On Senior Night at Lobo Stadium this past Friday, the Levelland Lobos football team manhandled the Borger Bulldogs, 46-12, to move to 6-3 overall this season.
The win also improves Levelland to 2-1 in district play, putting them right back in contention to play for the district championship next week.
It was a night where the Lobos seemed to be clicking in every regard, which Levelland Head Football Coach Lyle Leong credited to the effort of his team.
“The biggest part that I liked from them was the way they played, they played hard,” Coach Leong said. “We weren’t mistake free by any means, but I felt like they executed the things that we needed them to execute. We slowed down the game a little bit, so they did a good job of being able to change the tempo while still keeping the ability to play hard. The coaches had a great plan.”
The players took their coaches plans and implemented them in every phase of the game, starting with the offense.
It was clear the Lobos gameplan was to run the football at the start of the game as their first four touchdowns came on the ground, two by junior running back Jake Potter, one by sophomore running back Noah Martin and one by junior quarterback Ethan Salazar.
That in return opened the passing game for Lobos as Salazar would also throw for three touchdowns, two to sophomore wide receiver Bryson Golightly and one to senior wide receiver Kaden Brogden.
The offense ended the night with 233 rushing yards and 144 passing yards, finishing with 477 total yards of offense.
As stellar as the offense was, the Levelland defense was just as good, holding Borger to 214 total yards of offense and forcing a turnover.
A lot of those yards came in garbage time against Levelland’s backups and so did Borger’s second touchdown.
After surrendering a touchdown on Borger’s first offensive play of the game, the Lobos defense responded by shutting their offense down completely until the meaningless late score.
“If you make one mistake on defense, it usually ends in a touchdown. That’s the hard part about coaching defense and being on defense,” Coach Leong said.
“It’s just about being able to come back and react after something’s happened. They did a great job of coming back, putting it behind them and playing. Coach Brogden, Coach Richardson, the defensive staff and those kids had an excellent plan. They stuck to it, executed and it was awesome.”
They also executed in the third and final phase of the game, special teams, as Noah Martin blocked a Borger punt and set the Lobos up with great field position.
The one thing that Coach Leong did say the Lobos must improve on is penalties. The Lobos had 10 penalties for 120 yards, which has been a common occurrence this season, so they’ll look to be more disciplined moving forward.
Aside from that, Levelland was flawless in the game, and it was a great performance on Senior Night to honor a group of seniors very dear to Coach Leong’s heart.
“I’m super proud. I’ve watched them grow since they were babies. They believed in us when we weren’t winning a lot,” Coach Leong said. “They stuck with us and kept working hard. They mean the world to me, and I’ll always have a special spot in my heart for those seniors for believing and making work fun to come to.”
That same group that was there for the struggles, now could win the district championship this Friday against the Liberty Patriots.
Liberty is 8-1 overall and 3-0 in district, coming off a 49-22 victory over Estacado this past week. They are ranked sixth in 4A-2 (MaxPreps) and currently sit atop the district standings.
While the Lobos are excited to play for the district title for the first time in a long time and are facing an elite team, they’re still treating it like any other week.
“They’re another team on our schedule. Our goal is to go 1-0 every week. We have another opportunity to go 1-0, so we’re not going to pump it up to be the biggest game of the year,” Coach Leong said. “For us they’re another team in our way and we’ve got to execute. They’re really good, coached by great people, but I believe in our kids. There’s nowhere I’d rather be and no one I’d rather be with, then here with us and my boys.”
Treating it like just another game, the Lobos will travel to Patriot Stadium in Lubbock to take on Liberty this Friday at 7 p.m., looking to write their name in the history books as district champions.