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| IRVING - It's been said: Revenge is a dish best served cold.
It was 39 degrees at Texas Stadium on Saturday. That qualifies as a chilly day in Texas, and an appropriate temperature for some revenge for the Longview football team. Longview got a degree of revenge with a 28-14 victory over South Garland in a Class 5A Division II area playoff. The catalyst for Longview was running back Johnny Garrett who had a season-high 219 yards rushing, including a 19-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-inches play with 11:22 remaining to cool off the Colonels for good. The win, to a degree, avenged bi-district playoff losses to South Garland in 2003 and 2005. Longview (11-1) won its 11th straight game and advances to a Region II semifinal against Leander (9-3) at a time, date and place to be determined. The Lobos snapped a 10-game winning streak for South Garland, which ends its season at 10-2. Longview kicker Zach Decker, who missed a 21-yard field goal in a 14-13 loss to South Garland in 2005, didn't have a big kick, but he had a big pass. After South Garland cut Longview's halftime lead to 21-7 on a five-yard run by Nick Florence, Longview was facing a fourth-and-six at the South Garland 36-yard line. Out of punt formation, Longview ran a fake and Decker found Jonathan Oliver for a seven-yard pass. The conversion kept a 15-play, 7:04 drive alive, which was capped by Garrett's touchdown run. South Garland struck back with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Nick Florence to Terry Asante with 9:16 and had a chance to get the game within seven points on a Denzel Davis interception. After Davis' pick however, South Garland's next drive died at the Longview 11-yard line with 6:06 remaining, when Longview linebacker Dacorris Ford forced Florence to throw an incompletion. Florence, who has orally committed to Baylor, had 274 yards passing and two touchdowns. Longview missed on its first two chances to score. Longview's first drive ended at the South Garland 21-yard line when Denzel Davis picked off a Damion Lewis pass. Longview's second drive ended with a Decker 34-yard field-goal attempt going wide left. When the second quarter came around however, the Lobos found their offensive touch down the middle of the field. Lewis found tight end David Larsen wide open for 48-yard touchdown pass with 11:53 remaining in the second for the game's first score. Longview's next touchdown was a 30-yard strike from Lewis to Mark Johnson, who found an open spot in the middle of the field to give the Lobos a 14-0 lead with 9:19 left in the second. The play was set up by a 64-yard run by Johnny Garrett, who had 125 yards rushing in the first half. A 22-yard punt by South Garland's Nick Florence, set up a touchdown run by Johnson, who scampered in on a third-and-goal from the 18-yard line with 3:31 left in the first half. Johnson finished with 97 total yards of offense in the first half and 137 total yards in the game. Meanwhile, South Garland's offense - which averaged 31.8 points per game - had 68 total yards in the first half. Longview defensive end Cordarren Solomon had two first-half sacks, while Cody Morrow added an interception. |