But Thursday night, Leo Buckley Stadium played host to a great District 25-4A game between teams looking to stamp their ticket to the Class 4A playoffs.
The Killeen Kangaroos punched their ticket by recovering a fumble with 1:17 to wrap up a 21-17 win over the Lampasas Badgers in just the sixth meeting between the schools since 1990.
"That is a good team," Killeen coach Sam Jones said of Lampasas. "They are a lot better than they were last year, but the bottom line is Killeen High School won the game and we are in (the playoffs)."
The Badgers (3-6, 2-3 in 25-4A) need a home victory next week against Hutto to join the Roos (7-2, 4-1) in the playoffs.
"In all the losses, as long as we are progressing we are fine," Lampasas coach Joey McQueen said. "The kids will regroup. They wanted to win, but they are proud of the score and the way we played."
With the Badgers down 21-17, Lampasas' Aaron Reyna intercepted a Michael Cummings pass with 8:14 left in the fourth quarter to give the Badgers the ball at their 12-yard line.
The interception came on a fourth-down play for the Roos, who were near midfield, so Reyna would have been better off knocking the ball down.
"He did a great job intercepting it, but he should have knocked it down to give us the ball up about 30 yards," McQueen said. "He just has to be aware of what the game situation is and understand what he needs to do."
Still, the Badgers' run-heavy Slot-T offense didn't waste much time moving downfield. All night long they had effectively changed between a simple dive play up the middle by Brode DuBose, who finished with 93 yards on 25 carries, and a fly sweep by Edward Hall, who had 178 yards on 27 carries.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
