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| GALVESTON - If any team wants to know whether the huge Ball line can move well enough to make Galveston a championship contender, the Longview Lobos can furnish some first-hand information on the subject and they learned it the hard way.
The ponderous forward wall of the Tors, showing tremendous speed and aggressiveness despite its size, kept Longview's highly regarded offense bottled up ll night here Friday as the awesome Galveston eleven crushed its way to a convincing 26-0 victory. Moreover, there wasn't any doubt that the Tors could have won by an even wider margin had it not been for the fact that they began to use their reserves freely from the second quarter on. The Tors needed only eight plays to score two touchdowns the first two times they got the ball and were leading 12-0 before all the fan shad reach the stadium. They hit pay dirt again early in the second quarter to go ahead at the half, 19-0, and then casually drove 83 yards for their final touchdown in the fourth quarter. It marked on the second time in coach Catfish Smith's three-year tenure that Longview had failed to score. The other occasion was a 14-0 loss to Palestine last year and that time the Lobos blanked themselves by losing the ball eights times on fumbles and twice on intercepted passes. Friday night, however Longview simply couldn't score because of the almost brutal Galveston defense that continually ran down the speedy backs of the Lobos before they could get started. At the half Longview did not have a first down and had only netted 22 yards from scrimmage, 11 rushing and another nine through the air. The Lobos wound up with just eight first downs for the game, four of which came in the fourth quarter after Ball had long since safely sewed up the contest. Longview netted a total of just 127 yards, a meager 76 on the ground and another 51 passing. Galveston rolled up 416 net yards from scrimmage, 337 yards of it by rushing. Although he did not score, quarterback D.C. Kobs was the big spark in Galveston's offense. His brilliant deception, timely passing and fine running kept the Tors almost constantly on the march, although the touchdown for the winners were scored by halfback Israel Bustos, Erasmo Herrera, Bobby Garcia and fullback Jerry Payne while Herrera booted two extra points from placement. The Galveston eleven lost no time in getting its offense into action and scored almost as soon as it gained possession of the ball. With the ball on his own 35-yard line and lacking less than a yard for a first down, Kobs gambled on fourth down and sent Bustos on a smash over right tackle. The stocky 160-pounder sprinted past the Longview secondary into he clear and raced 65 yards for a touchdown. Herrera's kick on the try for extra point was wide. A few minutes later Ball took over on the Longview 47 after a punt and quickly scored again. Kobs set up the touchdown when he ripped his way around left end for 36 yards, then made a first down on the one and from there Herrera plowed over from the one. Once again Herrera failed to convert, leaving Galveston ahead at the end of the first period, 12-0. The Tors swept 69 yards in 12 plays for their third touchdown early in the second quarter. A 34-yard pass from Kobs to Herrera moved the ball deep into Longview territory and Payne went over right tackle standings up from eh one to score. This time Herrera converted to give Galveston a 19-0 margin at the half. The Tors made two other serious threats in the second quarter without scoring. Once they drove to Longview's six yard line before their offense bogged down in the face of stubborn resistance by the Lobos and just before the half they pushed down to 13, only to see Longview again stiffen and hold for downs. Longview made its only scoring threat in the third quarter and it was nothing more than a mild gesture. With halfback Dub Thomas and fullback Pete Burks alternately doing the carrying the Lobos managed to reach Galveston's 32-yard stripe for their deepest penetration of the game but the net three plays brought a total of 20 yards in losses and Longview was forced to kick with James Wood banging the ball down to Ball's 17-yard stripe. From there the Tors marched 83 yards in a steady drive for their final touchdown, which Garcia scored on the fourth play of the last quarter when he slashed over tackle from the two. Herrera again converted from placement to end the scoring. Longview attempted to rally briefly in the dying moments of the game when the Lobos took a punt on their own 20 and with Bob Abney passing 11 yards to Billy Coley and 19 yards to Robert Ball's 42 before the final whistle caught them. |