15 years old sitting
across the street of Allen's football stadium. Not the new one, the one that was
attached to the old high school. I sat there nervous as hell. I looked around
the room and saw faces that I once admired from a fan prospective. Chris Knighton,
LaMarcus Howard, Carey Fortson, Aaron Johnson, Tyler McCray. Never in a million
years did I think I would actually be in the same locker room as these dudes.
Not only was I there with them, but I was about to go to war with them. I was a
long walk and 5 minutes away from starting my varsity career, ready for pure
exhilaration.
All serious, about to go through the blow up helmet as a starter for the first time, I was locked in. As we ran through the helmet, Sophomore Joe Brown jumped and got his helmet caught at the top of the helmet. His helmet came off he tripped and fell, and Rayshone McGee and myself cried laughing as we ran all the way to the other side of the field. That's the first memory of the 2008 Longview Lobo football team.
We struggled to score
the ball on Allen that night, but you could tell if you went we had the talent
to put together a good run with this team. We struggled the first two games of
the season offensively. We mustered 7 points against Allen, 21, even though
Alonte' Darden set us up for 7 of them. We balled on a lesser talented Evangel
52-22 on "Godzilla in a helmet" (King had a way of inspiring us)
Jamauria Rosco. But it wasn't until the 4th quarter of game 3 against, who
else, the Lufkin Panthers when we hit our stride. 4 and 7 trailing 20 to 7 in
the 4th, Aaron Johnson scrolled out to his left and connected on a 45 yard TD
pass to Carey Fortson and from then on we rolled.
 |
| These headers from lobofootball.com meant everything to me at 15. |
You know the story, we
balled the rest of the night and defeated the Panthers in 3OT 45-37. The next
week we blew out Texas High 41-7, as Aaron Johnson mixed up the free safety on
the home sideline which is one of the nastiest jukes ever. The defense led by
strong performances from seniors Knighton, Howard and Conard Cooks beat the
Auburn bound Tyrik Rollison and Sulphur Springs 32-13. We smashed the Baylor
bound Elliot Twins from Mount Pleasant 51-7, I made my first varsity tackle
against Marshall on an interception. It's ok, Aaron got his revenge as he sat
Baylor bound Darius Jones on his ass with a juke going into the end zone. We
improved Longview's dominance over Marshall 50-21. Hallsville scared us on
Senior night with a 21-7 win. Don't remember much but I remember Jazz Reeves
and Vinny Portley crying like babies in the pregame LOL. We blew Pine Tree out
41-14, I remember King being pissed because we weren't killing them at half
time. I got my 2nd big hit in as many weeks when me and Vinny depleted their
linebacker on a screen for Johnathon Oliver in the 3rd. Good times.
 |
| Lol I really thought I was something LOL. |
The playoff run was
eventful as ever. Boo Howard got things started right with a pick 6 against
Jacksonville. Aaron pulled off a miraculous Hail Mary run at the end of the
first half as we smashed the Indians 61-14. The next week we smashed Lancaster
as the legend of Aaron Johnson grew as he picked off a pass the first play he
was in at safety in that 49-22 second round win.
The next week's pregame
was eventful as ever as we faced Carter. The 2007 team before us BTHO of Carter
and they were out to show that this wasn't the same team, nor where they gonna
have the same results. If you don't know or don't remember, Carter came out
taunted the hell out of us. They took sledgehammers out as they approached the
field and walked slowly and surely over to us. Friday Night Lights had just
came out, and it felt like we were living out a deleted scene from the movie
right there in Corsicana. A couple of their guys make it all the way to where they
were right behind our cheerleaders before the referees forced them back. We sat
there and talked shit from a distance, (something the 2010 team would've had a
problem, search Marshall 2010) but then King called us up. At this point I'm an
emotional firecracker, and so riled up I don't remember a thing King said. All
I heard was "Those city sons of," and it was Busta Rhyme RAAAA RAAA
RAA afterwords as we exploded with a battle cry!
 |
| Dallas Carter 2008 |
The first drive Tyler
McCray showed who he is, as he started one of the best 3 game stretches in
recent playoff history. Tyler easily went over 150 for the game, but he was the
guy on the first drive. We punched it in on the first drive and on the next
kickoff, the kickoff team forced a turnover and we're up 14-0 before you know
it. The defense owned the show as sophomores Pete Robertson and Joe Brown
introduced themselves with huge hits in the 4th quarter in the 35-20 3rd round
win over Carter.
Round 4, Texas Stadium,
Waco Midway
The game started out
well for us; we jumped out to a 21-7 lead, offense was executing, it felt like
we were about to have another Jacksonville here in the regional final. That’s when my young
butt found out that each half is a different story. With Bubba Vactor on one
good ankle, Kansas State bound, John Hubert exploded in the second half. Midway
wore us out on defense picking up huge runs with the off tackle stretch. Their
receivers were converting on huge 3rd and 4th down plays. We kept up
offensively, fortunate enough to end regulation with a tie at 35. Their offense
started OT with the ball and ran it down our throats like they did all second
half. They scored a touchdown and booted the extra point, making it
42-35.
