Livingston Lion football continues to impress, winning their second game in as many chances. The latest was Friday night at a perennial playoff program in Needville, where the Lions took a 44-38 win over the Blue Jays.
With a little more than four minutes remaining in the game, kicker Luis Trevino had just connected on a field goal to put the Lions up by a touchdown at 38-31. The senior displayed a strong leg all night, placing kickoffs in both the end zone and inside the five near the pylons.
The Blue Jays (1-1) were receiving the kickoff with plenty of time to tie, as their hurry-up no-huddle attack had already moved the length of the field in a little over two minutes back in the second quarter. This kick was a little shorter, and bounced in front of the return man who waited for it to angle out of bounds. Only the kick stayed in, and a frantic Needville returner could not get a handle on the pigskin. Jose Olivares would dive on the ball at the Needville 20, setting up a red zone opportunity for the Lion offense.
Two plays later, quarterback Tyler Soza took a snap and traveled 20 yards, reaching over the goal line as he was tackled to put Livingston up 44-31.
“When you have to run the clock out and they put a bunch of hats in the box, the quarterback has to carry it so we can have numbers,” Livingston coach Tucker Carter said. “It helps with our receivers making plays and they’ve got to keep safeties out of there to lighten up the box a little bit.”
The Needville offense needed just four plays and 39 seconds to answer, making it a six-point game with 3:15 still showing on the game clock. An onside kick was attempted, but Hunter Carr was there to smother it. Soza then carried much of the load behind his linemen and backs, gaining a first down.
Needville used all three of its timeouts and a two-minute warning to stop the clock as much as possible. Livingston faced a fourth-and-long with nine seconds remaining in the contest. Soza, also the punter, booted one high into the air that bounced near the visitor’s sideline, but stayed in and tumbled long enough to drain clock, ending the game in another Lion celebration.
“It is staying the course. It was really good and really ugly,” Carter said of the win. “I am proud of our kids, just battling and staying together until the last whistle. We had to execute some four-minute stuff. We punt and down it on special teams. It feels good.”
Soza ended the game with five total touchdowns. He accumulated 152 yards on the ground in 27 carries, to go with 183 passing yards and two interceptions. Ziekus Garner (four catches, 99 yards) got the scoring started on a 13-yard slant from Soza to cap a 10 play, 83-yard drive.
“They basically doubled Ziekus the whole game and he knows with his ability, it opens guys up to get them some touches. A lot of kids contributed, and that has kind of been the motto. Everybody’s got to make a play at some point for us to win games like this.”
Stepping in front of a wide receiver screen, cornerback Ja’Kegdrick Walker produced the second Lion score, as he took it back 84 yards to put his school up 14-7.
“Ja’Kegdrick Walker jumping that interception was a huge momentum starter. He is a really good player and he is a kid that can play running back as well, but he knows we need him at (defensive back). He is a guy that takes on their best receiver, so I am proud of him. We are kind of ‘bend but don’t break’ on defense, so if we just stay with it, something good will happen for us, and the kids bought into that. Coach (Destry) Cope is putting together some good plans and mixing up our looks and letting us play free.”
The second Soza touchdown pass was from eight yards out, when he found Jaykwon Farr in the end zone, putting the Lions up 21-10. Brayden Carr was the target of the quarterback’s third scoring strike for a dozen yards and a 28-17 advantage.
Coming out of halftime, special teams pinned Needville back at the 6-yard line on the kickoff, and the defense recovered a fumble a few plays later. Soza needed just one play to sprint in for a 35-17 score. Needville closed the gap to 35-31, but Trevino drilled a 24-yard field goal to make it a seven-point game.
Livingston will move on to host Nacogdoches (1-1), which has defeated Palestine and was beaten by Lufkin to this point. Carter said the team’s two wins have amplified the positivity his staff has tried to implement since the spring.
“It is just believing that we can do it. We talk about how adversity is going to happen, and how are you going to handle it. The fact that our kids have seen some success, we know we can hang around in games and make plays when it counts and hopefully come out on the right side of it.”
