The Shutout Shootout

The 2005 Timberwolves Grab an Upset Win for the Ages

Continuing our tour through the history of the Leander / Cedar Park rivalry, this article is an updated version of a piece I wrote about the 2005 game. The original article – complete with lots of big pictures of the action - is posted over on the “Cedar Park Football Retrospective” site hosted by the Cedar Park Athletic Booster Club. In fact, in-depth articles on every game of 2004 and 2005 can be found there, as well.

To set the stage for this one, our Timberwolves faced a lot of adversity in 2005. Most of the experienced players who’d led the program to the Region II Finals in 2004 were gone. A brand new head coach – Chris Ross – was hired just a few weeks before the season started, and thus there was little time to evaluate his team and install a new offense and defense. The young team played sporadically, winning some games over good teams and losing some games to lesser teams. They finally turned the corner, somewhat ironically, in a close home loss to Pflugerville. In week nine, a nice road win over Georgetown set the stage for the T’wolves to end the season with a chance to keep 9-0 Leander from achieving LISD’s first-ever unbeaten, untied regular season record. It was a daunting task, as the Lions were ranked ninth in the state…

Friday, November 4, 2005

Before you start reading, go grab an ice cold glass of your favorite beverage and get comfortable in your chair. This is going to be a long one, and you’ll want to savor every single word.

Friday night at Bible Stadium, in the fourth annual Bagdad Bowl, the Cedar Park Timberwolves logged one of the school’s finest victories ever as they completely shut down Central Texas’ number one offense and torpedoed Leander’s bid to achieve LISD’s first-ever undefeated regular season.

Lion fans praying for 10-0 apparently did not use the correct syntax. Yes, 10-0 did happen, but it turned out not to be Leander’s record; it was the score of perhaps the biggest upset win in Cedar Park history.

After two hours of pitched battle, it boiled down to this: on a night when the defenses reigned supreme, thwarting each offense at nearly every turn, the Timberwolves, led by their backup quarterback pressed into duty when the starter fell in battle the previous week, manned up and drove fifty yards with the game still on the line to choke the life out of the clock and put up the points that ultimately clinched the game.

The Timberwolf seniors were defending their home field for the very last time in their lives, and defend it they did, with honor.

One of the largest crowds in Bible Stadium history (estimated at 11,000) sat, yelled, jumped, sighed, stomped, shook, screamed, and cried as these two fine LISD teams played out their classic battle down on the field. In the end, Cedar Park won the Crosstown Chowdown for the second straight year, drawing the series even with Leander at two games each, and turning the Lions’ dream of an undefeated season into a post-Halloween pumpkin.

The opening Timberwolf kickoff was an early portent of the disaster this night turned into for the Lions. The live ball dropped intentionally short at about the 25 near the Timberwolf sideline and bounced off of several players from each team before Leander recovered. The word “recovered” is to be used loosely here, as the Lions never really recovered the rest of the night. They immediately dropped two wide-open passes, fell on another of their own fumbles, and punted. After getting a reciprocating kick from CP, Leander then fumbled again on the first play from scrimmage inside their own ten. This time, the loose ball was pounced on by Cedar Park, setting the Timberwolves up for a quick scoring squirt capped off by Tyler Smith’s 2-yard run at the 7:15 mark of the first quarter. What would turn out to be Wes Wagener’s final PAT kick, setting an extraordinary record for consecutive extra points at 63, gave the T’wolves a surprising 7-0 lead.

But we’d been there before, right? In fact, Cedar Park scored first in eight of their ten games in 2005, and still lost three of those. And this was mighty Leander, right? Perhaps the 7-0 early lead was just a nice hedge against a shutout. The potent Lion offense would eventually figure out how to run roughshod over our defense, wouldn’t they? Better enjoy this brief lead while it lasted, right?

Wrong. Incalculably wrong.

