La Vega 38, Paris 20: Pirates headed to regional final after bruising clash with Wildcats

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FRISCO -- Paris (9-3) was able to keep pace with Waco La Vega (10-2) early in the game, but the Pirates proved to be too much on Thursday night at the Ford Center, taking down the Wildcats 38-20 in a very physical, run-heavy game.

The Pirates led just 10-7 at the half but kicked it into another gear after the intermission, outscoring the Wildcats 28-13.

“I just told our kids at halftime that the most mentally tough team will win this game and we came out and did that,” La Vega head coach Don Hyde said. “Paris is one heck of a football team. They are very well coached and a great overall team.”

La Vega running back John Richards led the Pirate offense and his big frame allowed him to barrel down Paris’ defenders. The Pirates got the ball to Richards 16 times and the feature back accumulated 178 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s just so hard to tackle. He sticks four and then the next thing you know he’s gone for 20,” Hyde said. “He’s such a hard runner and we’re so glad to have him on this football team.”

A big component of La Vega’s success on offense was due to their ability to manage the game with developing quarterback Ara Rauls at the helm. Rauls threw for 173 passing yards but what stood out to Hyde was his ability to lead the offense.

“He’s doing a fabulous job of doing what we’re asking him to do which is just to manage the game for us.”

With the win, the Pirates will now move to the 4A Region II Final where they will face the winner of Celina-Argyle which will be decided tomorrow night. That game will be played at Midlothian ISD Stadium. Hyde said that he will begin preparations for that game tomorrow night as he scouts the Celina-Argyle game.

“We’re going to pick up some notecards and hit the road,” Hyde said. “This is exactly what we want and what we’ve planned on — working this late in the year.”

Paris struck first in the game as quarterback Kobe Savage ran 75 yards for a touchdown on just their second offensive play of the game. However, the Wildcats were unable to score again until 11:37 remaining in the fourth quarter. PHS had several chances to get the game back in reach however, costly turnovers prevented them from doing so.

“If you eliminate three turnovers I think we are talking about a whole different ball game right now,” Paris head coach Steven Hohenberger said. “Momentum-wise the game kept tilting and we just weren’t able to capitalize.”

Savage passed for 86 yards and ran for 76, but was under pressure for the majority of the game as the Pirate front proved to be too much for the Paris offensive line. La Vega edge rushers DeMarquese and Demarr Hayes were run-stuffers and kept the Wildcats offense on their toes.

“That’s not who we are — we need to shore up our offensive line play. We have got to get better at that as a coaching staff and as a program,” Hohenberger said. “When they loaded the box we weren’t able to move down the field like we needed to.”

Savage sustained some big hits in the game and played on both sides of the ball which Hohenberger says ultimately wore him down.

“Anytime you have a player that plays on both sides of the football like he does, the opposing offense is going to go after him when he’s on offense and defense,” Hohenberger said. “Hats off to La Vega for doing that but what kind of courage does he have to fight through it.”

With the loss, the Wildcats finish the season (9-3) and runner-up in District 7-4A. Hohenberger said that what he’ll remember the most about the season is the fight that his kids displayed on a weekly basis that will contribute to Paris’ development as a program.

“Our kids battled all offseason and in the summer to get to this position,” Hohenberger said. “Hopefully the younger kids learned from the older kids so that we can move forward in the right direction in the years to come.”

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