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| GRAND PRAIRIE - The Longview Lobos fell from the ranks of the State's AAAA unbeaten and untied teams here Friday night when the powerful Grand Prairie Gophers turned a fourth quarter fumble into a touchdown that gave them a 6-6 tie.
The Lobos scored the first time they got their hands on the ball in a beautiful display of speed and deception, but after their first score they never could generate the steam they needed to overcome a tough and rugged Gopher defense that got stronger as the going got muddier. The field had several stick spots in it which contributed to the inability of both teams to hanging onto the ball too well but as things worked out it was the Lobo terrors which were the costlier. Longview took the opening kickoff and moved down the line to score, staying strictly on the ground. Larry Shoemaker turned in several good gains in the drive, as did Bill Coley, but it was Shoemaker on a 2-yard slash off right guard who lugged the wet leather into the end zone for the touchdown that capped the 85-yard drive. Bob Abney's sweeper on a keeper play around right end on the 2-point conversion attempt ended abruptly on the one when he was nailed hard by two Gopher defenders. In the second quarter Grand Prairie got a break but was unable to cash it in. Abney cut through right tackle and attempted to pitch out but was jarred loose from he ball on the Lobo 23. Frank Gregory, Gopher end, smothered it and the home club had its first real chance to score. The Lobo defense, however, chilled the efforts without two much trouble. don Hartman attempted one pass which was incomplete and two line plays gained a scant 6 to the 17. On fourth down Hartman tried another gain and it was batted down, the Lobos taking over at that point. Two great kicks by Abney kept the Gophers from getting too much out of hand of the rest of the half. One was a booming 44-yarder in the middle of the second which was taken on the Gopher 31 on a fair catch. The second came in the fading moments of the half after the Wolves on a fumble exchange took possession on the Longview 36. A couple of of plays later Abney boomed a beauty 56 yards dead on the Grand Prairie 6. From there Hartman slipped a couple of incomplete pass and the half was over. The Lobos fumbled once too often in the second half and finally got taxed for it in the fourth quarter. Doug Bruner let the ball get away from him on the Lobo 20 and big Jimmy Frank grabbed it there. Two hard-running Gopher giants, Roy Swadienak and Gene Joffrey, alternated to move it to the 12 and from there Joffrey took the snap from his tailback position powered through right tackle, cut back down the middle and ran over the two Lobos and plunged into the end zone to tie the score. The Gophers elected to give Joffrey another shot on the 2-point conversion and sent him over the same tackle slot but the hole didn't open up this time and he was downed short of the payoff. It was a wild one from that point on. Only 7:23 remained in the game after the Gophers tied it up, and the next time the Lobos moved into the home club's 20 twice but were unable to score. Longview took the kickoff after the Gophers scored and moved all the way to the 10 before losing the ball on downs. After another of Joffrey's booming quick kicks set them back to their own 45, they took to the air and were doing fine when they ran out of time. Abney hit Coley for 2, Pete Mobbs for 22 and Brunner for another 16 to the 30. Then with time for only one more play, he shot one complete to Bruner on the 20 but the fleet little cutback was nailed there to make the whole thing futile. This was the Wolves toughest experience with mud and included in the mixture tonight was a fine Gopher defense and those powerful backs, Joffrey and Swadlenak, running off the single wing that is designed to exploit that power best. The Wolves looked as though they had a shade the better ball club but they made mistakes when it hurt, and the opposition was quick to make them costly. |