2004 Cedar Park Timberwolf Football

Game-by-Game Narratives
2004

Week Five: McNeil
Friday, October 1st

The Mavericks were another local rival Cedar Park had never before beaten. The Timberwolves were 0-4 all time against McNeil coming into the season. In fact, one of the losses from Cedar Park’s 8-2 17-4A champs in 2001 came against the Mavs, and by a hefty 35-14 margin. Although The Q’s 125 total yards and two TDs in the first quarter alone had led to a 14-7 Cedar Park lead in that game, Smith was then injured and missed the rest of the game, starting a downward spiral that led to the lopsided final. The very next year, the Mavericks scored an embarrassing 24 points in just two and a half minutes on the 2002 Timberwolf team, the worst concentrated blood-letting of points in Cedar Park history. The McNeil program had ample reason to feel secure in its historic superiority over Cedar Park.

The 2004 game would be Homecoming for the Timberwolves, and despite some ups and downs through the early years of the football program, Cedar Park had one consistent record- their outstanding Homecoming performances. In fact, they’d never lost one until the previous season (2003), when they had fallen to… well, McNeil. And here the Mavs were again, ready to spoil our party once more.

Cedar Park held the Mavericks to just 185 total yards: only 62 of that on the ground. This is one of McNeil's Cameron Rogers' 17 carries for 68 yards, which means the rest of the Mavs netted minus 6 yards on thirteen carries. The Timberwolf defense produced a school record second straight shutout.

But on closer inspection the Mavericks were only 1-3 themselves, somehow in the midst of a down year just like Westwood seemed to be suffering. Perhaps there was a better chance than at first believed to extend the short winning streak to three.

And to our astonishment, by the end of the third quarter, that seemed to be pretty much in the bag. Cedar Park held a commanding 20-0 lead mainly fueled by Korey Washington’s dazzling 229 yards on just eleven carries- the best rushing night by a Cedar Park Timberwolf in the previous two and a half years. McNeil’s highly touted aerial attack, led by stellar receiver Jake Lebens and elusive left-handed quarterback Jadrien Parker, went virtually nowhere. The Gang Green held the Mavs to just 185 total yards, and only 62 on the ground. Although this would be the only game all season in which season-leading receiver Tyler Farst did not catch a pass, Washington did hook up with tight end Daniel Billingsley on a nice 41-yard toss to keep one key drive alive.

After just two carries, Washington had already netted 66 yards rushing and two TDs, on the way to his personal record-setting night. 223 of his 229 yards would come on just six runs! In fact, Washington’s third carry went for 69 yards, but he was forced out of bounds before scoring. After some losses and penalties, the T’wolves ended up settling for a 43-yard field goal, which was also Wes Wagener’s personal best. At that point, Washington had 135 yards, two TDs, and a 45.0 yard-per-carry average, on just three runs! Wagener hit another field goal as the clock expired on the first half. That marked the first time in school history multiple field goals were kicked within one game.

“Having a reliable place-kicker like Wes Wagener this year was just huge,” said Coach Weaver in an interview after the season. “It opened up the playbook down close, gave us so many more options, kept us from getting too tight, because we knew we didn’t have to score the touchdown to get points on the board.”

Those twenty would be all the points Cedar Park would get this night, but it was more than they needed.

On their last stand of the game, the defense really came into its own. McNeil, desperate to avoid the shutout, pulled out all the stops in a last-gasp push for a touchdown on their final possession. The CPD, realizing the prestige in consecutive shutouts of big-name teams like Westwood and McNeil, were just as determined to stop them. Aided by remarkably questionable back-to-back-to-back dead ball personal foul calls on the Gang Green, McNeil moved 70 yards on just 25 yards of their own offense.

On second down from near the ten, Parker tried an option to the left, and was chased down and mauled by several Timberwolves for a ten yard loss. On third down from just outside the Timberwolf twenty, Parker was flushed from the pocket to his left. He flung a pass toward the left corner that would have been incomplete if caught, since the receiver had run out of bounds near the five. But just in front of him and barely inbounds, Zac Landry leaped skyward, got a hand on the ball, and fell hard onto his back, pulling the ball into his chest for a highlight-reel one-handed interception that preserved the shutout and ran Cedar Park’s opponents’ scoreless streak to nine consecutive quarters. The last touchdown allowed had been in the third quarter of the Killeen Ellison game two weeks earlier. Although the Timberwolves did not score in the second half, they hadn’t needed to. And the 343 team rushing yards were the second most ever run up by Cedar Park in a single game.

The Timberwolves and cheerleaders leading the swaying stands in the school song after their unprecedented second consecutive shutout. It was the first instance of three consecutive wins since 2001. The victory put Cedar Park in a first place tie in 15-5A, with Leander and Pflugerville. But unlike the Panthers and the Lions, our guys had a big ZERO in the "points allowed" column.

Best of all, the Timberwolves came out of the game tied for first in the 15-5A standings at 2-0 with Pflugerville and Leander, and Cedar Park sported its first overall winning record, at 3-2, since beginning the 2002 season 1-0.

Excitement over this groundbreaking win was somewhat tempered by the fact that this McNeil team was now just 1-4. Sure, the two straight shutouts by the CPD were still impressive. No one, not even Westlake, had done that in 5A Austin area football in some untold number of years. But were we good – really good – at this point? We couldn’t yet honestly claim that. Despite McNeil’s and Westwood’s good names, our three victims were collectively just 4-12, and closer inspection showed those four opponent wins came over awful teams that were a measly 3-17 themselves. There was certainly no cause to fool ourselves at this point. There was much yet to be proven.

But the Timberwolves were definitely on the right track.

Certainly, this was already the best team Cedar Park had fielded since 2001, no doubt of that at all. But could they play with the truly tough programs? There was some affirmation in the fact that the two teams to beat us early had proven their quality by racking up a collective 8-2 record by this point. But rough sledding lay ahead. Although Pflugerville had unpredictably stumbled to two non-district losses, one of those was a very close one to fourth-ranked Converse Judson, and their lone non-district win came over that Smithson Valley team that would later play for the state 5A DII title. The Panthers still looked mighty good. So did Leander, cruising along at 5-0 and ranked eighth in Texas. Both of those historic Timberwolf-shredders still loomed ahead on the schedule.

Game Stats | Drive Chart

NEXT - Week Six: Stony Point
Back to the 2004 Narrative Main Page

CPHS Athletic Booster Club Home Page | About the author | Comments or Corrections