PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Astin Murray wrestles with the ball before gaining control and scoring with 19 seconds remaining in the opening half. Dripping Springs was celebrating homecoming, but it was the Badgers who came home celebrating.

After going without a win in district play for nearly three full years, Lampasas snapped its 14- game losing streak by soundly pounding the Tigers 42-21, and ruining their homecoming game in the process.

Coincidentally, the last time Lampasas earned a district victory was at Dripping Springs, where it took a 34-14 win on Nov. 10, 2006.

While snapping the streak was meaningful, perhaps more important was the fact the Badgers kept their postseason hopes alive with the win.

"It's a good thing for our program because victories on the road are [hard to come by]," head coach Joey McQueen said. "We needed to beat them because the other two teams we have to beat just to make the playoffs, Marble Falls and Hutto, have already beaten them."

With their playoff destiny up in the air, the Badgers came onto the field focused and made an immediate impact in the first half.

Badgers' head coach Joey McQueen congratulates his offensive players after scoring against Dripping Springs. Lampasas took the game's opening possession 73 yards in six plays, scoring on running back Edward Hall's 49-yard blast down the middle.

"If you ask him, he'll tell you [his performance] was because of the line," McQueen said. "Our [offensive] line dominated."

Then the defense came alive.

After the Tigers marched down to the Badgers' 33-yard line, thirdstring quarterback Quinton Poe -- who started due to injuries to Jacob Moore and Jeff Tuck -- fired a pass that was picked off by Lampasas defensive back Aaron Reyna.

The Badgers (2-5, 1-2 District 25-4A) were unable to score off the turnover, however, and punted the ball away with 1:52 left in the first period.

But it did not take long for Reyna to bring the ball back to the Badgers.

After breaking up a pass and nearly intercepting it on the third play of the Tigers' next possession, Reyna jumped a route and picked off his second ball of the evening.

PHOTO BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Aaron Reyna lowers his head and crosses the goal line for a 13-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. The senior picked off two passes in the first quarter. "He had a great game," Badgers' defensive coordinator Jimmy Randolph said. "He keeps getting better and better."

This time, the takeaway bore fruit.

The Badgers took the ball 41 yards in nine plays, capitalizing on a one-yard Hall touchdown run with 9:11 in the second quarter.

Following the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers held the ball for just two plays before fumbling and giving it right back to Lampasas at midfield. Not surprisingly, Reyna caused the fumble.

The Badgers ran 10 plays, including a gutsy conversion on a fourth-and-three situation, before Reyna got in on the scoring act. He took a reverse 13 yards to pay dirt, which gave the Badgers a 21-0 lead with 3:47 remaining in the half.

Dripping Springs finally got on the scoreboard with less than two minutes before halftime, using a long kickoff return to set up a twoyard Kaleb Syring touchdown run up the gut.

But the score did little to wrestle the momentum away from the Badgers.

After Reyna put Lampasas in prime position with a 35-yard kickoff return, the Badgers worked their way down the field before scoring their first passing touchdown of the year. Quarterback Vann Millican -- starting in place of the injured Colton Perkins -- found Astin Murray, who carried a defender into the end zone and moved the Badgers back ahead by 21 points at 28-7 with 19 seconds left in the half.

The Tigers attempted a 40-yard field goal as time expired but missed.

It was a dominating first-half performance for Lampasas.

Led by Hall's 153 rushing yards, the Badgers accumulated 224 yards of offense and scored on four of their first five possessions.

The defense limited the Tigers to just 104 total yards in the half, as Dripping Springs held the ball for only about six minutes of playing time.

The Tigers (2-6, 0-4) were able to bounce back in the second half, scoring a pair of passing touchdowns and gaining 176 yards of offense, but it was not enough.

Hall ran for two additional Lampasas scores, giving him game-highs of 216 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

Hall's first score of the second half increased the Badgers' lead to 28 points on a two-yard carry. The touchdown capped off a sevenminute, 73-yard drive.

With just under four minutes left in the third quarter, the Tigers began a drive that eventually ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Poe to Dawson Chapman.

The possession, which consisted primarily of short running plays, lasted over five minutes and severely hurt the Tigers' chances of making a comeback.

"When they did try big plays, we usually had an opportunity to pick the ball off, so they figured out they had better try to run the ball some," McQueen said. "Of course, running the clock off helped us, too."

Less than three minutes later, the Badgers increased their advantage to 42-14 off Hall's fourth touchdown of the game.

