Coaches took the opportunity to recognize dedicated players. Matt Union received the Special Teams Award; Hayden Newsom received the Linebacker Award; Defensive Line Award went to Terrence Johnson.

  Daryl Brooks took the Defensive Back Award and Offensive Line Award went to Jacob Dunning. Receiver Award went to Nico Brown and Peyton Tilley.

   Clint Harper, coach, announced that 44 members of the team made the all-district academic team and one made academic second team all-state.

   The evening concluded with the always popular video recapping the season and paying tribute to the seniors.

   The cold front that moved in Friday night, Oct. 28, had little effect on the fans or the team. Fans stayed in the game and the Lions never quit in the 14-7 victory over Westwood. This win not only snapped the Warriors undefeated streak, but also secured the District 16-5A championship for the Lions. This was definitely one of the Lions hardest tests yet this year.

  Leander’s win depended highly on a game-changing interception by Daryl Brooksone who ran it back to Westwood’s 40-yard line. “We work on that every week before the game,” said Michael Epley. “That last defensive stand was amazing. That was the best feeling ever.” (Leander Ledger)

The Lions executed another 8 plays allowing them to get back down field into the red-zone. The Lions were now faced with a fourth down situation. Needing a conversion, a pass sent by Andres Barrera to sophomore Michael Epley for a go-ahead touchdown with 5:10 left in the game gave the Lions hope.

   Westwood answered by marching back to the Leander 4-yard line; this was Westwood’s chance at a tie and a chance in overtime.

  Leander’s defense had another idea in mind, however, holding Westwood back by not allowing a single yard by any of the Westwood offense, forcing the Warriors into a similar situation the Lions faced, fourth down, needing a touchdown to tie the game.

   After timeouts taken by both teams, Ben Johnson (WW QB) rolled out to the right, with no option but to throw an incomplete pass turning the ball back over to Leander. With little time left on the clock, Barrera takes a knee to secure the win.

   When the clock hit zero, the stadium erupted in cheers for the boys in blue.  The last time Leander won the District Championship was back in 2006. Coach Clint Harper, however, stood in silence with his head down., deep in thought. ”I was just thanking God for all that He has blessed me with. A great family, a great school, a supportive community, and fantastic kids. I’m truly blessed,” he said.

The Lions roll out now with a 5-0 district record. This week they a face McNeil team (1-8, 0-5) at Kelly Reeves Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 3. With a win against McNeil, Leander will claim the District 16-5A championship outright followed by the state playoffs.

After the game, Leander Head Coach Clint Harper was asked about what the future of this team held and where they could go, “We are concentrating on Thursday night’s game against McNeil. This is our only focus this week. I’m really proud of the way our guys played tonight.” (YNN)

This may be the last time Leander will play a District 16-5A high school football game for a while due to the UIL realignment in February. Meaning Leander will be headed back down to conference 4A to join the rest of the LISD schools. Until then, Leander pushes forward with another win in the books.

The last time the Lions fell to the Georgetown Eagles was the 2007-2008 season and on this beautiful Friday night Homecoming, they tacked on another win with a final score of 40-14, which was needed after a rough start of 1-3 during the pre-season.

This was Caleb Woodward’s first time starting for the Leander Lions due to the injured starting QB Andres Barrera. Woodward did not disappoint the fans. He passed for a total of 43 yards with 2 completions, along with rushing for 187 yards and scoring 3 touchdowns.

Many fans may have been worried after the Lions kicker Dustin Adrian missed an extra point with the second quarter came to a close, causing the Lions to trail by one point, but that all changed when junior defensive back Daryl Brooks picked off an Eagles pass and returned back to the house for a touchdown. This ignited the Lions going into the half.

“The play of the game was definitely Daryl Brooks’ interception,” Leander head coach Clint Harper said. “He did a great job, made a tremendous play. It turned the whole momentum and (Georgetown) really didn’t do anything after that, offensively, in the second half.” (Hill Country News)

After the half, Georgetown seemed stagnant  throughout the second half of the game. Leander’s  Dylan Bauer rushed for 85 yards along with a touchdown. Junior linebacker Hayden Newsom led Leander’s solo tackles with a total of seven, just behind him was Taylor Sugar and Leo Quintana, who each had six.

