If the winless Lions are looking for inspiration to snap the season’s seven-game skid, maybe it will be homecoming.
The Hargrave Falcons are the opponent, and the Lions have had success over the school from Huffman the past two years. In those games, 57 of Livingston’s offensive plays have been for eight-plus yards or a score.
This Falcon team promises to present a tougher challenge. They are undefeated on the season, with an offense ranked at the top of District 10-4A. Last week they produced 70 points versus Hardin-Jefferson.
“They can put the points on the board,” Livingston coach Finis Vanover said. “We are going to give up some spots, because you can't account for every one of them on every play. The quarterback has really improved. He is a real field general for them and running it really well. He is very patient. He’s not big, but very fast. He is a threat to run, with three long, weaving runs against us last year.
“They have a good running back there and they are taking it downhill. Everybody is bailing out of there and playing pass defense like they did against Bridge City. They have a weapon at wide receiver and always have a big kid at H-back or tight end. They run the spread and do a good job with it. They have three run plays and that's it.”
Hargrave has averaged 52 points and 461 yards per game this season. That yardage per game is more than 90 better than Bridge City, which is second in the district. Quarterback Nolan Cook, a junior, leads the district in passing with 1,228 yards and a completion rate of 65%. Senior back Sawyer Jameson is second in the district with nearly 800 yards rushing, while Drayden Bacon and Cook have added 471 and 462, respectively. All three average over 10 yards each time they touch the football. Jameson’s 12 touchdowns lead 10-4A.
The Lions turned in their best performance last week on defense, limiting Bridge City to 227 total yards and defensive end Zayden Martin scoring two touchdowns.
“We are playing great defense right now and looking better and better the past four weeks,” Vanover said. “We are playing good against the run and getting great pressure on the passer. That is what it is going to take against this bunch. We've got to get some turnovers. We got a few last year, with some picks and two fumble recoveries that helped us.”
Hargrave will run a 4-3 defense that shifts throughout the game. Junior Ryder Miller is third in the district with 76 total tackles, while both he and Will Swartz have four sacks. Kurtis Felder has five pass breakups in the defensive backfield, Tyler Eckerman and Bryce Nixon have seven interceptions between them, and both Swartz and Jake Tinnin lead with 11 hits on the quarterback each.
“They are much improved,” Vanover said of Hargrave. “If we could ever finish a game, we would be much improved. We've shown flashes of greatness at times. I know it is frustrating for our boys and coaches. We just hit those modes where we self-destruct. We are trying to hold them together and keep them playing for each other. We can't expect to play hard if we don't practice hard. We are going to be simple (this week), but we are going to be aggressive.”
