The Levelland Lobos officially kicked off their 2025 football season on the road at Dalhart this past Friday, falling short 55-15.
The lopsided loss looks rough from an outsider perspective, but if you watched the game, you could see that injuries badly plagued the Lobos all night.
By the conclusion of the matchup, they ended up with only 18 healthy players on their roster.
The Wolves would’ve been a tough out even if Levelland was fully healthy, but they were at a major disadvantage with their lack of health, which Head Coach Lyle Leong addressed in his postgame interview.
“The kids fought till the end. We’ve got a lot of injuries; some kids didn’t come off the field all night,” Leong said. “We’ll get people back; we were just so thin tonight. Kids had to play positions they’ve never played before. And they gave everything, with the six linemen that we had. Super proud of our kids, they did awesome. It didn't turn out how we wanted it, but they fought hard and that’s all I could ask for. As coaches, we’ve got to come together and get some stuff fixed.”
One of the kids who fought the hardest was sophomore backup quarterback Bryson Golightly, who got the start due to starting quarterback Ethan Salazar being out with a concussion.
Golightly threw two touchdown passes on the night, one to senior wide receiver Kaden Brogden that went nearly 70 yards and another to junior wide receiver Tobias Gavina that was about 20 yards long.
Along with that, Golightly also made several plays for chunks of yardage with his legs.
“Tonight was his first time ever starting at quarterback on varsity,” Leong said. “He did a fantastic job and there’s always room to get better.”
The young gun had to step up at quarterback this week, but Leong expects Salazar to return next week, and Golightly will move out to wide receiver and become a deep threat weapon.
Two other players who had big games were sophomore running back/linebacker Noah Martin and the previously mentioned wide receiver/ defensive back Kaden Brogden.
Offensively, Martin had several big runs and forced countless broken tackles, while Brogden led the Lobos in receptions on the night and obviously had the explosive touchdown.
Those guys kept taking hits, getting back up and going right back at their opponents, giving commendable effort.
“They’re two great players that did a fantastic job. They did a lot offensively and defensively,” Leong said. “That’s the type of kids they are. They’re leaders and some of the best athletes on the team. For me, it’s kind of my expectation because I’ve seen them do it so many times. I’m blessed to have them and to get to coach them.”
They starred in the loss for the Lobos, but moving forward Leong hopes for them to be able to shine in a win, and to do that they’ll have to obviously get healthy but also work some kinks out.
The Lobos struggled to put together consistent drives and get in a rhythm offensively, and defensively Dalhart was able to enforce a dominant run game.
Leong pointed the blame to his coaching staff rather than the players, and sure while they can improve, anyone could see that injuries were a big reason for those struggles and it was mostly out of their control.
Coming into next week, even the slightest bit more of health and roster depth, will make a huge difference and should help them tie last week's loose ends.
One thing to note before previewing next week is the serious lower body injury that senior wide receiver and defensive back Kysen Niblett sustained, which was severe enough for an ambulance and stretcher to be involved.
To my knowledge, Niblett had a successful procedure and is back home and recovering.
Keep him and his family in your prayers throughout his recovery process.
Now, the Lobos move forward with the extra motivation of playing for their teammate the rest of the season.
They return home this Friday and play host to the Pecos Eagles at 7:00pm, where the Lobos look to get their first win of the young season.
Pecos is 1-0 following a 3628 win in double overtime over Snyder, so Levelland will get the opportunity to hand them their first loss.