LONGVIEW VS BEAUMONT WEST BROOK
TEAMS
1ST
2ND
3RD
4TH
FINAL
LONGVIEW
13
7
6
9
35
BEAUMONT WEST BROOK
7
21
0
6
34
GAME STATISTICS
STATISTIC
LONGVIEW
BEAUMONT WEST BROOK
First Downs
23
24
Rushing Yards
159
349
Passing Yards
425
144
Passes
16-27-0
10-21-0
Punts
2-44.0
4-34.5
Fumbles/Lost
1-1
1-1
Penalties
8-62
5-41
'NERVE-WRACKING': FANS IN STANDS CHEER ON LOBOS
ARLINGTON - Lobo National on Saturday received the Christmas gift it's waited 81 years to unwrap.

The Longview High School Lobos survived three tense hours of state championship drama, then hoisted the Class 6A Division II trophy after a 35-34 nail-biting win over Beaumont West Brook - all before an audience of 48,421 people at AT&T Stadium.

"This moment means everything for Longview, man, everything for Longview," Longview class of 2000 alum Otto Parker said after the game. Like all Lobo fans here, he was well aware his alma mater hadn't won a state title since 1937.

Though most wouldn't admit it in the jubilation after the victory, the Lobos' come-from-behind victory had fans on the edges of their seats for much of the game.

Tevin Williams, a 2010 LHS alum, said he certainly felt the anxiety in his stomach.

"To see this happen, man it's amazing because we've went through a lot in Longview," Williams said. "Just to see something positive happen, it's something good, man."

The Lobos trailed by eight points at least twice in the game including, in the second half, but when they cut the lead with quarterback Haynes King's zig-zagging 25-yard touchdown run, Lobo Nation erupted.

So did State Sen. Bryan Hughes.

The Republican lawmaker and Mineola native said he had no choice but to come to AT&T Stadium after spending several days in Longview this past week.

"This was all everyone was talking about understandably, so I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," he said.

Hughes said he plans to get together with Longview state Rep. Jay Dean to get a resolution passed in the state House and Senate in recognition of the Lobos' state title, and perhaps invite the team to Austin, he said.

"This is a big deal," Hughes said. "We've had a strong program for a long time. This is an exciting day. I'm proud to represent Longview."

Lake Williams, 15-year Longview High School physics teacher Shannon King - no relation to the quarterback or his head coach father - has seen past Lobo football teams reach the title game only to come up short.

"I'm so proud," the teacher said. "I know the hard work that they've put in. I know the tight-knight group that it is, and it just meant the world to me that he finally brought it together and was able to punch it in. It was like, we finally broke through. We tried and tried the whole game and finally broke through."

Longview was making its fifth appearance in a state title game, with its only victory in the first one way back in 1937.

George Goode, class of 1942, recalled that state title team as he watched the Lobo Band during halftime, when the Lobos trailed 28-20. Goode was a junior high student and didn't attend the 1937 team's 19-12 state title victory over Wichita Falls in Dallas' Cotton Bowl. But he was among more than a thousand people who welcomed the team home when it stepped off the train in downtown Longview.

"Half the town was down there when that train came in," Goode recalled.

He later played varsity his senior year, and from there he served 31 years in the U.S. Air Force. Now 94 years old, his daughter brought him to AT&T Stadium to see the latest Lobos.

He was anxious at halftime.

"Right now, it's not pretty good because we're getting outplayed pretty bad," Goode said before adding, "It's alright. It's just a game."

Ruby Floyd was having tense moments herself.

She has been a staunch Lobo fans for more than 40 years and a regular at Lobo Stadium as well as Womack Field, where many of the Lobos get their starts as elementary school-age football players. She even had a photo taken with the Lobos wide receiver Kamden Perry that went viral online earlier this season.

However, Floyd had never been to an out-of-town Lobo game - until Saturday.

When her caregiver Vickie Lallor asked Floyd if she was worried, though, Floyd responded confidently, "Nah, they're going to win."

Perry went on to set the Class 6A state title record fo receiving yards in the victory.

True Lobo fans never doubted the team would win - at least, that's what they'll tell you.

"We've always got to keep faith in the team," Parker said, "but there was ups and downs. It was a nerve-racking game."