Week 14 Winner: Tim Lepaglia
They're calling
Rouse (Leander, Texas) High School's football season a miracle, which might be a little strong.
But most will admit that the team is certainly the best kept secret in central Texas.
Those
who watch Rouse on a consistent basis, will point to middle linebacker
Tim Lapaglia as one of the biggest reasons why the Raiders are where they are — in the quarterfinals of the Texas 4A Division I playoffs.
He
leads a rugged defense with 147 tackles, a whopping 102 of those are
solo. He consistently flies up and down the field, North and South, East
and West, hunting down ball carries.
Against one of the state's
leading rushing attacks in Gregory-Portland in a playoff game last
week, Lapaglia recorded another 13 tackles and led a defense that held
that gave up 205 yards in a 44-7 win.
See Texas playoff bracket For
his performance against Gregory and all season, Lapaglia was selected
as the Austin area Capital One Bank High Yield Student Athlete of the
Week.
Rouse not only almost shut out Gregory, but the Raiders
gave up a scant 205 total yards. Gregory scored in the final two minutes
when Lapaglia and all of his starters had left the field.
Not bad, considering Gregory was averaging 56 points per game in its last three contests.
Lapaglia
brothers played across town at district rival Leander. But Tim went to
the new school and has proved to be a big, physical presence for the
last three seasons.
He helped the Raiders to a great turnaround
season after seasons of 2-7-1 and 0-10. They are now 9-4 heading into
quarterfinal play against Corpus Christi Flour Bluff at Bobcat Stadium
on Saturday.
Tim's leadership and strong play have helped turned this understandably struggling program to the promised land.
Besides all those tackles he's second on the team with seven sacks, three interceptions and he's caused four fumbles.
