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Schools

University City Falls to Ladue in Regular Season Finale

The Rams' 35-6 victory Thursday at SLUH clinches a playoff spot.

Daylen Dean has been a stalwart on the Ladue defense for the past couple of seasons.

The senior was an all-conference performer on defense last year. Dean had another strong effort defensively Thursday night but he also was a big contributor on offense.

Dean played a lot of running back in the abscence of standout running back Deavin Edwards, who was out with an ankle injury.

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Dean responded with 124 yards on just nine carries and a pair of touchdowns as Ladue defeated University City 35-6 in the regular season finale for both teams.

The win moves Ladue on to the first round of the playoffs as it will play Vashon Wednesday night at a site to be determined (likely Sumner High School). The loss ended the season for the Lions.

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"Today was now or never," Dean said. "It was my senior year and I didn't want it to be my last game. It was a little tiring playing both ways but I knew I had to suck it up and play hard."

Dean and the Rams hope to have Edwards back in uniform Wednesday night but it he is not ready to go, Dean will be willing to contribute on both sides of the ball.

"Daylen is such a valuable player on defense," Ladue coach Mike Tarpey said. "We like to keep him fresh for defense but tonight I told him that he was going to have to let it all hang out. He had an outstanding game as did our entire defense."

Ladue had a 14-0 lead in the second quarter after short touchdown runs by Brandon Carr and Mike Horton-Loftin.

University City got right back into the game as DeAndre Williams scored on a 4-yard run with just over two minutes to play in the half.

The third quarter was scoreless but Ladue scored three unasnwered touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Dean scored a pair of touchdowns, just over a minute apart. He had a 19-yard run for a score with 8:18 to play. The Rams then held University City on downs and it took Dean just one play to run 43 yards for another touchdown with 7:07 left in the game.

Shawn Whitley rounded out the scoring with a 4-yard run with less than four minutes to play.

"We had the challenge tonight of showing people whether we were a one-man team or a good football team," Tarpey said.

The Rams answered emphatically that they are indeed a solid team and they will get a chance to show it again Wednesday. Tarpey said that Edwards is day-to-day.

"He is getting a lot better but we want to make sure he comes back 100 percent," Tarpey said. "Vashon is a team that is similar to University City. They like to spread it out and they are very athletic."

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