I happened upon Tim Knicky as we were both in line for a haunted house at Northcross Mall on Halloween night, a few days earlier. We talked briefly of the game coming up, and I jokingly said, “We’re going to need about eight sacks out of you guys Friday night!” Tim smiled and said, “We’re workin’ on it!”

Indeed they were. Drew Dunn was sacked like a cart full of groceries. He was sacked from up the middle, he was sacked on the run, he was sacked from the left, from the right, and when he wasn’t sacked, he often paid for his throws with a simultaneous shot to the sternum or hip or ribs and was forced to scrape himself up at least a half dozen other times. And Knicky & Co. delivered those eight sacks! I just pulled the number out of the air that night, I swear…

As a result of the withering Gang Green pass rush and his own receivers’ lack of stickum, Dunn only completed three of his first twelve passes, for just thirty-one yards. His final numbers were respectable, mainly on the strength of their last three possessions producing 99 of their 162 total yards of ball movement. Dunn finished 14-for-27 for just 133 yards, more than a hundred under the Lion average.

Following that Timberwolf touchdown, however, Leander did seem to mount a brief threat. Dunn slipped through the right side on a keeper and scooted 49 yards before being chased down near the Cedar Park forty. That one play would account for sixty-seven percent of the Lions’ rushing total on the night. Two plays later a deep ball to Travis Njoku would have been a 45-yard touchdown, but Njoku bobbled the ball several times while in the clear at the fifteen, and couldn’t get it under control before he stepped out of bounds. That play would be the biggest dart Cedar Park would have to dodge the rest of the night, although they couldn’t know it at the time. Leander would eventually scuttle that promising drive, losing the ball on downs at the Cedar Park 35.

The Timberwolves got a pair of first downs before being stopped and forced to punt.

There followed an incredible seven consecutive three-and-outs between the two teams. The only possession not ending in a punt was a lost Cedar Park fumble as the T’wolves appeared to get something going with a 19-yard lunge. The third play was a three-yard pass to Smith – both the first CP pass and completion of the game – but the fumble at the end of the play gave the ball back to the Lions.

With less than a minute remaining in the half, the Gang Green forced Leander to punt again from near midfield. The kick got a tremendous Lion roll and was downed at the one. With two Leander timeouts remaining and their defense teeing off on Cedar Park just as effectively as the CPD was stopping the Lions, it was a precarious position for the T’wolves. Leander might easily force a dangerous short-formation punt from the back of the end zone and, of course, all sorts of impending disasters are looming in the cracks in the shadow of your own goal line.

For some reason, the Lions simply let the clock run out. Cedar Park ran twice into the line for no gain and Leander stood there and let their best – and as it turned out, their only – decent chance to score just fade away.

Neither offense had much of a clue against the opposing defenses by intermission. There were only three first downs for each team, and a grand total of only 115 yards of ball movement; Leander had 62 and Cedar Park 53.

Here’s how dominant the Gang Green was over the best offense in a hundred mile radius. Outside their third possession – the one with the 49-yard run – Leander had the ball six other times in the first half and moved all of twelve yards. That’s no misprint, here it is again: twelve yards.

The second half saw some offensive adjustments from both sides. There were fewer possession exchanges and more yards gained on each possession, but the end results were virtually the same. Leander would never end any possession any closer than the Cedar Park 28.

After stopping a 31-yard, nine-play incursion into Lion territory by the T’wolves to open the half, Leander moved from their twelve for fifty-two yards, scaring Timberwolf fans with the possibility they’d solved their offensive problems. But another timely sack and a failed fourth-down conversion attempt brought the Black Out crowd to their feet.

On the next possession, a big scare for Cedar Park. After a keeper to the left side for a short gain, Dilworth didn’t get up. He was escorted from the field in obvious pain. With starter Travis Watson not even dressed, the pilot’s seat would be given to unused emergency quarterback Brian Adamcik. To his credit, Adamcik did what he was tasked to do; mainly, not make any disastrous mistakes while David Bowman and the training staff worked on Dilworth. A clean handoff on one play and an incomplete pass to the right side brought on the kicking team.

