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| NACOGDOCHES - On a night better suited for waterfowl, the Longview Lobos found enough good footing and sloshed their way to a 30-13 win over Nacogdoches Friday and earned Pat Collins his first district win in 12-5A.
The rain falling and turning Dragon Stadium in a quagmire, the Lobos enjoyed their biggest scoring output of the season. In spite of the wet conditions, both tailback LaRandall McKind and Joel Armstrong both rushed for over 100 yards. The Lobos, who snapped a three-game losing streak, improved to 3-6 for the year and 1-3 in district. Nacogdoches fell to 3-6 and remaining the only winless league team at 0-4. Both teams close the regular season next week, with Longview hosting Lufkin and the Dragons traveling to Marshall. "I was trying to think of the last time I had seen these kinds of conditions," said Collins. "In all my years of coaching I can't remember playing in anything like this. The conditions were terrible, but I thought out football team did an outstanding job. "It sure feels good to win one. Hopefully, we can come back and get one next week for these 21 seniors who have gone through an awful lot this season." Longview won behind the play of its offense, defense and special teams. It held Nacogdoches to just 77 total yards and only three first downs. The Dragons had only 15 yards and one first down the entire second half. The Lobos gained 318 - 288 of it coming on the ground. A 21-point third quarter rallied the Lobos to a come-from-behind victory after two costly miscues had them trailing 13-3 at the half. McKind had a career performance with 126 yards on 20 carries. Armstrong, who leads the team in rushing, added 106 on 17 carries. It was the second straight game the Sophomore had gone over 100 yards and the third time this season. Longview got a pair of touchdowns from two defensive starters as Wesley Brown scored from 2 yards out, and Bobby Carter tallied on a 5-yard carry to give the Lobos their first lead at 17-13 with 4:04 to play in the third quarter. Brown's touchdown came after Willie Andrews recorded his third interception of the season and returned it 41 yards to the Dragon 3. Two plays later, Brown scored into the right side of the line. The Lobos held on defense, and after a 23-yard punt, took over at the Nacogdoches 4. They then ran eight plays, all on the ground, before Carter took it the final five yards at the 4:04 mark. Alex Cammack added both extra points. It was Cammack's 33-yard field goal with one second remaining before halftime that erased the goose egg on the scoreboard for the Lobos. Longview scored its third touchdown of the third quarter as Antoine Pickron blocked Andrew Haile's punt from his own 37 and Keilan Tate returned it for the score. It was Tate's second score of the season - he had an 8-2yard interception return against John Tyler. Armstrong closed out the scoring on a 14-yard scoring run with 5:00 remaining in the game. It followed a 48-yard run by McKind, who had the ball inexplicably slip out of his hands before recovering it at the Dragon 15. A wet ball led to six Longview turnovers, four coming on the ground and two through the air - one of which resulted in a Nacogdoches touchdown. In fact miscues helped the Dragons take a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter. A mishandled snap by Armstrong was recovered by Phillip Skinner at the Longview 27-yard line. Three plays later, James Carver lofted a pass into the arms of Earl Morris in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown. Haile converted on the point-after for a 7-0 lead with 10:23 showing on the clock before halftime. After the ensuing kickoff, Skinner again came up big for the Dragons. He plucked Armstrong's pass out of the air at the Longview 27 and raced untouched into the need zone with 10:00 remaining. However, the snap on Haile's extra point try was high and the conversion attempt failed. Longview finally put together a drive in the final 34 seconds of the half after forcing the Dragons to punt from their own 14. Armstrong then drove the Lobos to the 16, and Cammack converted just his second field goal of the season. |