2004 Cedar Park Timberwolf Football

Game-by-Game Narratives
2004

Week Seven: Round Rock
Friday, October 15th

Three weeks earlier, the Round Rock Dragons had looked formidable, with a 3-0 non-district start, averaging 30 points per game, with two of those beaten opponents eventually making it to the playoffs. But the Dragons had been feasting on several teams from the weaker district 16-5A, and had fallen on hard times once they began playing in the toughest league in central Texas, going 0-3 since district 15-5A play began. Nonetheless, this was still a worrisome chuckhole in the Timberwolves’ road. Round Rock was one of those teams that just seemed to have our number.

Each of the previous seasons, the Dragons had beaten Cedar Park in highly unlikely fashion, despite finishing the season no higher than the Timberwolves in the league standings. In ’02, Cedar Park rushed out to a 17-0 first quarter lead, only to go cold offensively and see the Dragons crawl back to within 17-13 by the fourth quarter. With just minutes left in that game and the T’wolves driving at the ten for what would be the clinching touchdown and a 24-13 lead with little time left, a Cedar Park fumble was picked up at the eight and returned 92 yards down the sideline for an improbable 20-17 Round Rock win. Then, in ’03, for inexplicable reasons, Cedar Park’s offense put on its worst performance ever, in a 24-0 loss at home in which they put up the fewest total yards, fewest first downs, fewest rushing yards, and fewest points ever, all against a mediocre Dragon team that would finish but 4-6 and 2-5. This meant that, since that 17-0 first quarter lead in 2002, the Timberwolves had been shut out by Round Rock for seven straight quarters, beaten twice, and outscored 44-0.

So this game brought its worries, despite the two opposite directions the teams had been heading the previous three weeks. After all, Round Rock would be the first team we’d played all year that had won more than one game at the time we played them. In fact, three of the T’wolves’ four victims to this point had been winless teams at the time they faced Cedar Park. The aggregate record of our victims coming out of their losses to us was a paltry 1-17. Since it could not have been known at this point how strongly teams like Westwood and McNeil would finish the season, there was no wonder the local media had been slow to catch the spark, even with the three straight shutouts.

By the end of the first quarter, it was clear that our fears were well-founded.

The recently high-powered Timberwolf offense had only managed a lone Wes Wagener field goal against the Dragons in the first, despite 72 yards of ball movement. Spanning the end of the first and beginning of the second quarters, Round Rock went on a disturbingly effective 64-yard eight-play drive that culminated in a 35-yard field goal attempt that was blocked by Trevor Myogeto to preserve the 3-0 Timberwolf lead. It was Myogeto’s second blocked kick in as many games.

Rupert Edwards and the Timerwolf offense struggled to get untracked against Round Rock, but got it done in the end.

But the CP offense went three-and-out and punted. Round Rock once again put on a nice long drive, this time moving 52 yards in fourteen plays, finally stalling at the Timberwolf 24 with less than two minutes remaining in the half. The Dragons’ James Ainsworth nailed a 41-yard field goal and the game was tied. That kick marked the first points surrendered by Cedar Park since a touchdown run midway through the third quarter against Ellison, four weeks earlier. Cedar Park had since strung together fourteen straight scoreless quarters, and had gone nearly a month, right through the heart of the season, without giving up a single point.

Excellent Dragon kickoff coverage snuffed the CP return inside the ten for the second time on the night. On the second play, the Timberwolves fumbled and Round Rock pounced on it at the twelve. But the Gang Green held in a ferocious goal line stand, one of many on the season, and Ainsworth came on to knock through a short field goal with 26 seconds left to give the Dragons a 6-3 lead. It was the first time Cedar Park had trailed since the final gun of the second game of the year.

But the horrendous ending to the first half wasn’t yet complete. The Timberwolves threw a deep interception on the first play after the kickoff. Round Rock took a knee and the half ended with the Dragons up 6-3, and Cedar Park knowing it could have been a lot worse.

