The Levelland Lobos football squad kicked off district play against the Estacado Matadors this past Friday, falling 20-13 in a hard-fought defensive battle.
The loss puts the Lobos at 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the district this season, which was a frustrating result for Head Coach Lyle Leong.
“I thought we played well, we just didn’t get it done. We had too many mistakes in our execution. We had two touchdowns called back, so those types of things, we’ve got to get fixed,” Leong said. “But like I always say man, it’s hard to play the refs and the other team. I don’t say that very often, but if you look at the penalty count in the pivotal moments, it’s a lot to a little. Coach Ward does a great job, we played an awesome team tonight, so all the credit goes to him and his team. They did a great job, but we’ve got to try to execute and not have all these penalties.”
It was a rough night for the ref crew as they seemed out of touch with the game and botched several calls for both teams, which certainly hurt Levelland in crucial spots in the game.
The Lobos offense was stagnant really until the fourth quarter and in the moments where they did get going, they suffered badly from penalties.
“We had two touchdowns, three first downs called back. I get that there’s holding, but there’s holding every single play,” Leong said. “That’s one of those things; we’ve got to not make mistakes but that was our 14th touchdown callback this season tonight.”
He also noted that if they don’t get penalized on those plays, they win the game, and everything is drastically different.
On a frustrating offensive night, several players were still able to find success including junior starting quarterback Ethan Salazar, sophomore running back Noah Martin and sophomore wide receiver Bryson Golightly.
Salazar went 14/23 on his passes for a 61% completion rate, throwing for 152 yards and an interception, also rushing the ball six times for 26 yards and a touchdown.
Martin also found success on the ground with seven carries for 45 yards and a touchdown, while Golightly led the Lobos in receiving yards with two catches for 56 yards.
It wasn’t quite the high scoring Levelland offense we’ve seen this season, but the defense stepped up big and kept them in the game all night.
They did struggle to stop the Matadors rushing attack, yet they kept making timely plays and rising to the occasion.
They forced two turnovers and halted several Estacado drives deep into the red zone, keeping them from scoring.
Those two turnovers were probably the best plays in the game as senior defensive back Kaden Brogden made a fantastic read to intercept the quarterback’s pass and then a perfect hit right on the ball by junior defensive back Tobias Gavina forced a fumble that Bryson Golightly recovered.
Gavina was also one of three Lobos with double digit tackles as he had 13 total tackles.
Junior linebacker Jake Potter also had 14 total tackles and a tackle for loss, and senior defensive lineman Deven Ponce recorded 13 tackles.
“The defense played great. They did their thing tonight and kept us in the game offensively,” Leong said. “We just didn’t get it done, so we win as a team and lose as a team. Offensively, we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to score points at the end of the day. They held them to 20 points; we’ve got to be able to score more than 20 points.”
The offense has been Levelland’s best aspect of the team this year, so they deserve some grace, but they hope to learn from this moving forward so they can capitalize on such great defensive play.
Along with the defense, the kickoff return unit was also awesome against Estacado as they had several big returns to set the offense up with great field position.
Tobias Gavina had one return for 45 yards; Bryson Golightly had one return for 17 yards and Kaden Brogden had one return for 10 yards.
“They just worked hard. Everybody got on their blocks, and we had some kids in the back that made people miss. Bryson, Tobias and Brogden all did a heck of a job,” Leong said. “We’re so lucky to have those guys back there and everybody on that front line did an awesome job too. Overall, great job by that return unit.”
That was one of many bright spots in what was a disappointing result, but an effort they can walk away from with their head held high.
The Lobos now have a much-needed bye week before their next game that they will certainly utilize.
With 10 players injured, Coach Leong hopes the break can provide enough time to get some players back and bring more roster depth into the next game.