|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
||
|
|
| PALESTINE - For a while there, for 12 minutes and 3 seconds in fact, the Palestine Wildcats looked almost human.
But they found their monster suit and fangs and fire-breathing apparatus and snapped Longview across their knees like starched macaroni. The Palestine Wildcats hosted a 7-6 victory with all the scoring confined to the second quarter. Longview who went into the game with a 10 game winning streak and five victories this season fell to one of the impressive football team in East Texas. Longview now has a 2-1 district mark and Palestine is undefeated with a 2-0 record. However, Palestine is 3-2 for the season. The Lobos started out slow and made enough mistakes to last them the entire season. The Lobos in the first half had 8 first downs and 105 yards rushing plus an additional 16 yards in the air. Longview's outstanding defensive team held Palestine to 2 first downs in the first half and 87 yards total offense. Longview again on the toss of the coin and elected to receive. The Lobos ran three offensive plays to net them only 6 yards and on fourth down Jeb Blount punted he ball down field to the 18 yard line of Palestine. The Palestine runner returned the ball to the 20 where the Wildcats took over with 10:04 left in the first quarter. Palestine ran five plays and on fourth down was foxed to punt from the Longview 49 yard line. The ball was killed at the Longview 25. The Lobos under quarterback Ronnie Davis took charge with 7:14 left in the first quarter. Longview moved 75 yards in 15 plays to score their first and only touchdown. Tailback James Lomax went over right tackle from one yard out for the touchdown with 11:57 remaining in the second quarter. Blount's extra point kick went wide tot he left and the Lobos had to settle for only 6 points. The big gainer in the drive was a 16 yard pass from quarterback Davis to wingback Tim McDermott. Other gainers were by David Hiett, Rodney Cox and Lomax. Blount kicked off and speedster Archie William took the ball at the 12 and returned to the Palestine 36. Palestine ran three offensive plays and on fourth down punted. Longview took over at the 29 yard line. Three plays later from the 39 of Longview quarterback Davis went to the air and his pass was intercepted by Charles Goree who went to his right and back to his left and down the right to cross the goal line for Palestine's touchdown. With 8:42 remaining in the second quarter, Palestine tied the game up. Quarterback Mike Yeager, 180-pound junior, kicked the extra point to give Palestine a 7-6 lead. The extra point by Yeager was enough to beat Longview. The Lobos ran a total of 20 offensive plays in the first half while Palestine ran only seven. At the start of the third quarter, Longview kicked off and Archie Williams took the ball at the 5 and returned to the 21. On the first play Charles Williams fumbled the ball and Longview's bill Williams recovered the ball at the Palestine 19 with 11:50 left in the third quarter. Lomax carried three straight times and netted only 7 yards. On fourth down Longview decided to go for a field goal. The ball was placed down at the Palestine 19. Don Peek held the ball. The field goal was blocked and this is where the Longview problems started and ends. One official indicted that Palestine touched the ball and considered the ball to be alive and Longview recovered the ball and gave the ball back tot he Lobos at the Palestine 7-yard line. However, Coach Jim Yeager came on to the field and argued with the officials. Then Longview's coach Tommy Hudspeth came on the field. No one will really know what took placed. However, the official changed his mind and awarded the ball to Palestine. So, the Wildcats took over at their 7 and ran 6 plays and on fourth down from the 31, Palestine punted. Longview took over at the 25 yard line of Longview and marched down the field to the Palestine 31. With just a yard to go for a first down on fourth down, Lomax failed to make the first down and the ball went over to Palestine at the 31 with 3:55 remaining in the third quarter. After three offensive downs, Palestine punted once again. Longview took over at the 40 yard line of Longview with 1:56 left in the third quarter. The Lobos marched down the field and at the 13 yard line of Palestine David Hiett fumbled the ball and was recovered by Palestine to stop a drive. Longview's final big drive was stopped at the 44 of Palestine when quarterback Davis fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Ronnie Rodgers with 6:58 remaining in the contest. Longview's Rodney Cox fumbled at the Longview 33 with 4:13 left to stop another drive. The Lobos took over at their own 25 with 2:16 left. On fourth down, a Davis pass to McDermott covered 10 yards but needed an extra one yard for the first down. So with 1:21 left, Palestine took over and just ran the clock out. This is the second straight year for Palestine to beat Longview. |