By Tyler D Walker
LOCKHART, TX – It was homecoming Friday night in Lockhart, as the undefeated Lions looked to upset the undefeated and 10th ranked team in the state, Kerrville Tivy. Lockhart is known to be a small blue-collar town that takes great pride in their BBQ, and as they should; It has proven to be the BBQ capital of the world with many awards for various BBQ chains such as, Blacks, Smitty’s and Chisholm Trail, just to name a few.
Plenty of good eating to be had but oddly enough, not many people could be found at those prestigious chains. The town of Lockhart had a taste for something different that night. Not a seat was empty at Lion Stadium. Parking extended into the open fields and on the side of main roads. A sea of maroon and white stood proud to witness their beloved Lions defend their homecoming honors and district supremacy.
On the other side was a traditional powerhouse in Kerrville Tivy. Mainly known as the Alma Mater of Texas High School Football Legend and Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel. Tivy is also a team with exponential success, with post season appearances in 10 of the last 11 years. Leading this team is Senior Quarterback, Cade Dyal, who came into this game with over 1400 yards passing with 20 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. Looks like he his right on pace to top last year’s 3700 yards and 42 touchdown performance.
Offensively, this match up was very unique. Lockhart runs the Slot T, which is more of an option run based attack with multiple misdetections. It’s an offense that requires a lot of patience and timing. The plays look very basic from afar but in the duration of the action, it is very misleading. It takes a team effort; from the pulling guards and tackles to the fakes carried out by the running backs and quarterbacks. When ran right, it is a beauty to witness. Very few teams run this offense like Lockhart.
Tivy’s offense is very spread out and fast paced. Tivy likes to get down the field in a hurry with its no- huddle offense. It also helps that their quarterback, Dyal has one of the quickest releases in the state. He throws his passes exactly where the receiver should be. A lot of his mechanics resemble Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers. He’s never flustered in the pocket and can make all the throws.
The outcome for this game was lopsided to say the least. Kerrville scored on their first three plays and did not let up from there. Lockhart found themselves behind with a predominately running offense so time was not on their side. After scoring 17 points in the first half, they failed to put any more points on the board. Kerrville had struggled early to contain the slot T but as the game went on, they started to pick up on its schemes. It also didn’t help that two of Lockhart’s workhorses, Trival Joseph and DJ Ellison got banged up in the first half.
The final score, Kerrville 52 Lockhart 17. Lockhart came in very confident, and surprised a lot of people by picking Kerrville for their homecoming. It was a hard lesson for the Lions as they dropped to second in district behind the Antlers but the attitude remains the same. They feel like they can beat anybody. Although Lockhart is a very prideful team, they must be careful going forward this season. The slot T is a great weapon to have but they might need to add some kinks to their arsenal if they want to regain control of the district. Especially with Borne and San Marcos still left to play, both teams averaging over 40 points a game. Kerrville may have opened up the blueprint in stopping this offense but the race for this district crown is far from over. Kerrville has the torch now but they still have a few tough teams left on their schedule. Just one loss can change everything and knock them out of position for a district championship.
District 27 5A may be one of the most competitive districts in the state as far as records go. While many districts may have pretty much already crowned a champion, this district will most likely come down to the last game of the season.
