By Brian Besch
Livingston football sunk to 0-2 Friday after a 42-8 thrashing from the Needville Blue Jays in Lion Stadium.
On the first play from scrimmage, Needville tailback Kobie Campbell took a handoff and sprinted for 58 yards and a touchdown. However, an inadvertent whistle voided the result, and first down was played over again. On the fifth play of that drive, a fumble was caused by Deondre Johnson and recovered by Lion Zayden Martin.
Both teams went scoreless until 2:34 in the first quarter, when Campbell would punch in an 11-yard run that counted.
Needville would also score touchdowns on their next four possessions. The strikes included a 6-yard run by Ja’Markus Jack, 62-yard pass from Cameron Hall to Braydn Gilliam, and runs of 63, 29 and 5 by Campbell.
“It was an old-time, country butt whipping,” a disappointed Livingston coach Finis Vanover said. “They slugged it out like champs through most of the first quarter, 0-0. I was thrilled. If we could just keep it like that, but I knew we would have a hard time holding them down from explosive plays. We were doing a good job at that time, but we needed to get something going. Every time we did, we would either jump offsides or have a penalty where it was called back. You can’t just keep tempting them.”
Campbell would end with 181 yards rushing on 15 attempts and four touchdowns. His large offensive line made most of that yardage easy.
Backfield mate Jack ran just six times for 85 yards and a touchdown, and quarterback Hall had 64 yards on five carries.
“We had some kids that fought like crazy and did all they could, but were no match physically,” Vanover said. “Those guys whipped us on both sides of the ball. They were a lot better than we were.”
The coach said he does not believe his team gave a full effort Friday.
“For about a quarter and a half, and that is the most disappointing thing,” he said of the effort. “That is what we talked about and what I told them (following the game). There’s no sense in being mad, they just have to fix that. Effort and toughness comes straight from the players. I saw some of the pouting and finger pointing. That is some of the old stuff that we have to keep fighting, and that is the most disappointing thing. When we really needed to, we did not put up a fight against them.”
In the fourth quarter, Reserve running back Ethan Moore ran the football on 11 consecutive plays, as the Livingston defense did not look interested in making a stop. Needville held the ball for 10 minutes, draining most of the fourth-quarter clock.
“We are back to the drawing board tomorrow. We have to find 22 kids that want to play physical and tough the whole night, do the best they can, rally together and not crawl in a shell when one thing goes wrong.”
With just over three minutes to go in the game, Livingston backup quarterback Brayden Carr (5 rushes, 111 yards, TD) turned an option keeper upfield from the Lion 5-yard line. He was slowed as Needville defenders wrapped him up on two different occasions, but broke loose each time and sprinted down the sidelines for a 95-yard touchdown run.
Livingston decided to try the two-point conversion, and Carr delivered a strike between three Blue Jays to Tyler Soza.
“He came through with some performances and did some good things. He’s got a great upside,” Vanover said of Carr. “He has some things that he has to correct, but he has a skill set.”
The Lions totaled 272 yards of offense, aided by Carr’s touchdown. Needville had 498 total yards. They ran the ball 43 times for 397 yards, and did not attempt a pass in the second half.
Livingston will try to break into the win column at Nacogdoches Friday, their final non-district contest.
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