By Spencer Spilman
Friday night marked the beginning of football season for the Lehman Lobos as they hosted the Bastrop Bears at Shelton Stadium. The Lobos were fired up to get things started, but that wasn’t enough to get a week one win.
Bastrop got the victory on the road with a score of 48-21.
An early altercation between the teams came early in the game, with punches thrown by players on both sides. Two players were ejected, but it seemed Lehman players rallied around the disqualified player after stopping Bastrop on a fourth and long, forcing a turnover.
After going three and out, the Lobos punted to the Bears. Bastrop’s Izaiyah Washington took the ball on a reverse and after several good blocks took the punt 52 yards to the end zone for a touchdown, scoring the first points of the new season making it 7-0.
The Bears added another score on their next drive, but Lehman never quit. A 50-yard pass from Jeremy Schilhab to Jaren Sayles put the Lobos in scoring position.
Three plays later Jameson Castillo busted through the line and ran into the end zone to put Lehman within seven. However, Bastrop came back quickly to score twice in the final five minutes of the half with a touchdown run from Carrington Waites followed by a touchdown pass from Cameron Barron to Washington with just 37 seconds left in the half.
The Bears took a commanding 27-7 lead.
Defensive back Brett Wagner said the team had trouble getting the Bears players on the ground. “We missed a lot of tackles and didn’t get the job done,” he said.
Lehman struggled getting the offense going in the third quarter while also struggling to slow down the Bears offense. An interception by Bastrop’s Dustin Nalley led to a touchdown pass for Washington’s third touchdown of the game as the Bears ate up yards on the ground before a four yard pass from Barron.
After a three and out by the Lobos, the Bears moved back down the field and capped off a seven play drive with an eight-yard touchdown run from Mason Homesley to go up 41-7.
Lehman coach Todd Raymond said the speed of Bastrop’s offensive tempo was their biggest downfall.
“Their tempo – their fast tempo stuff. We really struggled with that,” Raymond said.
Lehman continued to fight though, and on fourth and one, Schilhab took a quarterback keeper for 14 yards to keep the drive alive. Three plays later he ran for another 16 yards and the Lobos were in scoring range.
In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Lobos’ Castillo shook off tacklers and into the end zone from three yards out for his second touchdown of the game, bringing the score to 41-14. Lehman did not get any closer to the Bears, as Bastrop’s Jaden Watson took an end around 44 yards for a touchdown.
With just seconds left though, Lehman found the end zone one more time. That score came with 12 seconds left as Schilhab found Wagner in the corner to bring the final score to 48-21.
