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| MARSHALL - Longview's defense came out of the gate smoking, forcing turnovers on each of Marshall's first three possessions and the Lobo offense converted two of them into early touchdowns to pace a 30-12 win here Friday night.
The victory, Longview's 14th in a row over the hexed Mavs, gives the Lobos sole possession of second place in 13-AAAAA, with two games remaining, thanks in part to league frontrunner Nacogdoches' 21-0 blanking of Texas High. Should Longview maintain its standing in the district, it would insure a berth in the state playoffs. The Lobos, who two weeks ago owned a meager 1-2 district worksheet and were on the verge of mathematical elimination from the playoffs, have come on to post back-to-back wins over Lufkin and Marshall in convincing fashion. In Marshall, Longview took advantage of several key turnovers early in the game to take a 14-0 edge. The Mavericks touched the ball only three times in their first two possessions with running back Willie Fisher fumbling it away twice. And on third third series of downs, quarterback Allen Survia was intercepted by safety Donnie Centers near midfield for the third turnover of the first period. After Wes McWhorter's 43-yard punt following the first turnover pushed Marshall back to its own five, Fisher coughed up the ball again and defensive end Michael Buffins recovered at the 11-yard line to give the Lobos a second golden opportunity with nine minutes still left in the first quarter. Two handoffs to tailback Fred Hunter netted paydirt with Hunter going over from 3 yards out with 8:49 left in the first quarter to make it 6-0. On Marshall's next series of downs, Survia tried to hit King Rosborough on a fly route only to have Centers steps in to make the interception. It took Longview 11 plays, including an 18-yard pass from Henry Shaw to Michael Govan on third down, to reach the end zone with Shaw making up the final 10 yards on a pass to Centers for a 12-0 advantage with 2:30 to play in the opening period. Shaw found tight end Marlin Myers alone for the two-point conversion to make it 14-0. Both teams exchanged turnovers in the second quarter, with Marshall able to convert from 25 yards out after picking up a Shaw fumble on quarterback sack. With less than two minutes left in the half, the Mavs drove down to the 1-yard line where Arluster Wright banged in for the score with 59 seconds to play, making it 14-6 at the half. The Lobos worked their bread and butter play, a pitchout power sweep to Hunter around left end, to perfection in baffling a highly toughed Marshall defense. Hunter, who picked up 121 yards on 19 carries to give him 781 on the season, scored his second touchdown of the game in the third period. |