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| RUSTON - Longview will take a sub-.500 record into next week's District 12-5A opener against Marshall, courtesy of a 51-18 drubbing Friday night at the hands of the Ruston Bearcats.
After playing catchup in the first half, trailing 12-0 and 18-7, the Bearcats ran off 33 unanswered points to keep the Lobos winless on the road this season. Longview heads into the game at Marshall with a 2-3 mark. The Lobos are 0-3 on the road thus far. Ruston - last year's Class 5A state runner-up in Louisiana, improves to 4-1. Ruston ran and passed its way through Longview's defense, piling up 464 yards. Led by Reggie Maxwell's 121 yards on 11 carries, the Bearcats ground out 334. Maxwell also tallied three times, scoring from 28, 24 and 13 yards. Quarterback Jonathon Lyons completed 5 of 7 passes for 130 yards with a pair of touchdowns. He connected with Josh Joerg for 33 yards and Jack Hunt for 35. Hunt, who had three receptions for 86 yards, also scored on a 1-yard run. Lobo placekicker Jason Scobee's 36-yard field goal with 7:36 left in the second quarter rallied the Lobos to an 18-all tie. A Ruston fumble set up Longview's scoring drive as Theodric Bush fell on the loose ball at the Bearcat 20. The Lobos had a golden opportunity as Ruston again turned the ball over on its next possession. A hard hit by line back Alan Rodgers on Hunt forced the fumble, which was recovered by Antoine Pickron at the 21. But the Bearcat defense stiffened and Scobee was just wide to the left on a 40-yard field goal attempt that would have given the Lobos their first lead. The miss seemed to breathe new life into Ruston, which found the end zone twice before the half ended Maxwell romped 28 yards, breaking three tackles along the way, and Hunt caught a 35-yard scoring strike from Lyons with 26 seconds remaining to stretch the Bearcats' lead to 13 at intermission. A pair of 1-yard score by Garrick Johnson and Hunt staked the Bearcats to a 12-0 advantage in the first quarter. They missed on the first extra point try and then a pass for a two-point conversion was knocked away. The second Ruston score was set up by one of two Lobo fumbles in the game. But Longview started to move on its second possession as Artillious Allison, who finished with 38 yards on 13 carries, ran in from 15 yards to complete a 74-yard, nine-play drive. Lyons and Joerg then hooked up on the 33-yard passing strike to stretch the Bearcats' margin to 11 points. The two-point conversion failed again. Lobo quarterback Joe Creal, who was 10 of 19 for 93 yards, brought Longview back down field, finishing off a 55-yard, nine-play drive by connecting with LaRoyce Howard off nine yards on a fade route into the right corner of the end zone. Creal then hit Mark Peters for the two-point conversion as the Lobos closed to 18-15. |