There are under 150 days between this article being posted and Longview’s season opener against Lufkin on September 1, but John King is ready to see his Lobos get back on the field.
After jumping up to Class 6A in the latest realignment, 2016 saw King’s team adjust well to the upgrade in competition and finished with an 8-2 mark and a share of the District 11-6A title with John Tyler. But for the first time since 2005, his second year as head coach, the Lobos ended their season in the first round losing to Beaumont West Brook in the bi-district round.
“We just came up a little bit short in that bi-district game,” King said, “It’s been an unusually long offseason for us and one we don’t want to have a repeat of.”
It was a disappointing end to a season that had shown promise of another playoff run for the Lobos. That said, King was pleased how much the team had grown despite the relative youth of the 2016 squad.
“We dressed 13 sophomores on varsity last season which is uncommon for us,” King said, “But even with that inexperience, I feel like we got better as the season went on as we went on to win a share of that district title.”
The relative inexperience of his team last year was something that King noted was pretty unusual during his time as the head coach. As one of the traditionally top programs in East Texas, Longview has maintained a high level of consistency and despite the early playoff exit, King believes that his 2017 team can maintain that high level.
“I think that we have a lot of continuity here within the program,” King said, “We’ve also got a lot of talented kids who are hard workers and they grow up wanting to carry on the Lobo tradition. Lobo football sells itself to these kids and it makes these kids coming in hungry and wanting to win.”
King and his staff believe they’ll see that same mindset from his team 2017 as they look to replace a few key starters on both sides of the ball. On offense, leading rushers D’Crayvan Polk and Kendrevian White along with starting quarterback Gaylon Wiley all leave but King is also looking to address his biggest concern for the Lobos’ physical run-first offense.
“My biggest concern is replacing that offensive line,” King said, “We lost four very good players up front and a fifth guy that didn’t play due to an injury. They were the heart and soul of our football team.”
As for the defensive side of the ball, the Lobos return seven starters but they’re losing one of their best defenders in Traveion Webster, who signed with Louisiana-Monroe. King says they should have guys ready to step up in those positions.
Ultimately, he hopes that the experience of his underclassmen from last year can make an impact this season. The Lobos are in a tough district with Tyler John Tyler, but King believes that the work his team puts forward in the spring will go a long way as to how far his Lobos can go.
“We have to get after it during spring football,” King said, “There’s always going to be surprises that step up and we’re going to go out there with the 180 guys we have in our program and find out who’s the toughest guys that step up.”
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