One of the best illustrations of Brian Hogan's toughness surfaced during a quarterback sneak for a touchdown last fall against Smithson Valley.

Hogan's score on the final play of the first half gave Cedar Park a 17-3 lead in an eventual area-round playoff victory, but it also marked the end of his football season. Cedar Park's team doctors and trainers correctly speculated at halftime that Hogan had torn the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee.

"Brian came over to me and said they (the medical staff) won't let me play," Timberwolves coach Chris Ross said. "He actually thought he could go back out and play."

Ross later learned that Hogan tore his ligaments on the play before the sneak. With his team one yard short of the goal line, though, Hogan had no intention of leaving the game, even if was playing on just one good knee.

Cedar Park players and coaches have grown accustomed to Hogan's ability to tolerate pain. At 5 feet, 11 inches and a lean 165 pounds, the senior quarterback with a buzz haircut takes a beating in every game, but still manages to guide one of the most-proficient offenses in Central Texas.

"I'm not the biggest, I'm not the strongest, I'm not the fastest," Hogan said Wednesday after a practice. "That just makes me strive to want to be better and prove people wrong."

This season, the soft-spoken Hogan has accounted for 1,630 yards — 999 rushing and 631 passing — of Cedar Park's 3,393 total yards, an astonishing figure considering he has sat out the fourth quarters of several blowout victories.

In the past two seasons, Cedar Park is 20-1 when Hogan plays quarterback. The only loss came on Aug. 26 of this season, when the Timberwolves lost at Westwood, 21-13. Cedar Park has rebounded to win its next eight games while rising to No. 8 in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll.

"You can really tell that Brian understands defenses," said former Leander coach Steve Gideon, who watched Cedar Park's morning workout Wednesday. "He probably watches a lot of video and he's a good listener. When the coaches are talking to him, you can see that he's locked in."

One of the highlights of Hogan's two-year run as Cedar Park's starting quarterback came last year, when the Timberwolves earned a 35-21 victory over eventual Class 4A, Division I state champion Lake Travis in the final game of the regular season. The victory gave Cedar Park the District 25-4A championship, and Hogan accounted for 235 total yards and four first-half touchdowns to help the Timberwolves to a shocking 28-0 lead.

Lake Travis avenged the loss in the state quarterfinals, beating Cedar Park 21-20, a game that Hogan watched from the sideline.

On Friday, the two Centex powers meet again, and Hogan's return to the field this fall only intensifies interest in the matchup. The winner earns the district title and a top seed in the playoffs. Lake Travis, the top-ranked team in Class 4A, also will be trying to extend a 15-game winning streak.

A year later, some of the Cavaliers still have vivid memories of Hogan running wild in last year's game.

"(Hogan) has great vision when he runs the ball, and he has a knack for falling forward to gain an extra yard or two," Lake Travis coach Hank Carter said. "He is a patient runner and allows his blockers to get into their blocks before making cuts."

Earlier this season, Cedar Park found itself on the wrong end of a 13-0 score in the third quarter against Vandegrift . The Vipers, on the verge of the biggest victory in the two-year history of their program, saw that lead evaporate when Hogan finally took the field .

Hogan, who was sitting out with a sore shoulder, was summoned by Ross for the second series of the third quarter. The Timberwolves scored touchdowns on their next four possessions, winning 29-28 on Thomas Middleton's touchdown run and his two-point conversion carry in overtime.

Vandegrift coach Drew Sanders said he was surprised by Hogan's slight frame after reading about the player's accomplishments.

"When I first heard of him, I expected this 6-2, 200-pound beast," Sanders said. "He doesn't look that way, but he certainly plays that way."