The Timberwolves had been outgained in the first half 137-83, and had only managed eleven yards of offense and two turnovers in their three second quarter possessions. The evening was fast turning into a disaster.

And wouldn’t you know it, the first time the Austin media paid our program some attention was this night. KVET forsook a comparatively bumbling Westlake team (whose record at the time was no better than Cedar Park’s and whose two losses were more recent) and did a rare Friday night broadcast of someone else’s game for a change- ours! And here we were being broadcast all over Central Texas with Keith Moreland in the booth and we were floundering. On top of that, the big scoreboard speaker system blew a relay and aborted the stadium announcing for the whole pre-game period and most of the first quarter. What bad timing, when the whole of Austin finally had its eyes on Cedar Park, looking for signs of a big-time program, for all these things to be going wrong. If we didn’t manage a comeback, it might well be the end of media attention for the year.

It seemed a matter of time before our powerful offensive line and the one-two punch of Washington and Edwards would come unleashed and run up a couple quick touchdowns and put this game away. But deeper into the third quarter we went and it hadn’t yet happened, despite some suddenly prodigious yardage production. Cedar Park started off the second half by slicing downfield 73 yards in twelve plays, burning away most of the third quarter in the process. Alas, that promising drive was flushed by a lost fumble at the Round Rock seven.

The Dragons could go nowhere and punted. Finally, Edwards scored at the end of a brisk eight-play 48-yard drive and Cedar Park took a 10-6 lead.

Immediately the defense hit the Dragons with another three-and-out, forcing a punt. At this point, the Dragons had gained just eleven yards in their previous four possessions. The Timberwolf defense had once again put the clamps down, and given Keith Moreland and the KVET crew something to marvel at.

Cedar Park gained one first down on their next possession before punting the Dragons back to their own three. From there, Round Rock temporarily solved the T’wolf D, going on a crisp eleven-play 61-yard drive. The Gang Green stiffened once again and killed a fourth-down play at the Cedar Park 36. Three plays later, Washington, stymied most of the night, flashed like greased lightning down the right sideline for one of the most impressively speedy touchdowns ever run at Bible Stadium. Washington pulled away at the end of his 57-yard dash to the point where the nearest defender was almost twenty yards behind him. Wagener’s PAT made the score 17-6 and the game was effectively out of reach. Round Rock never even sniffed the end zone following their second field goal near the end of the first half. Cedar Park outgained the Dragons 214-84 after intermission.

It was by most measures the worst game the Timberwolves would play during their eleven-game winning streak. But even that was a positive indicator. You don’t win when playing your worst unless you’re awfully darn good to begin with.

For the first time all season and only the third time in Cedar Park history, two players had rushed for over a hundred yards. Edwards went for 152 on nine carries, and Washington had 109 on just five totes for a stellar 21.8 average, the second consecutive home game in which Korey averaged over twenty yards per carry. With two catches for 22 yards, Tyler Farst took over the team receiving lead for good. Despite giving up points for the first time in weeks, the defense posted what would be their best-ever night of the season in the category of first downs allowed; only eight.

Cedar Park was now 5-2 overall, and was guaranteed to avoid a losing regular season record for the first time in three years. They were 4-0 in league play, with a five game win streak, a still-intact 17-quarter streak of allowing zero touchdowns, and had outscored their four 15-5A opponents by an almost unbelievable 98-6 with no touchdowns allowed. The scoring margin was 105-6 since the last opposing touchdown was scored. Gazing at the league standings was hypnotizing, since, although we were theoretically tied with Pflugerville at 4-0, the accepted trend to list teams tied alphabetically resulted in our name sitting atop the standings. Of course, we thought our incredible defensive showing of just six total points allowed deserved such positioning, anyway.

Add to all that the news that, while we were struggling against Round Rock, Leander was losing to Westwood 35-23. We immediately compared that to our recent 26-0 pummeling of the Warriors, and suddenly realized how good the chances were that our team not only could make at least third place and a playoff spot, but maybe….just perhaps…might do even better than that.

Game Stats | Drive Chart

NEXT - Week Eight: Pflugerville
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