Breakthrough!

The 2004 Timberwolves end the CPHS football drought against the Lions

Continuing our walk through the history of the Leander / Cedar Park rivalry in preparation for the Bagdad Bowl this Friday night, this article is an updated version of the piece I wrote late the night of the 2004 game. The original article was eventually included in the book “Legends of the Fall” published by the Cedar Park Athletic Booster Club to commemorate the school’s phenomenal athletic performance in the fall of 2004.

To set the stage here, our Timberwolves had started the 2004 season with two ugly large-margin losses to Harker Heights and Hays, but rebounded in a home win over Killeen Ellison. They then proceeded to tear away from the pack with 14 straight shutout quarters – three shutout wins in a row – to begin district play. They slowly climbed in the American-Statesman Centex poll, finally claiming the number one spot with a road win over heavily-favored Pflugerville in week eight. They beat Georgetown at home in week nine to clinch their first 5A district title, and then only Leander remained...

Friday, November 5, 2004

At the moment the Timberwolves were winning district by defeating Georgetown, their arch rival Leander was in the process of blowing a 21-10 halftime lead at the Pflugerbowl and losing to the Panthers 38-35. Leander, with a loss to Cedar Park in the last game of the season looking more and more likely, might very well finish with a district record of 3-4 (6-4) overall, when they had been 2-0 (5-0 overall) just a few weeks before. Their lone win in nearly a month had come against the league’s only winless team. Something terrible had happened to the Lions.

Like Civil War battles with separate and distinctive Union and Confederate names such as “Bull Run” and “Manassas” or “Shiloh” and “Pittsburg Landing”, the annual clash of the two LISD sister schools goes by different names depending on your background. In Leander, it’s known as “The Battle of Bagdad”. In Cedar Park, it’s hyped as the “Crosstown Showdown”. By any name, the Leander / Cedar Park game always boils down to a disputed claim of “ownership” of LISD’s A.C. Bible Memorial Stadium. Somehow misunderstanding how school taxes work and mistakenly assuming that proximity equates to ownership, many Leander fans chafed at being ordered to paint over their reds and blues at the old facility, change the name from “Lions Stadium”, and install Cedar Park logos alongside their own. And Cedar Parkers, of course, just love to press those hair-trigger buttons. Some creative and entertaining hand-painted signs addressing this subject from both points-of-view are always prominently placed on both sides of the stadium each time the two teams collide.

Despite an 0-2 all-time record against their LISD sister school, Cedar Park went into the 2004 season finale with the confidence that comes from having handled with comparative ease three teams that had dispatched the Lions. Since they’d clinched the district title the week before, Cedar Park entered the game with no standings pressure whatsoever. But there was psychological pressure.

Leander was another team that had Cedar Park’s number. Historically, CPMS teams had handled LMS teams. Sub-varsity CPHS teams had done well against the Lions through the years, as well. But at the varsity level, something always happened. The 2003 Timberwolves had held a 12-8 lead (two TDs to one) just before the half of their game with LHS, but still fell big 45-20. The margin had been even bigger the year before. The Timberwolves were determined to right this historical wrong.

And this year it was Leander coming in under pressure. Whereas CP’s playoff future and title were already set in stone, the Lions’ playoff hopes hung by the thinnest of threads. Leander needed a win over Cedar Park to end up 4-3 in league play, coupled with a Pflugerville win over McNeil (making the Mavs 4-3). That would tie LHS and McNeil with whoever won the Georgetown/Westwood game and a three-way coin flip would determine who got into the playoffs as the third-place team.

Going into the game with a 6-3 overall record, but just 3-3 in league play, 2004 had been a surprising downslide for Leander. The Lions started the season off with a prestigious win over Westlake in a televised thriller from the Alamodome. At mid-season they were ranked eighth in the state and were 5-0. But then the wheels came off and the bottom fell out at the same time. Leander entered the Cedar Park game having lost three of their last four games, all to teams the Timberwolves had crushed. A loss to Cedar Park and the Lions’ season of promise would come to an abrupt and unexpected end.

It was the largest crowd in Bible Stadium history, estimated at 11,500 (12,000 capacity). Most local TV stations had remote crews on site to chronicle the game. But once it started, you couldn’t tell that district champion Cedar Park was on a seven-game winning streak and Leander was stumbling through the end of an ignominious season.

Completely unafraid of the best defense in central Texas, Leander opened the game with a surprising and steady 81-yard march downfield in 14 plays. The Lions pounded the Timberwolf line with their solid steel running back, big Efosa Ogbeide. But once inside the ten, the Timberwolf D came through for the umpteenth time. Passing up the easy field goal try, the Lions were stopped on fourth down and the T’wolves escaped by holding their opponent without points inside the ten for the ninth time this season.

