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| LONGVIEW - The Longview Lobos have advanced to five state championship games in the illustrious history of the program.
I've covered sports at the Longview News-Journal during four of those seasons - one as a beat writer for the Lobos and three times now as sports editor for the newspaper. Depending on who you ask, that either makes me very old or very fortunate. Some days I feel old. The grind that is football season in East Texas begins in early August, but as a longtime writer for Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine, I've been doing football chores since early March. That came on the heels of realignment and National Signing Day in February and led to spring practice in May, 7 on 7 football in June and then two-a-days. Most days - heck, even days when I'm bone tired - I feel fortunate to do what I do and have done for the past 32 seasons. I write about sports. I take that back. I write about people who play sports and coach sports. Big difference. My history with the Lobos started back in 1987 when I was a know-it-all, 21-year-old rookie sports editor at the Kilgore News Herald. The Lobos opened the season on the road against Kilgore, and I predicted - in print - Longview would defeat the Bulldogs. I was wrong. Kilgore 24, Longview 19. After three years in Kilgore and seven in Lufkin as sports editor at the Lufkin Daily News, I moved to Longview to be closer to my ailing mom and work for the Longview News-Journal. Shortly after I arrived in Longview, the Lobos - who a couple of weeks later would climb to No. 1 - opened district play on the road at No. 5 Lufkin and I went along to help with coverage. I had seen Lufkin demolish four teams before I left there to come to Longview, so I picked against the Lobos in a tough road game. I was wrong. Longview 28, Lufkin 17. In fact, the Lobos wouldn't lose that season until running into a Katy juggernaut in the state championship game at the Houston Astrodome on Dec. 13, 1997. I remember that date not only because I was part of the Longview News-Journal's coverage team that day, but also because I had arranged with the folks at the Astrodome to help me propose to my then-girlfriend via the jumbotron scoreboard at halftime of the game. When the words "Rachel, will you marry me?" popped up on the board, I dropped to one knee, produced a ring, got a "Yes" from Rachel, headed back to the pressbox, covered the remainder of the game and then wrote two stories that helped the News-Journal win a Best of Cox Enterprises first-place award for Deadline Sports Coverage. I've always worked well under pressure. I did, however, miss on my prediction of Longview 31, Katy 24 (Katy won 24-7). I was named sports editor at the Longview News-Journal before the 2007 season, which means I guided the sports department through its coverage of back-to-back state championship game appearances in 2008 and 2009. Those games ended with losses by the Lobos, both to a Lake Travis program that was in the midst of winning five straight big trophies. Now, the Lobos are back in the big game, facing Beaumont West Brook this Saturday for the Class 6A Division II state championship at the Y'all Mahal in Arlington. Don't look here for a prediction, but I will say this with confidence: Some good kids and good coaches are going to be participating in a football game on Saturday, and win or lose, they'll still be good kids and good coaches when the clock hits :00. Longview should be as proud of that as any trophy the Lobos bring home. |