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| LONGVIEW - Domination accompanied Longview into the postseason at Lobo Stadium.
Behind a complete, total-team night, the Lobos opened the playoffs with a 41-10 dismantling of Temple in a Class 6A, Division II, Region II bi-district championship on Friday night. With the win, Longview moves to 11-0 on the season and advances to the area round where they will take on Dallas Jesuit, who moved to 7-4 on the season with a 45-14 win over Garland Lakeview Centennial. That second-round matchup is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Kincaide Stadium in Dallas. "Kids came out and played well,"" Longview head coach John King said. "I thought we did some great things on offense in the first half and defensively, we settled in to what they were trying to attack us with. "It was one of the more complete games of the year. We were sound in all phases." Longview's offense clicked all night, scoring on its first six possessions, while the Lobo defense shut down a Temple offense that was averaging 48 points and 492.2 yards per game. The Wildcats (8-3) finished with 218 yards of total offense, 79 on the ground on 33 carries and 139 passing. "We had a lot of respect for Temple with their athleticism and physicality," King said. "Our kids watching them throughout the week were really focused and knew we had to play well or it would come to an end." Haynes King turned in a five-touchdown night, finishing 11-of-15 passing for 220 yards and four touchdowns and added 27 yards and another score on the ground. "I thought he did pretty good throwing the ball," King said. "We had a few wrinkles and hit a few big plays there. The touchdown run was designed to be a pass that they covered and he did a good job of extending the play and getting it in the end zone." Kaden Meredith finished with 248 yards - averaging 10.8 yards per carry - and a 67-yard touchdown. He added two catches for 40 yards as well. Kyas Moore had two catches for 97 yards, including a 78-yard connection from King on the Lobos' second snap of the night. Behind Moore, the Lobo tight ends led the way with Jhailon Braden hauling in two touchdowns of 23 and four yards and junior Austin Pencheon snagging a three-yard score on his first varsity catch. Freshman Jalen Hale had three catches for 56 yards, including a 44-yard snag on a Lobo third down. Longview finished with 317 rushing yards on 36 carries and went 5-of-8 on third down. A continued trend, the Lobo defense, led by standout nights from Drew Beltran, Sawyer Goram-Welch, Tyshawn Taylor, Malik Cannon and Kybrien Jackson-Jamerson, forced seven punts from the Wildcats and 136 total yards in the final three quarters. The Wildcats got on the board on its second snap of the game on a 44-yard touchdown pass to Texas commit Quentin Johnston. Outside of that, the Lobo defense was shut down and held Temple to 5-of-14 on third down. On the second snap of the night, after the first of 12 Lobo penalties, King hit Moore for an 87-yard touchdown with 11:47 showing. The point-after attempt was blocked. After a long return, Vance Willis connected with Johnston to put Temple up, 7-6. On the next drive, King converted a 4th-and-1 at the Temple 43 and another third down before hitting Pencheon on a 3-yard score to cap a 13-play, 75-yard drive and take a 13-7 lead. It would be Longview the rest of the way. Beltran, Goram-Welch and Taylor teed off on the Wildcats on the next drive to force the first of seven punts on the next eight Temple possessions, outside of a 43-yard field goal from Adrian Guzman at the end of the second quarter for a 34-10 Lobo lead. Braden had a pair of touchdown catches and King added his rushing touchdown in the second quarter. Meredith popped a 67-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second half to cap the Lobo win. Longview now heads away from Lobo Stadium as the postseason continues. "That's a big one," King said of the win. "You really don't know how your district matches up with someone else. You play those games and know how you match up and then you go outside of it and see the physicality and athleticism and how you match up to it." |