Dripping Springs tacked on one final score with 1:23 left, but the team could not avoid its sixth consecutive defeat.

In addition to Reyna's impressive defensive performance (2 ints., 3 solo tackles, 2 assists), middle linebacker Rush Seaver produced six solo tackles and assisted on six more.

"I think [the defense] is coming together, and I think they are following the leadership of Rush," Randolph said. "He's a natural leader, and he's leading us in the right direction."

While the defensive unit appears to be growing right before Randolph's eyes after a strong performance against No. 1 Lake Travis last week, McQueen is witnessing a similar growth spurt with his team as a whole as it heads into a critical stretch of games against Marble Falls, Killeen and Hutto. The Badgers need to defeat Marble Falls this Friday in their homecoming contest to stay in control of their playoff fate.

"[I received an article] about the Chinese bamboo stick, and it said that you water and fertilize that thing for five years, and you never see it come out of the ground," McQueen said. "Then, in the sixth year, in six weeks it will grow to 90 feet.

"The moral is with patience good things will start happening. Our bamboo grew about 91 feet tonight."

***

Both of Lampasas' subvarsity squads won as well, giving the Badgers a clean sweep of the Tigers.

The freshman team won a thriller, scoring the winning touchdown on a hail Mary with less than 30 seconds left.

After trailing by eight points, 26- 18, the Badgers drove down the field and scored on a 25-yard run from Ray Galbraith with five minutes left on the clock. Carson Nena ran in the two-point conversion to tie the contest.

Then, after forcing the Tigers to punt, the Badgers failed to convert on a fourth-down situation and turned the ball over to Dripping Springs with under a minute left.

But on the Tigers' first play of the drive, Marcus Kehoe intercepted a pass near the Badgers' goal line and returned it to his team's 48-yard line.

Three plays later, Lampasas (2-5, 1-2 district) was in another fourthdown situation. This time the team converted as Kehoe heaved a 52- yard touchdown pass to Cody Crofoot and claimed the lead with 29 seconds remaining in the game.

Dripping Springs could not score in the limited amount of time, giving Lampasas a 34-26 victory.

Galbraith finished the game with three rushing touchdowns (80, 19 and 25 yds). He also scored a touchdown after stripping the ball from a returner on the opening kickoff of the second half and taking it to the end zone.

"They played a very hard-fought game," head coach Dustin Baumann said. "I was very proud of the way the kids fought back.

"There were many times during the game that the kids could have put their heads down and given up, but they never quit."

The junior varsity team bounced back from a loss to Lake Travis to claim a 34-12 victory.

The Badgers (6-1, 2-1 district) posted four passing touchdowns in the game.

"[That] is uncharacteristic of us," head coach Keith Virdell said. "Dripping Springs put 10 guys in the box which made our passing game very effective."

Bailey Millican caught two touchdowns (73 and 33 yds). Justin Maldonado (68 yds) and Julian DelaCruz (49 yds) recorded the other two.

Secody Howard scored on a oneyard run.

"Our kids were ready to get back on the field this week after the loss last week and it showed," Virdell said. "Offensively, we did great considering Dripping Springs showed us a defense we had not worked on during the week."

Game Stats

Scoring Summary

LHS — Aaron Reyna 13-yard run (Shaughnessy kick)

DSHS — Kaleb Syring two-yard run (Paden Williams kick)

LHS — Vann Millican 25-yard pass to Astin Murray (Shaughnessy kick) Third Quarter LHS — Hall two-yard run (Shaughnessy kick) Fourth Quarter DSHS — Poe 24-yard pass to Dawson Chapman (Williams kick)

LHS — Hall one-yard run (Shaughnessy kick)

DSHS — Poe 26-yard pass to Blake Daniels (Williams kick)

Team Stats

Individual Stats

Rushing — LHS: Hall 35-216, Ronnie Branch 3-42, Gabe Terrell 9-28, Reyna 4-24, Brode DuBose 5-20, Tanner Mobley 1-4. DSHS: Syring 18-100, Chapman 6-27, Ty Scott 1-14, David Olson 1-6, Poe 2- -2.

Passing — LHS: Millican 2-5-0-31. DSHS: Poe 10-17-2-137.

Receiving — LHS: Murray 1-25, Reyna 1-6. DSHS: Chapman 4-62, Nathan Smothers 5-49, Blake Daniels 1-26. Missed field goals — DHS: 40.