|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
||
|
|
| FORT WORTH - The Polytechnic Parrots, who hadn't won a game all season, handed Longview its first loss in five starts by scoring two second-half touchdowns to defeat the Lobos at Farrington Field here Friday night, 12-7.
The victory was only the second for Poly in non-conference play in the last four seasons but they achieved it the hard way by striking for the winning touchdown with only two minutes and 10 seconds remaining to play in the fourth quarter. The touchdown that spelled the downfall of the Lobos came on a nine yard pass from quarterback Gary Priddy to end Johnny Burrell, who was all alone in the end zone when he took the heave over his shoulder. Longview led in nearly all statistics but the Parrots led in the vital touchdown department with their strong second half surge in which they completely outplayed the Lobos in the last two quarters. Longview had 11 first downs to nine for Poly but only one of those for the Lobos came in the second half. Moreover, Longview, usually effective through the air, completed only two passes in 10 attempts and they were good for only 10 yards. Poly had nine first downs and six of them came in the fourth quarter when the Parrots were in almost complete control of the game. Halfback Billy Coley scored Longview's lone touchdown on a one yard plunge in the opening minutes of play and Mike Clark added the extra point from placement to wind up the scoring for the Lobos, who battle futilely the rest of the way. Halfback Pete Mobbs went over from the 6 in the second quarter for Longview but that touchdown was nullified by a holding penalty. Halfback Eugene Mayes almost got away for a Poly touchdown on the opening kickoff, which he returned 43 yards and broke into the open before he was run down from behind on Longview's 48-yard line. Any ideas the Parrots had of launching a scoring drive died immediately, however, as Bill Bolger intercepted Priddy's pass on the first play from scrimmage and raced it back 30 yards to Poly's 40-yard line. From there the Lobos needed just eight plays to score. Bolger ripped over right tackle for 11 yards. Eddy Cooper picked up five more and Harry Moore scampered 14 yards through tackle for a first down on the Poly 15. Bolger, Coley and Cooper got another first down on the 5 in three tries, after which Moore plowed to the one and Coley went over left tackle from there for a touchdown. Bolger held and Clark kicked the extra point from placement. Early in the second quarter the Parrots marched 43 yards to reach Longview's 7 with first down and goal to go, but after four plays they wound up still on the 7 and the ball went over to the Lobos when Bolger nailed Mayers on his attempted end sweep on third down and Priddy's fourth down pass fell short. The Lobos barley missed another touchdown late in the second period when they drove 85 yards without scoring. A 25 yard gallop by Moore over left tackle and a 22 yard end sweep by Bolger after faking a pass helped Longview reach the Polytechnic 8, only to have the drive bog down when the Lobos drew a 15 yard holding penalty on a play on which Mobbs scored, and the ball finally went over to Poly on its own 25-yard stripe. End Steve Wakefield intercepted a pass and returned it 55 yards to Longview's 5 to set the stage for the Parrot' first touchdown in the opening minutes of the third quarter. After Jim Virgin and Priddy had picked up three yards in two carries, Sonny Rosina went over from the 2. Mayes' kick on the try for extra point was wide, leaving Longview with a 7-6 lead, which stood up through the rest of the period. Arthur Hager recovered a fumble on Longview's 49-yard line to give the Parrots another scoring chance early in the fourth quarter and Poly drove down to the 23 but ran out of steam there and the Lobos took over on downs with Abney kicking out to Poly's 32. From there the Parrots launched a 68 yard march to score the winning touchdown. A pass interference penalty that gave Poly a 33 yard gain and a first down on Longview's 37 proved especially damaging to the Lobos. Another pass from Priddy to Burrell reached the 13 and Virgin drove to the 9 with Priddy passing to Burrell in the end zone on the next play for a touchdown. Mayers' kick on the try for extra point was wide again, but it didn't matter because the second Poly touchdown was all the Parrots needed. The Lobos gained possession of the ball one more time and tried to beat the clock with a passing attack but Burrell intercepted a pass for Poly and the Parrots simply ran the clock out. |