After the punt, Leander started with their very best field position of the entire night- right at midfield. On their other nine possessions, they averaged starting from their own 22. It would take them seven plays to move twenty-two yards, where another failed fourth-down conversion brought the home side to a screaming frenzy.

At this point, there were a little less than eight minutes remaining in the game. On came the Cedar Park offense. Stymied just as completely as the Lions all night, their score had come courtesy of a Leander fumble inside the ten. And back into the huddle came Daniel Dilworth. The incomparable senior leader and his teammates realized that with a few first downs at the least, a good punt would pin Leander deep in their own territory, miles from the tying touchdown, with just a couple of minutes remaining.

And they began to go about the business of slowly picking apart the Lion defense, for the only time all evening.

It was a beautifully-called, beautifully-executed fifty-yard drive that gained four first downs, took twelve plays, and chewed the clock down to 1:25. There, at the Leander twenty-two, just as Tyler Smith gained his 100th yard of the night, the drive finally stalled.

It was too close to punt, but perhaps too far for a field goal. Wagener wouldn’t have any problem with the distance- he’d hit from 39 and beyond before. No, the problem was the terrific crosswind, gusting past twenty-five miles an hour out of the south, to Wagener’s left. Sure, he could kick it that far, but what would the wind sheer do to its trajectory? Would it be safer to punt? Perhaps, but a punt from this close that went into the end zone – a real probability – would net only two yards on the possession exchange.

So Coach Ross went for the jugular.

On came Wagener, with the last game of his career on the line. On came Wagener, bringing with him the quiet confidence of which his records spoke. On came Wagener, with a chance to clinch a phenomenal surprise victory over Cedar Park’s fiercest rival. On came Wes Wagener, the greatest kicker his school had ever known.

He checked the wind. He checked with his holder, the ever–reliable Dilworth. The snap was good. The blocking was superb. The hold was perfect. The kick exploded into the night. It knifed through the evil crosswind and split the uprights smack down the middle. Wes Wagener had delivered one final time.

With the 10-0 margin, nearly seven thousand Blacked-Out Timberwolf fans went absolutely insane…. screaming, jumping up and down, hugging, bellowing in joyous rapture, and blowing out their vocal chords for the weekend knowing that it was worth it. Cedar Park would now win this game. The only matter at issue was whether the Gang Green defense could preserve this incredibly prestigious shutout.

After the kickoff return, Leander started with a first and ten from their thirty. They deftly milked the clock, completing several passes and moving to the Cedar Park 45 in eight efficient plays. The Gang Green defense was bending, but would it bend fast enough for the Lions to avoid the ignominy of their top-ranked offense being shut out? Could this year’s Cedar Park team duplicate the amazing achievement of three shutouts racked up by the tremendous 2004 team?

The ninth play would be the Lions’ undoing. Dunn faded back and heaved a deep pass along the right hash marks. Several players leapt up for the ball at the CP fifteen…

…and Tyler Smith was the one who came down with it.

Once again, the Cedar Park stands went straight to insanity mode. Dilworth and the offense came out to run the last play of the roller-coaster 2005 season, a beautifully-executed knee to drip away the final seconds against the arch-rival Leander Lions.

The 2005 Timberwolf football team thus ended their season riding a huge wave of momentum. With three excellent games in a row, dating back to a very fine performance in a losing effort against Pflugerville, following that up with a quality road win at Georgetown, and the king-toppling victory over Leander, this team became the first in school history to end the season with consecutive victories. Only one other team in seven years of varsity play has even won their final game (2000), let alone their final two.

With the victory, Cedar Park remains the only school in LISD history to ever win an unbeaten, untied, outright district football championship- and they’ve done that twice, in 2001 and 2004.

