The Vipers will try to fill that empty shelf on the trophy case when they face the Southlake Carroll Dragons in the 6A D2 state championship game Saturday afternoon (12/21) from AT&T Stadium in the VYPE Central Texas High School Football Game of the Week.
This is Vandegrift’s second trip to Jerry World, after shocking Katy to reach the 2022 championship before ultimately falling to DeSoto. That the Vipers have reached the cusp of a state title twice in three years – they were knocked out 13-10 on a late field goal by Lake Travis in a brutal bi-district matchup last year – shows how far this program has come in a relatively short period of time.
Vandegrift High School – named after 1st Lt. Matthew Ryan Vandegrift, a Leander High School honors graduate who was killed in the line of duty in Iraq in April 2008 – opened in 2009. The first varsity team – about 30 underclassmen -- began varsity play with no seniors in 2010. Those “Original Vipers,” who started the game day tradition that continues to this day of touching the case that contains Lt. Vandegrift’s honorary sword and scabbard on their way to the field, went 4-6 and remained in playoff contention until the final week. That first season remains the only losing season in program history.
One year later in 2011, the Vipers reached the playoffs for the first time and won their first-ever playoff game vs. Austin Travis, where Sanders had previously coached before coming to Vandegrift. That same year, the Caroll Dragons won the last of their eight state championships.
The Vipers lost a tiebreaker and missed the playoffs in 2012. They’ve qualified for the postseason every season since and actually reached the 5A state semifinals in 2014 where they fell to Temple. (That Viper team literally qualified for the playoffs on the last play of the final regular season game when Georgetown missed a wide-open receiver on a 2-point conversion attempt and Vandegrift held on for a wild 63-62 victory.)
The Vipers lost a rematch to arch-rival Vista Ridge in the 2015 state quarterfinals. They continued to reach the playoffs in subsequent years even after moving up to 6A, knocking on the Final Four door but coming short in the quarterfinals at Hays in 2020 and again vs. Westlake at DKR Texas Memorial Stadium in 2021. Then came the magical 2022 campaign.
This year, Vandegrift (14-1) has ridden a multi-pronged passing game behind junior quarterback Miles Teodecki (187-273, 3,106 Yds., 46 TDs, 7 INT) and an ever-expanding crop of wide receivers, along with senior running back Brendan Fournier (200-1,154, 5.8 YPC, 19 TDs), to consistently overrun stout defenses.
Vandegrift’s defense, led by stalwarts such as Hollister Stephens, Ian Witt, Daeshon Morgan – heck, I could name them all – has shut down opponents nearly all season. Even facing dual-threat quarterbacks and high-powered offenses, the “Silver Strike” brigade has held their last three opponents to more than 23 points below their cumulative scoring average. That includes last Saturday’s thrilling 34-31 win over Summer Creek to get them back in the title game.
They will have to replicate those performances one more time against the storied Southlake Carroll Dragons (15-0). Coached by Riley Dodge, son of former longtime Westlake Coach Todd Dodge, the Dragons (mostly) cruised through their non-district and District 4-6A schedule, as well as their Bi-district win Mansfield Legacy.
Their next four playoff games have all been a tussle. The battle-tested Dragons defeated Frenship 49-42; edged Hebron 42-37; and held off Guyer 56-45 in the quarterfinals. Southlake’s junior kicker Gavin Strange drilled a late field goal to propel the Dragons to a 20-17 victory over Longview in last week’s semifinals and send them back to the title game for the first time since 2020. (That 2020 6A D1 final was a father/son clash, with the senior Dodge’s Westlake squad handling his son’s Carroll squad 52-34.)
Angelo Renda will once again present the Viper defense with another dual threat at quarterback for an offense averaging 49.7 PPG. The junior signal caller (230-321, 3,550 Yds., 36 TD, 9 INTs) is also now Carroll’s leading rusher after the Dragons’ top two running backs both went down with injuries. If there’s something else to keep an eye on, the Dragons are giving up 21.9 PPG; not bad numbers, per se, but not as imposing on paper as those posted by some of the Vipers’ previous opponents, such as Summer Creek.
However, this clash between the storied Southlake Carroll Dragons and the Vandegrift Vipers, relative newcomers as a statewide power, won’t be played on paper. But if the Vipers can play their best game of the season, they just might replace that paper placard in the trophy case with that long-awaited championship trophy.
What: 6A D2 State ChampionshipWhen: 2:30 Pregame, 3:00 Kickoff
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington
Who: Merle Bertrand, Hank Hudson, Matt Sanders
Watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Listen: https://www.vype.com/3pm-6a-dii-football-state-championship-vandegrift-vs-southlake-carrollORhttp://vypelive.com/web/g/15258
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