By Brian Besch
Mistakes, penalties and questionable decisions were a weight too heavy for Livingston Friday night, losing a 34-24 contest at Nacogdoches.
The Dragon offense broke a scoreless tie with four minutes to go in the first quarter, as quarterback Tyren Mathews found R.J. Whittaker on a 20-yard wheel route to go up 7-0.
The Lions answered on the ensuing drive, with quarterback Tyler Soza hitting tight end Zayden Martin for 20 yards and a touchdown. Soza also ran in the two-point conversion to put the Lions up one.
Mathews then broke away on fourth down and long for a 53-yard run that put the Dragons ahead 14-8.
Midway through the second quarter, the Lions ran on five snaps for 82 yards. The highlight of the drive was Trenden Williams jump cutting and sprinting 39 yards to set up first-and-goal. Quarterback to Damorian Hill ran it in from three yards out, and also obtained the two-point conversion, as the Lions took a 16-14 lead.
“No one can fault them for laying down and quitting or not fighting their hearts out, because they did tonight,” Livingston coach Finis Vanover said. “They found their soul this week and understood how terrible we played last week against a very good team. We found tonight that we can be more physical than somebody, which we were. We got after them pretty good.
“The effort and desire and want to win was there bigger than I have seen it this whole year. I was afraid, because they could have gone in the tank. It has happened here before and that is the biggest pride that I have right now, that there is a light there. I am proud of that young offensive line, and they are getting better all the time. The backs have confidence in them. We are shaky every once in a while at quarterback, but we are having to do things with all of them defensively.”
Mathews collected a second touchdown on a two-yard run near the end of the first half, but did not get the two-point conversion following. At halftime, Nacogdoches led 20-16.
“That quarterback is a special athlete and we knew that coming in,” Vanover said. “He can do many things to hurt you. You can cover the other guys, but you have to have three or four covering him. He can make you look bad in a hurry.
It got strange in a second half where Nacogdoches escaped a 3-and-40 jam with two penalties, then Livingston turned the ball over, inexplicably faking a punt from their own three-yard line.
The coaching staff usually gives players the opportunity to call for the fake when alignments are favorable, but Vanover said the call should not have been made inside their own five.
“No, (it was) the worst possible time to have done it. We have to live with the results. When you are backed up in your own 10, you better be sure that it is wide open. They are taught when they should and when they shouldn’t.”
That turnover led to a touchdown two plays later, as Mathews scored his third. On his next drive, the quarterback hit wide open receiver Cameron Brady for a 68-yard score, making it 34-16.
Livingston would have one more scoring drive, an eight-play, 75-yard march that ended in Hill again scoring six from a yard out. He would also get the two-point conversion as before.
“We got the offense going a couple of times where we really looked good and we finally figured out their defense. They had no answer for our option game and when we executed, it was beautiful. When we didn’t, it looked like we had never practiced it before.”
The Lion rushing attack did well, running for 329 yards. It is the best the offensive line has looked in 2024. Livingston completed two of 11 passes for 28 yards. Mathews would throw for 160 yards and run for 52. He ran for three scores and threw for two. The Dragons had just 237 total yards.
