Austin LBJ (TX) cruises past Taylor (TX), 49-14, to wrap up district title for fourth time in five seasons

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TAYLOR, Texas — The purple reign is back.

After the University Interscholastic League forced Austin LBJ to forfeit 11 victories for using ineligible players in 2024, the Jaguars surrendered their fourth straight district title.

On Friday night, LBJ reclaimed the throne by demolishing Taylor, 49-14, to wrap up at least a share of the District 13-4A Division I championship. The win was extra sweet considering the Ducks became district champions following the UIL ruling last season.

“Our coaches did a great job of game-planning, then basically making adjustments and not waiting until halftime to do them,” LBJ head coach Joseph Rauls said. “We made some adjustments in the first quarter to try to slow down what they were doing.

“Then, we had some guys make some plays that basically turned the tide of the game in our favor that first half. I applaud the coaches for the job they done and the players for executing.”

After the teams traded touchdowns on the first four possessions of the game, LBJ (7-2, 5-0) scored touchdowns on its next three possessions to take a 35-14 halftime lead. The Jaguars never looked back in rolling to their fifth straight win. Taylor fell to 4-5 (4-1) with the loss.

Senior quarterback Jayelen House lit up the skies with five touchdown passes to four different receivers — Louis Hickman (67 and 12 yards), Antione Baker (28 yards), Jayden Bradley (23 yards) and Javarlyn Smith (12 yards).

“It’s great,” House said. “Coming into this game, a lot of people thought we were going to lose because of what happened last year when they took our district title away. We came back, got it back and showed why we really deserved it.

“We had this game circled on the schedule since June or July. We are going to take that confidence going into next week, then the playoffs.

House came into Friday’s key district contest, House had thrown for 1,402 yards and 21 touchdowns with just two interceptions on 72-of-114 passing this season.

“He’s one of those young men who everything we have asked him to do, he’s done it,” Rauls said of his signal-caller. “We kind of cut back on the passes we threw. He was 7-fo-7, 8-for-8 or 10-for-12. But when you put it on his shoulders to add more to the passing game, he can get that done, too. He was a very poised quarterback tonight.”

Taylor led twice in the first quarter. After getting a 14-yard touchdown run by Eric Walker II, the Ducks answered LBJ’s game-tying touchdown with a 13-yard touchdown strike from Johnny Guzman to Elijah Afenkhena.

After tying the game again less than five minutes of game clock later, LBJ recovered the misplayed ensuing kickoff and took the lead for good with 6:12 left in the first half.

“They’re a great group of players,” Rauls said of the Ducks. “Taylor has shown that they are going to make waves in the playoffs, as well. Coach [Earven] Flowers and his coaching staff do a great job. We always talk to our players about LBJ vs. LBJ. We want to make sure we don’t beat LBJ on Friday nights. Our guys executed that tonight.”