That momentum was quickly lost when Leander picked off a pass at the 25 and ran it back to the eleven. After all that trouble stopping the Lions, the Gang Green was right back where it had been moments before. After the first play went for no gain, Leander scored on a six-yard Drew Dunn touchdown pass to Todd Darnell to take a 7-0 lead.

But the Lions wouldn’t even sniff the end zone again for their next eight possessions.

Meanwhile, the Leander defense had largely solved both the Timberwolf air attack and the two-headed beast that was the Cedar Park ground game. This night would turn out to be the toughest offensive sledding of the entire season for Cedar Park, losses included.

It settled down to a brutish defensive struggle. After chewing up yardage on their first possession, Leander would gain all of fifty yards from the end of the first quarter to the middle of the fourth. To the Lions’ defensive credit, they held one of the most explosive backs in central Texas to his lowest rushing total on the season. Rupert Edwards could only get forty yards against the resilient Leander D.

The Lions also made their presence felt on pass defense. During Cedar Park’s eleven-game winning streak, Korey Washington would throw only five interceptions in 125 passes. Three of those five picks came against Leander.

Timberwolf pass defense was stout, as well, holding stellar Lion QB Drew Dunn to just four and a half yards per attempt, well below his season average. Daniel Dilworth had a key interception to halt one drive, his fourth in a three-game span to close the regular season and set a new school record for consecutive games with a pick.

The stats stayed fairly even, actually slightly favoring Leander late into the game. No other points had been scored since Dunn’s early pass to Darnell. It was still 7-0 Lions and the clock was ticking swiftly down- less than four minutes remained. A major upset was brewing. Timberwolf fans were bewildered. Though the game was insignificant to the standings, a district title saddled with a loss to their biggest rival would leave a foul taste in their mouths. But nothing was working offensively and time was rapidly running out.

A rare sack of Korey Washington put Cedar Park in a huge hole. With only three and a half minutes left in the game and nothing much working on offense, would the Timberwolves have enough time? Even if the Gang Green defense stopped Leander promptly, Cedar Park might not get the ball back until there were about two minutes left in the game, and even then they’d probably be about seventy yards away.

But Coach Weaver chose to punt anyway, counting not on a mere stop of the Lion offense, but something even bigger, faster, better. He knew his amazing defense needed to take charge of this game itself and come up with a big play- immediately. He told them this was their game to win.

And his defense did exactly what it was told. On Leander’s first play from scrimmage, Brandon Haug crushed Ogbeide with a tremendous hit. The ball popped loose, and Kyle Williams picked it up on the run. The long-dormant Cedar Park stands exploded in jubilant ecstasy as Williams sprinted 32 yards for a touchdown. Wagener’s kick tied the game and the Timberwolves lived!

The defense wasn’t done. The fired-up Gang Green forced a three-and-out on the suddenly quavering Lions offense and Leander punted the ball out to the Timberwolf 45. With 2:27 left and the shoe on the other foot, it now seemed there was plenty of time. Cedar Parkers were jittery with anticipation. To reach Wagener’s range, most figured about thirty yards would be necessary for a decent shot at a game-winning field goal, and forty would pretty much cinch it.

They didn’t even think about fifty-five.

On the first play, Washington faded back to throw. With the time remaining and the yardage requirement, Leander was set up to defend the pass. But the offensive coaches outsmarted the Lions with “10 draw”- a quarterback draw with the receivers split. After a few steps back toward the pocket, with the Lion defense reacting by spreading to cover receivers, Washington tucked the ball in and headed straight up the field through a big hole. He picked up some key blocks, headed left, found a seam, and shot the distance at flank speed, untouched all the way to the end zone! The stands and the sideline went straight to insanity mode and Wagener kicked the extra point that made it 14-7 Timberwolves. Jaws dropped on the home side of Bible Stadium. Leander now had just over two minutes left in their whole season unless they could not only stem the tide, but turn it.

The one bad thing about Washington’s knifelike sprint to the end zone was that it left too much time on the clock for a Leander recovery. Like the good team they are, the Lions sucked it up and produced.

Leander mounted its only sustained drive since the first quarter, starting from their own 31. Dunn connected on three straight passes for first downs as the T’wolf D was suddenly rocked back on their heels. With just seconds left, Dunn hit Travis Njuko with a 25-yard touchdown pass and Pedro Pereira’s critical PAT tied the game.

