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| LONGVIEW - Haynes King scored six touchdowns on Friday night in Longview's district opener.
But it was the Lobo defense that stole the show. King scored five rushing touchdowns and added one through the air but it was the Lobo defense with a shutdown night in a 49-3 win for Longview over Rockwall in the District 11-6A opener at Lobo Stadium. With the win, Longview runs its season record to 5-0 and jumps to a 1-0 start in 11-6A. Rockwall drops to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in district action. "That's the biggest thing, getting off to a 1-0 start," King said. "All of non-district got us ready for tonight. I think we played tough competition that got us ready to play a physical style of football and we did. "Being 1-0 puts on on an inside track to all of our goals. We beat a good football team tonight and we'll see more the rest of the way." King hit the endzone on five of his six carries, three to cap scoring drives and two more with nothing but grass in front of him for 91 yards total. He added 82 passing yards and a first-quarter touchdown pass as well. "He played well," John King said. "They played us a little different than we thought and we got in some different sets that gave us an extra hat to run the ball. "Two of them were pass plays were he scrambled. He did a good job running the ball and managing the offense." But on Friday, it was the Lobo defense shutting down Rockwall's prolific offense. Longview held the Yellowjackets, who came in averaging 557 yards of offense and 53 points, to 168 yards overall and no touchdowns. Rockwall finished with 51 rushing yards on 34 attempts and had 117 through the air. The Yellowjackets finished 3-of-16 on third down and punted six times. Standout wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba had one catch for four yards before leaving the game early in the second quarter. Longview's defense front got pressure in the backfield quickly all night and came away with two fumble recoveries, one from Drew Beltran. Tyshawn Taylor recovered a first-quarter fumble that put Longview up, 21-0, on the first play of the second quarter. Cedric Smith, Dakirin Buchanan and Kybrien-Jackson Jamerson also came up with big plays for the Lobo defense, which has held opponents to 31 points through five games this season. Jackson-Jamerson forced the fumble that Taylor recovered. "Defense played great tonight tonight," Longview head coach John King said. "The big thing was our front five being able to stand up to the run and feather some of their formations to not let them have the RPO that they've executed so well. "Chasing the ball, not giving up big plays and tackling well in space, all of the things it takes." Offensively, Longview finished with 40 carries for 290 yards with a host of contributors on the ground. Xavier Jimmerson added 80 cards on nine carries and JD Williams totaled 47 yards on eight carries. Kevin Jones tacked on 43 yards with a one-yard punch-in touchdown. Kaden Kearbey had four catches for 46 yards and Jhailon Braden hauled in a 24-yard catch on third down, where the Lobos finished 7-of-11. Freshman wide receiver Jalen Hale hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass on his first varsity catch for the Lobos. Longview's defense opened the night with back-to-back three-and-outs. King connected with Kearbey and raced 30 yards to the endzone for a 7-0 lead. Jackson-Jamerson sniffed out a fake punt attempt and King hit Hale for a 14-0 lead. On the next Rockwall drive, Taylor forced and recovered a fumble and the return set up the Lobos with a short field again. King cashed in on the turnover with a two-yard run for a 21-0 lead with 11:51 left in the second quarter. Beltran recovered a fumble on the next drive and it was King again on a seven-yard touchdown run. Rockwall got on the board on a long drive heading into halftime on a 41-yard field goal from Ethan Spearman for a 28-3 Longview lead at halftime. King added a two-yard run and a 45-yard blast in the third quarter to wrap up his night. Jones tacked on a one-yard touchdown midway through the fourth. Jhy'Mhyrion Gay had a tackle for loss on fourth-and-one with Rockwall knocking to keep the Yellowjackets out of the endzone at Lobo Stadium. Longview, which now owns the state's longest winning streak at 21 in a row following Newton's loss to Gilmer, is open next week while Rockwall hosts Mesquite Horn. |