom of thought or freedom of conscience. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on "hate speech". This is because exercising freedom of speech always takes place within a context of competing values.
The right to freedom of speech is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR recognizes the right to freedom of speech as "the right to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression".[1][2] Furthermore freedom of speech is recognized in European, inter-American and African regional human rights law.
By one more opinion
Nov 15, 2008 7:27 PM | Link to this
Even Robinson fans should know that each team at a playoff game has its own side to prevent altercations and allow that team's fans to enjoy the game. To knowingly go into the Lorena stands and yell against the leopards showed an enormous immaturity. For any coach or administrator from robinson to allow it shows a lack of respect for Lorena. The coach should have set the example before the game and gone through the Palestine gate, on the opposite side of the field with those students. I would like to donate to the fund for a bus for that same bunch of Robinson students and adults to go to la vega's next game and try the same stunt! (by the way, I was there, and it was not amusing at all. So don't put an innocent spin on it or defend it.)
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