Leander will head out on Friday, Oct. 7, after a bye week, to take on the Round Rock Dragons, taking with them a 2 game winning streak.

The biggest rivalry in the district traces back to the dawn of Cedar Park. Every football season when both teams step onto the field, the flame is ignited again. Our boys are no longer just players but warriors playing for pride, respect, and the love of the game. For Leander, Friday night lights are not only a school event but a way of life.

On September 9, our boys took the field by storm and played the game so well that even the scoreboard couldn’t damper Leander’s pride.  They had a difficult start but ended the game respectably. The game really kicked into high gear when Cedar Park scored the first touchdown, putting all of Leander into game mode.  Leander was quick to fight back. Tevin Smith, junior made an amazing touchdown that was followed by another spectacular touchdown by Andres Barrera, senior.  

Though the game did end with a disappointing loss, Leander high school is proud to support our fellow lions through thick and thin.

This Friday the Leander varsity football team will play their first playoff game of the 2010 season against Austin High School. The school has lit up with school spirit and high expectations for the game, making every day more exciting than the next.

The team seems fired up and ready for victory. Andy Gonzalez, starting defensive end and punter, has positive outlook about the outcome of Friday’s game.

When asked what the game meant to him he replied, “It means a lot, because of the hard times we went through in pre-season and now we’re looking like more of a team.”

With a 6-1 district record, Leander has finished their district season in second place, which is an enormous achievement.

The game will be played at Leander’s A.C Bible stadium at 7:30, so come out and cheer on the Lions in what will prove to be one of their greatest accomplishments this year.

Chase Keltgen is the starting quarterback for the Lions and has been a part of the Lion football family since his freshman year, now a senior Chase expressed his emotion towards the victory by stating, “It was a sweet and fun victory”, with a smile across his face.

When asked how he would describe his relationship with his teammates, he explained how he has met some of his best friends in football and how he considers many of them to be a “part of his family.”

Chase has demonstrated great leadership skills and is considered to be one of the main players that drive the team through the good times and the bad times, alongside others such as Victor DonJuan.

Coach Gideon believes in the abilities his players possess, and says, “We have not played our best football yet.”

Gideon has seen many of these players progress not only on the field, but in life as well, “ it’s gratifying as a coach, seeing these kids support each other and watching them grow into unselfish human beings.”

This team has the potential to go very far into the playoffs. But one thing is for certain, the schools vivacity and morale has increased positively due to the recent victories and this year may just be the year to remember.

                                                                                                       Cody Zivley

   The Leander Lions roared over the Cypress Creek Cougars at the Berry Center, for the 15 AAAAA Bi-District Championship in the Division II State Playoffs.

   After a stunning game where the Lions were trailing the entire game, with 4:52 off the clock in the 3^rd quarter, Rocky Nino de Guzman went in to boot a 26-yard field goal, and thus began the turnaround in the game that they had been trailing the entire time.

   The Lions scored again with quarterback, Collin Chapman, junior, running an 11 yard drive. 

With the score at 32-35 the Cougars were looking for a game-sealing touchdown, when defensive back Bradley Njoku intercepted their ball in the end zone, giving the Lions a new wind for the last and most important quarter of their season, so far.

   With 7 seconds left on the clock, Collin Chapman , scored the final touchdown with a spinning dive across the goal line, setting the final score 39-35, and sending the Lions to the Area Championship for the sixth time since 2002.

   Chapman was 8-for-12 in completions, throwing for 135 yards, and one touchdown pass. On the ground he rushed 21 times for 131 yards, two touchdowns and 2 points conversion. Jon Henderson, junior, had six catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

   The Lions (8-3) will play an undefeated Klein Collins (11-0) team at A& M Consolidated High School in College Station this Friday at 7:30pm.  The Lions will be the home team at this neutral site and would like to invite all of the towns of Leander and Cedar Park to come out and cheer the Lions on to Victory.

   “The coach at Klein Collins has bragged about how his fans follow his team with great numbers so let’s get ready to travel to College Station with our blue on and help the Lions to victory,” said Steve Gideon, head coach, reaching out for Community support.

(Ed. Note: The slide show that follows presents some of the effort put forth by the Lions so far this season.)