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Sunday, October 26, 1997

Tyler John Tyler, No. 1 in 5A, loses to Lufkin

By JAIME ARON / AP Sports Writer

Just because Tyler John Tyler has lost doesn't necessarily mean District 12-5A will be giving up the No. 1 spot in Class 5A.

Tyler's 24-14 loss to Lufkin on Friday night could pave the way for Longview to take over the top spot. The Lobos, 42-3 winners over Nacogdoches, moved into a tie for No. 2 last week and may be ready to move up another notch.

However, Longview is tied with Austin Westlake, the reigning 5A Division II champion and a 57-20 winner over Austin Bowie on Friday night.

It will be interesting to see which way Associated Press poll voters lean when the new rankings come out Monday.

The poll isn't likely to change too much next week as only four ranked teams lost Friday night. Joining John Tyler in defeat were 5A's No. 9 Houston Madison, 14-7 to Houston Lamar, and No. 10 New Braunfels, 17-14 to San Antonio MacArthur; and 4A's No. 8 Brownwood, 31-21 to Stephenville.

JT (7-1) took a 7-0 lead on its first drive and seemed ready to hand Lufkin its third straight loss.

But the Panthers, who had been ranked fifth in the state before losing their last two, tied it on their third possession and hung close until going ahead 21-14 on a 15-yard touchdown run by Aaron Morrison with 1:29 left in the third quarter.

The Lions' next two possessions ended with fumbles and David Koch kicked an 18-yard field goal to up Longview's lead to 10 points with just 5:25 to play. It proved to be too much even for mighty John Tyler to overcome.

"I think they made some plays, but if we don't miscue on some things and go ahead and score points, the outcome could have a been a little bit different," said JT coach Allen Wilson. "You can't have turnovers."

Longview was nearly flawless in its demolition of Nacogdoches.

Fred Talley ran for 219 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries, just three yards fewer than his previous week's total against Tyler Lee, while the Lobo defense limited the Dragons to 109 yards, with 61 of it coming on one play.

Nacogdoches forced Longview to go three-and-out on its first three series, then took a 3-0 lead on Doug Miller's 29-yard field goal with 4:23 left in the first quarter.

Then Talley had a 95-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter and the rout was on. Another Talley touchdown, this one just from 1 yard out, gave the Lobos a 14-3 halftime lead, then they scored 28 points in the third quarter.

Westlake also had to erase an early deficit as Bowie led 6-0 and 12-10. The Chaparrals had a big second quarter to go up 37-12 at halftime, and they wound up winning easily behind 494 yards of total offense.

The Chaps were without leading rusher Brett Robin for the last three quarters because of a bruised ribcage, but Matt Murphy ran for 208 yards and three touchdowns and Brent Chalmers gained 150 rushing yards.

There was a bit of irony to MacArthur knocking off New Braunfels. The Unicorns had taken the No. 10 spot in part because MacArthur gave it up following a 14-7 loss to San Antonio Madison last weekend.

But it wasn't easy. MacArthur scored the game-winning points on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Mike Perkins to Jason Washington with 49 seconds left.

New Braunfels still had time for one last drive, but Kliff Kingsbury was intercepted for the third time in the game. He had been picked off only twice in the first six weeks.

"You have 39 seconds to go and a quarterback with a great arm and fantastic receivers," MacArthur coach Van Fuschak said. "Anything could have happened."