By KEFF CAIRDELLO
LOCKHART – The Lions attacked the Lobos with patience and precision Friday.
Lockhart only passed the ball four times all game long, and used its tricky Slot-T offense to account for 57 rushing plays in a 48-20 win over Lehman. The Lions totaled 524 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns on the night.
With the loss, Lehman falls to 1-8 overall and 0-6 in district play. Lockhart improves to 3-3 in district action to stay in the chase for a playoff berth.
“They are a real physical and tough team. We knew they were going to come out and run but it’s such a hard thing to stop because nobody else does it. It’s hard to mimic that type of play in practice,” Lehman Head Coach Todd Raymond said of Lockhart’s slight-of-hand run-based offense.
In the first quarter, the Lobos replaced starting junior quarterback Paul Matthews with sophomore Jeremy Schilhab .
“Paul Matthews got hurt last week and wasn’t able to practice a whole lot this week. We thought it would be a good opportunity to give Jeremy a shot. He’s been playing quarterback on JV so we pulled him up. Jeremy responded well so we let him just keep running with it and he did a really good job for us,” said Raymond.
Down by six in the first quarter, the Lobos decided to go for it on fourth-and-6. They got more than they bargained for when Schilhab completed a 34-yard touchdown pass over the right shoulder of Kelton Powell as he faded towards the back corner of the end zone. A missed extra point left the game tied at six apiece.
Lockhart scored two more touchdowns on Curtis Hawkins runs of 6 and 1 yards to take a 20-6 lead.
However, three plays into the second quarter Paul Brown received a hand-off then pitched the ball to Tyler Hyss who reversed field and ran the ball in for a 21-yard touchdown to make it 20-13 in favor of the Lions. Lockhart responded with a 2-yard Levi Mair run to increase the Lions lead to 27-13.
Just before halftime, the Lions drove the ball all the way down the Lobos 6-yard line and threatened to score once again. But Lehman stood strong, stopping the Lions on fourth down from the 2-yard line with 19 seconds left in the half.
“I saw some things on both sides of the ball that really made me happy,” said Raymond. “Those stops were huge for us. It was a good way of showing that they can’t just knock us over.”
In the second half, the Lobos again stopped the Lions on fourth-and-5. After they regained possession, the Lobos drove the ball down the field and scored on a 9-yard quarterback keeper by Schilhab. Lockhart would score three times in the fourth quarter, however to put the game out of reach on touchdown runs by CJ McKinney, Brandon Miller and Hawkins.
Mair rushed for 208 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries to lead the Lions. Hawkins also had 127 rushing on 20 carries to go along with his three touchdowns. McKinney was the third Lion to rumble for more than 100 yards on the ground, with 124 yards on only seven carries.
Schilhab finished with 78 yards passing with one touchdown and one interception while rushing for 80 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown for the Lobos.
Lehman will end its season by hosting Clemens at Shelton Stadium next Friday night in a game that will determine who finishes last in 27-4A. Both the Lobos and the Buffaloes are winless in district play this season.