The NAACP has filed a complaint and is seeking to overturn the 31-28 loss by the LBJ Jaguars to the Lindale Eagles. The NAACP claims that the loss was “only because of unfair officiating.” The president of the Austin NAACP asked the UIL to postpone the state championship game, though that game is planned to go on as scheduled tonight.
The social media response to the complaint has not been good for LBJ, with most who watched the game saying that while each team has a case of a call or two that could have gone a different way, they did not think the officials decided the game. Though there were some on Facebook and Twitter claiming that they think the officials were paid off or that there were racial motivations, though we’ve yet to see anyone share any evidence of either claim. If any such allegations are proven to be true, while the outcome of that game won’t change, it will be big news.
LBJ was up 28-7 in the game before Lindale made their comeback.
The Jaguars dominated the first half. The only Eagles score was a 69-yard kickoff return. The second half was a different story. A fumbled punt by LBJ was recovered by Lindale’s Evan Alford in the endzone to make it 28-14. On the next possession, LBJ went for it on fourth down, but could not convert. Then, on the next LBJ possession, they fumbled and a few plays later, Jordan Jenkins scored on a 60-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 28-21. Jenkins then scored again in the 4th quarter to tie the game. LBJ then turned the ball over on downs again at their own 35-yard line with 50 seconds to go in the game. Jenkins finished with 278 yards on 28 attempts, 200 of those yards coming in the second half.
Then the most controversial play of the game happened.
Lindale went for a field goal to win the game, but it was blocked by Clemson commit Andrew Mukuba who returned it to the endzone. However, LBJ jumped offsides, and on their second try, Lindale kicked an 18-yard field goal for the 31-28 win.
While it did appear that LBJ was clearly offsides, the complaint by the Jaguars is that Lindale was only called for just 2 penalties in the second half, whereas LBJ was called for 16. The NAACP said that they will also pursue other legal actions.
Whether you think there was bad officiating or not, bad officiating is part of the game. All players, coaches and teams live with the outcome of bad calls at times. It does appear that LBJ and the NAACP believe that there is more to this than just their view that it was bad officiating, though what exactly that is we do not yet know.
The Class 4A Division 1 Championship game will feature Lindale and Argyle and kicks off at 7 pm.
