For over 100 years, Livingston football has called Lion Stadium home. They will do so for the final time Friday versus Lumberton.
The new Lions Stadium is scheduled to be ready for fall kickoffs in 2026 on the campus of Livingston High School.
Coach Tucker Carter and the Lions hope to close it with a win, but the task will be difficult.
“That is going to be a talking point this week, just how many people have played in that stadium and how we are the last ones to ever get to do it,” Carter said. “We would love to end it on the right foot. It is crazy to think that it has been there that long, and this is the last one.”
The opponent this week has found success in district play after a slow start to the year. The Raiders’ only loss in 10-4A is to Bridge City, but have since rolled off four consecutive wins over Hargrave, Liberty, Vidor and Hardin-Jefferson. A win versus Livingston sets up a match with Little Cypress-Mauriceville for the district crown on the final week.
“I think early in the season, they played a couple of 5A schools and played some top-notch competition in Beaumont Westbrook and Nederland. I think they’ve used those games like all of us do to kind of figure themselves out and settle in at district.
“They have kind of morphed over the year into a very physical power run football team,” Carter said. “They have slowed the game down on people and run the football until someone could stop it. Most people have not stopped it. They’ve got two really big running backs and a big offensive line, so that’s kind of the route they want to go. They want to stay on the field and get three and four yards until it turns into nine and 10.”
Though there is a commitment to the run, Lumberton will still get in the spread a bit when necessary. Carter said they’ve run the ball so effectively that receivers get over the top on play action for chunk plays.
“They will give you a little bit of everything. They’ve got some bigger bodies that they roll in there and will get into two-tight end sets, and some three-tight end sets under center. It’s basically a heavy dose of ‘come get you some.’ That is going to be a challenge for us to step up and try to stop the run at all costs. They’ve proven that they’ve been able to do it on everybody, so it is a tall task. The two backs have to be well over 200 pounds, and the quarterback has a couple of (college scholarship) offers. Make no bones about it, they want to line up and get behind that big o-line.”
The Raiders will base from a 3-4 defense, as the Lions have seen many other times in district play. Teams have averaged 23 points per game, with only one (Bridge City) scoring more than 28.
“They are good defensively and very sound. They’ve gotten better and better each week, and will eat the clock and get under center and run it right at you to try to limit your possessions. They’ve got some good gap eaters and try to keep stuff in front of them on the back end to make you drive the entire field and be patient.
“They can run a little bit in the secondary. You don’t necessarily see a blazer that jumps off the tape, but they just play complementary football. They’re not putting their defense out there a whole lot, and the defense gets off the field really quick.”
Livingston has matched opponents the past few weeks in total yardage, yet penalties, defensive lapses and costly turnovers have held them out of the win column for the past few months.
“We’re not abandoning who we are and we have played well on both sides at times, it’s just when it rains it pours. That’s the frustrating thing coming in from last week. You look at the total yardage and there is a one-yard difference between us and Huffman. It looks on the scoreboard like we just got run out of the stadium, and that’s not the case. We’re telling the kids that we are still a good football team and we are right there, but some of the scores do not indicate that.
“If you really look at the tape and look at the stats, we played well at times. Last week, we had 470 yards of offense, we just couldn’t make a play when we needed to. I think it is more frustrating for the kids, because they are playing hard on Friday night and not seeing results after we’ve put in a lot of effort all week. Coaches I’ve talked to in the district are definitely not sleepwalking on us. They are coming in prepared to play.”
