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Health & Fitness

2013 Ladue Rams Season Review

The 2013 Season

The Rams' lost 41-10 to Parkway Central in the first game of the season and are now 1-3 against the Colts since playing them annually in 2010. That year Ladue won in 41-38 shootout, which was the highest scoring game and by far the most competitive. Since then it has been all Parkway Central. On Ladue's first possession Ryan Glazer caught and ran 40 yards for a touchdown, but was called back for an offensive pass interference on him. I saw the video replay of the game and there was no pass interference at all. Both players were shoving a bit just to get position. The Rams' punted and Parkway Central scored on an 80 yard run on the first play. Up hill from there on out. Instead of 7-0 it was 0-7. The game would've been much closer for sure if the call was reversed, but calls like that happen every so often.

The next game Ladue scalped Parkway West 70-0. Yes that happened. If you thought a team had a 80-41 score ratio after 2 games then you would think they would be undefeated. Sadly that was not the case.

Ladue played one of its most pivotal games of the season against an upstart McClure South-Berkley team that was 2-0 and ranked #10 in the small school polls. It was a Thursday night game at SLUH and the Rams' arguably were the 2nd best team for the majority of the game, but were deadly at the end of the 1st and and 2nd half's. 3 passing touchdowns and a pick six for insurance as Ladue held off the Bulldogs 28-20.

Ladue then breezed by McClure, 41-6. Normandy, 47-6. Then Affton on Homecoming, 30-0. Then came the annual game against Clayton.

As a Ladue alum, who relishes any rivalry, the Ladue-Clayton rivalry is completely one sided going Ladue's way. Things have been firing on all cylinders for the school on Warson Road than the school on Mark Twain Circle. Its been a fun 6 years following Ladue football because the Rams's are 6-1 during that span. 6-2 during coach Tarpey's tenure. Ladue took it to the Greyhound's as they ran them out of Gay Field by a score of 58-7.

Next up Ladue took on a tricky Fort Zumwalt North team that runs the option and could pass well. It was working well until the Rams' switched on and came back into the game. Down 27-13 in the 4th quarter, Ladue came all the way back with a passing touchdown from Matt Hooper to Ryan Glazer, an emphatic 60 yard punt return by Glazer, and then a late quarterback sneak by Hooper to take the lead for good. Ladue held on for a memorable 33-27 victory on senior day.

The last game of the season was against Jennings with the Suburban East Conference sealed up. The Rams' won 56-14 and with that, clinched the #1 seed in their district of 8 teams.

Ladue first played Pacific, who had to drive all the way to SLUH on a cold night because the Rams' cannot host playoff games at night on the account of no lights at the high school. Never the less SLUH's field has been sort of a good luck place to the Rams'. Ladue eased to a 51-8 victory.

6 days later they played Priory, who upset Union the week before. Good thing they did because the Rams' started slow, but took to them by winning 42-7 and the only points scored by the Rebel's was on a kickoff return. Ladue was in cruise control.

Then came Westminster, who came in with a 9-2 record. They had to beat Priory, 20-18, on a game winning when Ladue spanked them the week before. The odds were favoring Ladue. The winner of this game would host the quarterfinal against three time Class 4 champion Webb City. That means Ladue would finally get a chance to host a playoff game at the actual stadium. The high school. A bunch of people from Western Missouri are going to come to Warson Road and watch their team play the Rams' in what surely would be a packed house. Maybe Ladue would have to break out an extra pair of grandstands. However they still had to play Westminster, who was the team responsible for Ladue's early exist the season before, which only added fuel to the fire.

It didn't happen as the Rams' lost 28-20 to a rampant Westminster team. Outworked on both sides of the ball. Very frustrating because 90 percent of the plays ran by the Wildcats were quarterback keepers to their 6'2", 200 Ibs quarterback. Ladue could see what was coming from a mile away, but couldn't stop it. It is easier to lose to a team with a tricky scheme and simply tip your cap to them, but the Rams' got outmuscled.

One play that shouldn't go unnoticed was by Matt Hooper. It was a 4th and 19 with under 2 minutes to play and the score was 28-13. Hooper was chased by multiple Wildcats and scrambled away. He was not the slowest or the quickest of quarterbacks. He simply took what the defense gave because he knew his limits. This time though he made something out of nothing. He read his blocks and made a few men miss. Hooper got the first down by a yard and eventually scored on a 1 yard QB sneak. It turned out to be all for naught, but I couldn't leave out an act of never giving up. Had Ladue some scored and got the 2 point conversion and won in overtime, that would have been the play of the year.

OVERVIEW

Suburban East Champions

Record: 10-2, 5-0 (3rd 10 win season in the coach Tarpey era)

Opponents record (including playoffs): 62-66

Points for: 486
Points against: 164
= +322 points. 2nd highest ratio of all the Suburban conference schools.

Passing yards: 1,878
Rushing yards: 2,262
Total yards: 4,140

Gradution: 21 seniors. Starters - QB Matt Hooper (C). RB/SS Udell Hyde. WR: Ryan Glazer, Cody Kniptash (C), and Duncan Cannon (C). OL and DL: Nick Hulsey, Austin Jennings, Connor Mulligan, Chris Boudoures, and Brent Morrow (Missouri Western). LB: Cody Kniptash. DB: Julian Frederick.


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