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| LONGVIEW - Kilgore came home with the small end of the score from Longview Friday night, but there was nothing small about the way the Bulldogs played the game against the heavily favored Lobos. Before a packed stadium the outweighed Bulldogs fought with everything they had to hold the big, fast Longview backs to a 20-0 margin, one fo the smallest in their six straight victories.
Longview sports followers score the Kilgore line as the best the Lobos have been up against all season. Too much power in the backfield was the story as the heavy, hard-running Lobo ball carriers broke through the long gains and covered Kilgore receivers to halt the pass offense which provided the only Bulldog threat. The Lobos crossed the goal line twice in the first seven minutes of the game, then were held scoreless through the second and third periods as the Bulldogs defense got their number and fought them on almost even terms up and down the field. The final tally came in the last quarter after a short Kilgore punt had given Longview the ball on the Bulldogs' 19-yard line. Jimmy Blakeley, hard-running Lobo quarterback, scored all three touchdowns. F. Grigg, 253-pound tackle who was almost a whole line in himself, kicked two extra points and sent three kickoffs booming into the end zone. A pass from Blakeley to J. Gammon, right end, gave Longview a first down on the Bulldog 8-yard line in the first minutes of the game. From three, Blakeley blasted his way to the 1, and on the next play plunged over for the first score. The attempt at conversion was blocked. Blakeley set up the second score two plays after the kickoff with an interception of Joe Henderson's pass on the Bulldog 34 and a scamper to the 8-yard line. Johnny Dunaway, fullback, tried to buck the Bulldog line for no gain. On a power plunge, halfback Bert Bivins then forced his way to the 1. Lobo end H. Boyland was hurled back to the 3 with a jarring tackle by Bulldog co-captain Jack Davis, but on fourth down, Blakely took the ball again and smashed over the double stripe. This time Griff's placement kick was good, and the Lobos led 13-0 as the first quarter ended. Early in the second period it look as if the touchdown march might continue, with Longview pounding its way to the Kilgore 24. But there the Bulldog line stiffened and two long end zone pass attempts by the Lobos failed. From there on the fight surged around midfield. Kilgore opened a threat when one of Henderson's long aerials found end Howard Alexander on the Bulldog 47 for a gain of 20 yards. But the Lobo's Gammon ended the Bulldog march three plays later with an interception of another long Henderson pass and a gallop to the Kilgore 26. Blakeley, hit hard by Davis, fumbled there to prevent another Lobo scoring threat. Bone-crunching tackles and heads up Bulldog defense which trapped would-be Lobo passers far behind the line of scrimmage for their biggest ground losses of the season told the story of the second and third periods and the greater part of the fourth. Coach Floyd Wagstaff's boys gained plenty of yardage on passes, including a new shovel pass near the line of scrimmage which threat the Lobos off balance and opened a wide hole for the receiver. But lack of a running attack powerful enough o penetrate the heavy Lobo line threw the whole burden of offense on Henderson's passes, and Longview kept the receivers too well covered for any scoring threat to succeed. The final Lobo score was set up in the last quarter with a punt out by Dunaway in the Kilgore coffin corner. Henderson, kicking from behind his own goal line, got off a short high spiral which went out on the 19. There Blakeley draw back to fire a pass, found no receiver, saw a maze of red shirts closing in on him and tucked the ball under his arm to start a shifting run which carried him through half the Kilgore team and over the goal line standing up. |