It was what all great rivalries should have the good fortune to enjoy: two outstanding teams, clawing at each other for local bragging rights, with an outright unbeaten title on the line for one, a possible trip to the playoffs at stake for the other. It was the National Sport of Texas at its very best: overtime in the season finale.

The captains met at midfield. The coin was tossed. Cedar Park went first.

The ball was placed at the twenty-five, first and ten going east. After picking up a first down, the T’wolves were stopped by a stiffened Lion defense and Wagener chipped through a routine 24-yard field goal as the T’wolves recaptured the lead.

Now the pressure was on the Gang Green defense. They absolutely had to hold Leander out of the end zone or Cedar Park’s dream of an unbeaten district title would vanish. Who really doubted they’d come through? Three plays netted only seven yards for the Lions, and kicker Pedro Pereira’s task to avoid a Leander loss was a little more difficult than Wagener had just faced- Pedro had to hit it from ten yards farther out. But Pereira knocked it through and the game was headed to a second overtime.

The teams changed ends of the stadium, going west. This time the Lions would go first.

“Going second is really preferred,” said Coach Weaver afterward. “Your offense knows what it has to do that way.”

And Cedar Park’s offense got a pretty good idea. The CPD did its job once again, holding the Lions to zero yards on three plays, and Pereira was forced to knock through a tough 42-yard kick for a 20-17 Leander lead.

Out came the Timberwolf offense for their shot at glory. After a short gain, they were aided by a five-yard facemasking penalty on Leander. A brisk run by Washington took the Timberwolves to the ten. On the next play, history was made.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Leander was surprised again by Weaver’s tactical approach- they thought Cedar Park would continue to run the ball and had committed their defensive formation to stop the rushing game. Their spies shadowed Edwards and Washington at the line. This created gaps in pass coverage. Weaver sent in a pass play called 74 Stick. Washington took the snap and drifted straight back into the pocket, looked right, and saw through a perfect seam Tyler Farst cutting to the right at about the two. Washington fired a perfect strike, and Farst grabbed it almost routinely and swerved untouched into the end zone. The play looked easy, but the previous 132 had been awfully tough.

An explosion of raw noise and passion detonated on the Cedar Park side of Bible Stadium. Hugs, screams, tears, jumping, crumbling to the knees, kisses. Adults and students throughout the stands were overcome with joy at the amazing finish to what was clearly the most exciting football game ever played in Cedar Park history. An incredible 36 points had been scored after there were just three and a half minutes left in the game. Our team had been faced with a mountain of difficulty, yet reached deep down and got it done against stacked odds. It was tremendously fulfilling, on the field and in the stands. Those familiar last four words of the school song were sung by players and fans alike with great gusto that night.

On the other side of the field, the Lions were left to soberly watch their hated rivals basking in the glow of a championship season they had hoped would be their own. But Leander had had their turn, and now it was over.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

As victors in the Battle of Bagdad, Cedar Park won LISD’s first undefeated, untied, outright 5A football championship ever, and the school’s second outright football title in four years. In our school district’s long history, there have been no others. Leander's recent three-time district champion streak consisted of three straight shares of the title, tied with other teams, none of them unbeaten. Cedar Park’s 5-0 17-4A 2002 champions and now their 7-0 15-5A 2004 champions carry that honor exclusively.

The Timberwolves were now driving an amazing eight-game winning streak. Records were falling throughout the CP record book on both sides of the ball. The gutsy performance against Leander gave the Timberwolves the confidence that no matter what happened in the playoffs, there was always a chance to win.

Sure, some sober thinking later might decide the game shouldn’t have been that close, but in the final analysis, there’s a major point to consider. On a night they were playing so sluggishly, against a fired up rival giving its best effort of the season, when things were going wrong left and right, Cedar Park found a way to win. It takes a genuinely great team to win in circumstances like these.

The game meant absolutely nothing to Cedar Park intrinsically- it had no effect whatsoever on their playoff positioning. Leander could have won that game 109-3 and it would not have knocked the Timberwolves from atop the final district standings nor changed their playoff seeding. Yet our team found a way to win against tremendous adversity on a night when they didn’t even have to.

There is no better mark of a champion.

Postscript- Our 2004 Timberwolves played for another month that season, going four rounds deep in the state playoffs, beating Hays, Copperas Cove, and Mesquite along the way to a Region II Final match against America’s ninth-ranked high school football team- Lufkin, in Waco. That day saw the T’wolves play valiantly, but fall, ending their record 11-game winning streak.

Next-> The Shutout Shootout: 2005