This win came courtesy of the defensive line. It was surely their finest hour. Their complete throttling of the Lion running game and their eight sacks of Drew Dunn were THE reason Cedar Park won this football game. The old sagas would halt the tale to list the names of warriors who fought so bravely. Let this story follow that tradition, if for no other reason than to preserve these names from a record that always seems to fade far too quickly. The fine young men on our defensive line this night were Andrew Baughman, Travis Kolinek, Eric Bayer, Trey Hawkins, and Tim Knicky.

To show how superbly the Gang Green defense played the top-ranked offense in central Texas, the CP offense was held to its fourth-worst night ever, its worst-ever passing production (minus three yards), and the fewest passes ever attempted (three) and completed (two) in a game; and yet Cedar Park still lead the entire night and won by more than a touchdown.

The solid Leander run defense limited Tyler Smith’s effectiveness early on. Needing only 29 yards on the night to reach a thousand for the season, Smith would not reach that milestone until the third quarter. But his tremendous surge on the final Cedar Park drive of the season allowed him to finish with exactly 100 for the game, pushing him to a 1,071 on the year in nine games (he missed Ellison) for an average of 119 per game. “The T” will undoubtedly be the best returning running back in central Texas 5A ball for 2006.

The Lion ground game went virtually nowhere, finishing with 73 yards on 23 carries, a very impressive defensive achievement when considering 49 of that came on the one Drew Dunn breakaway in the first quarter. That means the CPD held the Lions to just 24 other yards on 22 other carries; barely over one yard per carry.

Wes Wagener finishes his stellar career with possession of nearly every placekicking school record except longest field goal. His final tally of 63 consecutive extra points fell short of the Texas state record, but it did enter the books at fourth.

The good news from the passing game was that, for the only time in school history, our starting quarterback completed every single pass he threw. The bad news was that this amounted to… well, all two of them. The worse news was that the first completion went for just three yards and ended in a lost fumble, and the second was blown up by a Leander blitz for a six yard loss. That translates to a 100% completion rate for minus three yards. But then, it was that kind of Twilight Zone sorta night. And besides, proving the old adage that the ground game is what matters in Texas high school football, five of the seven least-productive passing games in Cedar Park history have been Timberwolf wins.

Leander did not come close to resembling the team that swept through the season undefeated, slammed nearly every opponent to the turf, stole their lunch money, and threw their shoes into the river. Some confluence of events lined up the stars so that the best team in Central Texas would face our Timberwolves on a night they were fated to struggle with their own capabilities, and while our young men were on a mission.

That mission was laid out on a warm evening in July when new Head Coach Chris Ross first spoke to the community at the Cedar Park Performing Arts Center. Coach Ross said something that night that would come due on Friday, November 4th. Many of us smiled, hooted, and clapped obligingly at the time, certain the remark was intended mainly to inspire our young players. On assuring his new constituents that, among other things, he was here to win football games, he said that July evening, “I can assure you I’m well aware of what the biggest part of my job is going to be. And I promise you our team will take care of business against Leander.”

Four short months later, Coach Ross’ off-the-cuff prediction – nay, conviction – would come to fruition.

Wes Wagener’s final points of his Timberwolf career were perhaps the most joyous. His 39-yard field goal through a vicious crosswind with a buck twenty-five to play sealed the Lions’ tomb. It was at that moment that so many thousands of Cedar Park fans were finally able to let go, at long last assured their team had pulled off a famous victory fated to be remembered for years to come.

The seniors we honored at the beginning of the evening are thus able to take a little piece of history with them as they exit the stage. Their final night as Cedar Park Timberwolves produced one of the greatest upsets of the age. On their long journey through youth and scholastic athletics, this one resounding victory may serve as a star to steer by as they meet the many challenges that lie ahead. And such rewards serve to drive home the one biggest lesson of all: that losing comes and goes, that it is only the currency one spends on the road to triumph.

But victory? That, my friends, is forever.