For some reason I had
the utmost confidence in the world as we approached the field. We started the
drive off with a big gain on a fullback dive. Ok it wasn’t a big gain, but the
way our interior offensive line drove their dts back it felt we’d score.
 |
| The Juice |
Third
down and short and we call Aaron Johnson’s number. How in the world he got through
4 guys I have no idea, but he contorted his body to get the first down. The
next play Tyler McCray takes a shotgun handoff off the right guard (which the
center did an excellent job of reaching the play side linebacker if I say so
myself) broke to the right and found his way running through Midway defenders
into the end zone. With no hesitation King told us to stay for the 2 point
conversion. In my mind I am LIT. Here we go we’re gonna win it right here.
Before he sends a play in he calls timeout. As we approached the huddle, Aaron
Johnson wanted the football. “I got it.” King calls the play, looks at me and
says I need a good snap. I’ve made this play in my backyard by myself for
years. I loved and lived for this moment. As we broke the huddle I’m bouncing
around, hand waving in a circle motion, urging our fans to get behind us.
Never in my mind did I doubt that the snap would be bad.
We get to the line, I
hear the cadence and deliver the ball. I block back and right About the time I
feel like Aaron should be passing me I take a peek. No BS, I’ll turn around and
Aaron is literally stretched out as far as he can stretch with the ball across
the goal line. I look immediately to the referee on the sidelines and wait for
his hands to go up. As soon as his hands shot into the air, I took off like a
f'n rocket towards the star. My best room was the first person to greet me
in the air and we partied in that moment like we had never done after a game
before. I think I should every person on the team hand that night. At that
moment Aaron was painted in gold, but little did we know he was about to put on
a real show the next week.
 |
| One of the most infamous plays in LOBO History |
State Semifinals.
Texas Stadium. Denton Guyer.
The first game in a
three-year stretch against these pricks. And even though I called them pricks,
those sons of guns were some of the toughest kids I’ve ever faced.
The first play of the
game, King wanted to send a message. We faked counter to the right and booted
out to the left. Senior Aaron Hollins ran a go route and had a step on the
corner. Johnson laid one out there and I promise you that ball travelled 60 yards
through the air and placed perfectly into his hands. Hollins finished the job
and his dad set the world record for the most amount of claps in a 3 second
period.
Aaron Johnson had the
game of his life, he went off. Accounting for 4TDS, 3 through the air and the
greatest 35 yard td rub you’ll ever see to ice a ball game. Tyler McCray went
off. After a long drive by Sophomore JW Walsh, in the 4th Tyler had a 60 yard
kick return. He then took a toss off the left hash for 20. The next play he
crosses the goal line off of another toss.
 |
| The end of the 35 yard touchdown run for Johnson. |
The greatest memories
about playing in such a historical venue are the times those crowds went into
roars. That stadium in Irving was the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in, and
the eruptions that place had are second to none.
State Finals. Baylor
University. Lake Travis.
The weeks going into
this game I felt good about it. This wasn’t the first time we were facing a
ranked team, a college bound quarterback, and we were battle tested. They
couldn’t match our physicality. You can’t get ready for our style of play in a
week. I was wrong. BIG WRONG.
We started out slowly.
Dropped a swing pass that would’ve been a big play. We hit Cody Taylor and
picked up a first down in the first quarter. Tyler had a good gain to the left.
The next play we broke one. Tyler was off and into the secondary. Drug down
from behind, McCray broke his ankle.
We finished the drive,
actually scored a td, but when we saw the amount of pain, Tyler was in, gloom
filled the sideline. It’s crazy looking back at it because we had the best back
up running back to ever play at Longview. Da’Cedric Hunt, at the beginning of
the year, I thought was better. He was a little heavier, same speed and would
put his head down and drive through opponents. But the run Tyler was having
throughout the playoffs made it feel impossible without him. Right about that
time we were sulking, Garrett Gilbert started slicing our asses up. He finished
with over 400 passing yards on us, breaking national records for yardage in a
year. We lost our best receiver Carey Fortson, who a week before tore Guyer
apart with 2 Tds, to a sprained ankle right before half time.
 |
| A dark picture, but the summer of 2008 at Gladewater's offensive line challenge. |
At halftime there were
a couple of guys trying to lift our spirits, Coach Brown and LaMarcus Howard.
Honest attempts but we were a broken team emotionally. The second half
continued with what the first half ended with. We competed, but I don’t believe
there was a guy out there who thought we would win, maybe Vinny Portley.
They embarrassed us.
Not only Lake Travis, but a special F U to the scoreboard operators at Baylor’s
stadium at the time. When Johnathon Oliver got hit on a screen play, they ran
the replay 6 times in a row. Slowing it down, and the Lake Travis crowd yelled
OOOOO every single time. EVERY. SINGLE. F*CKING. TIME. They beat us 48-23 and
ended what was a great season for us.
Offensive MVP: Tyler
McCray
Defensive MVP: Boo
Howard
Offensive Team
Captain: Johnathon Oliver
Defensive Team
Captain: Chris Knighton
Give em hell boys.
Comments
Post a Comment