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| LONGVIEW - Longview's football program earned a bounce back 56-14 district win against Sherman on Friday night, and improved to 200-38-6 in games at the current Lobo Stadium.
The Lobos now hold a 6-2 record in 2021, and a 3-1 mark in District 7-5A Division I competition. The Bearcats, on the other hand, are now 3-4 and 1-2 respectively. "Any win is great at Lobo Stadium," said Longview athletic director and head football coach John King. "Just a historic place. To get another win and to do it at home at this place is special." Sherman put some early pressure on the Lobos and took the early lead at the 9:58 mark of the opening quarter. Phoenix Grant found Elijah Chapman on a 59-yard touchdown strike to give the Bearcats an early 7-0 advantage. Less than three minutes later, Longview had a game-tying answer. The Lobos handed the ball to Taylor Tatum for a two-yard touchdown run at the 7:07 mark of the period. The team finished with 327 rushing yards and six scores on the ground. Tatum's 13 carries for 179 yards and a trio of scores were a big part of that. "That's a great job blocking by the offensive line, running backs and receivers," King said of his team's run attack. The Lobos got the ball back and took its first lead at 4:11. Tatum's 18-yard touchdown run gave the home team its first lead of the night at 14-7. The Bearcats had another answer in the opening minute of the second quarter. Grant drove them down the field, and scored from two yards out on a fourth and goal attempt to make it a 14-14 game at the 11:08 mark of the period. Longview refocused enough to take a 21-point lead into the halftime break. Tatum got the ball on a 21-yard touchdown run at the 7:40 mark, and Isaiah Harris added a two-yard touchdown run at 3:24. Then, the Lobos turned to their passing game to wrap up their first half scoring. Jordan Allen connected with Jalen Hale on a 17-yard touchdown connection to make it a 35-14 game at the 1:10 mark. Allen finished 8-of-10 passing for 173 yards and a pair of scores. The same strategy allowed Longview to add another quick touchdown in the opening minutes of the second half. Allen found DeKalon Taylor on a 41-yard strike at the 10:52 mark of the third quarter to make it a 42-14 score. But, Longview returned to its running ways to record its final two scores of the night. The Lobos handed the ball to Harris on a 10-yard run at the 7:44 mark of the period, and Joshua Thomas called his own number on a 32-yard run at the 1:23 mark of the frame to clinch the 56-14 final score. Both Longview and Sherman will play McKinney North in their next district game. The Lobos are off next week before their scheduled 7 p.m. game at McKinney ISD Stadium on Thursday Oct. 28. The Bearcats will host the same Bulldogs in next Friday's 7:30 p.m. contest at Bearcat Stadium. "It comes at a pretty good time," King said of his team's bye week. "It doesn't need to be an off week. It needs to be an open week. We're still working on things, and we're still working on ourselves. That's how we're going to treat it. The good thing is you get a Thursday game after, so you don't have to wait quite as long." |