By Caio Jahara

The Leander Lions roared over the Cypress Creek Cougars at the Berry Center, for the 15 AAAAA Bi-District Championship in the Division II State Playoffs.

After a stunning game where the Lions were trailing the entire game, with 4:52 off the clock in the 3^rd quarter, Rocky Nino de Guzman went in to boot a 26-yard field goal, and thus began the turnaround in the game that they had been trailing the entire time.

The Lions scored again with quarterback, Collin Chapman, junior, running an 11 yard drive.

With the score at 32-35 the Cougars were looking for a game-sealing touchdown, when defensive back Bradley Njoku intercepted their ball in the end zone, giving the Lions a new wind for the last and most important quarter of their season, so far.

With 7 seconds left on the clock, Collin Chapman , scored the final touchdown with a spinning dive across the goal line, setting the final score 39-35, and sending the Lions to the Area Championship for the sixth time since 2002.

Chapman was 8-for-12 in completions, throwing for 135 yards, and one touchdown pass. On the ground he rushed 21 times for 131 yards, two touchdowns and 2 points conversion. Jon Henderson, junior, had six catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

The Lions (8-3) will play an undefeated Klein Collins (11-0) team at A& M Consolidated High School in College Station this Friday at 7:30pm.  The Lions will be the home team at this neutral site and would like to invite all of the towns of Leander and Cedar Park to come out and cheer the Lions on to Victory.

“The coach at Klein Collins has bragged about how his fans follow his team with great numbers so let’s get ready to travel to College Station with our blue on and help the Lions to victory,” said Steve Gideon, head coach, reaching out for Community support.

(Ed. Note: The slide show that follows presents some of the effort put forth by the Lions so far this season.)

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