Falling short at home, the Levelland Lobos began district play with a 28-10 loss against the Perryton Rangers Friday. A game highlighted by the run game for both teams, the Rangers were successful in putting together a string of explosive plays. The Lobo defense has proven to be the side of the ball that has kept Levelland in ball games late throughout the season.
However, the lack of depth and piling injuries has become a noticeable factor. Now in the second half of the season, the Lobos have faced more teams that have primarily focused on the run game and that has presented issues for Levelland.
Without linebacker and second-string running back Ladarian Jordan, the Lobos have been forced to rotate and moving certain players around to accommodate injuries.
Levelland Head Coach Lyle Leong is aware of the struggles a team can face towards the back end of a season. Beginning the season with little depth and a smaller roster, Coach Leong says those are factors they must push through to reach their goal.
“The kids played hard and stayed competitive despite things not falling in our favor,” said Coach Leong. “Going into the game, we had a few kids injured that weren’t able to get on the field and we had more injuries by the time clock ran out.”
The Lobos defense stayed strong despite having to fill positions with players who lacked experience.
“Being this late in the season, we had to call upon a few kids who normally don’t play certain positions or they don’t have that in game experience at this level,” explained Leong. “With that being said, as players and coaches we have to continue to step up and try to get the job done to the best of our abilities.”
Levelland’s offense has prioritized the run game as the pass game has been shaky throughout the season.
However, with the combination of Konner Alexander and Rusty Johnson filling the quarterback position Levelland has found their footing offensively at times.
Being their go-to gunslinger, Alexander has seen significant growth in terms of his accuracy as he has relied heavily on receivers such as Jayden Flores, Zameron LeCroy, Wyatt Baccus and Mark Buxkemper.
Alexander was able to gain traction throughout multiple drives with the help of senior running back Marco Guillen against the Rangers.
With a handful of positive plays on the offensive side of the ball, the Lobos managed 10 points against the Rangers.
With Levelland holding Perryton to seven points in the first half, the Lobos began a 60yard offensive drive with seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Dropping back to pass at the Perryton 10-yard-line, Alexander connected with Baccus on a comeback route in the front corner of the end-zone to get the score to 7-7. The Lobos would trade possessions with the Rangers until the Levelland defense would give up a 50-yard touchdown run to Perryton. Levelland would respond with an impressive offensive drive but would stall in Perryton territory with seconds remaining in the third quarter. Coach Leong would settle for the field goal as Guillen was successful getting off the 30-yard kick. Trailing 14-10, the Lobo defense began to show signs of fatigue and frustration as the long offensive drives by Perryton continued to burn the clock. The Lobos offense had a total of 268 yards while Baccus had five catches for 77 yards with a touchdown. LeCroy finished the night with five catches for 77 yards and Buxkemper had two catches for eight yards. Alexander was 12-22 for 102 yards and a touchdown while Guillen rushed for 102 yards on 19 carries. Alexander had nine carries for 36 yards and Johnson had five rushes for 25 yards. With that positive momentum, one constant issue that has made the Lobos struggle offensively is penalties. Each week, the Lobos have been trending in a positive direction limiting selfish penalties, yet fans in attendance supporting the Lobos have continued to see the Lobos offensive efforts be stalled by penalties. “Excuses don’t change the outcome of these games and they won’t fix the problems that we need to address to become a better team,” said Coach Leong. “However, it feels like every week we are fighting an uphill battle against our opponent and a referee crew.” With the lack of offensive production, the Levelland and Coach Leong have been continuously forced to send out the defense for long periods of time. Facing opponents who prioritize a passing attack could potentially limit the wear and tear of facing a run-based offense, but the Lobos have faced few opponents with top-tier gunslingers. Coach Leong has been vocal on the sidelines with crews each week at home or away. “Every week we gain traction on offense and begin to move the ball and we have drives stalled because of a penalty or touchdowns taken away,” explained Coach Leong. “I know there are going to be penalties, that is a part of the game, but I have over 100 clips of film of penalty calls on our kids that should never have been called. This one of those things that are out of our control as a coach, but I feel sad for our kids when they take away from the game and from them.”
Focusing on what lies ahead for his program, Coach Leong is shifting his focus to West Plains and the remainder of the district schedule.
“Our job as a coaching staff is to find a way to overcome these hurdles and it begins with me trying to put our kids and my staff in the right direction,” said Leong. “We still have the opportunity to win the rest of our games and put ourselves in a position for a district title and playoff spot. I love these kids, my coaching staff and this group. I’m going to continue to fight for this group and get us in a spot they deserve to be.
Now 1-6 on the season, the Lobos will be traveling to Amarillo to play the West Plains Wolves Thursday at 7 p.m.
The remaining games on the district schedule is a home game against the Borger Bulldogs which will be senior night for Levelland after the West Plains matchup.
The Lobos will wrap up the regular season with a road game against the Seminole Indians.