PORT NECHES – Another major purple “ouch” arrived on The New Reservation Friday night around 9:15 p.m.

That’s when fifth-year Livingston coach Randy Rowe chunked the Lions’ pass plays in his back pocket and opted to ram it right down the throats of the Port Neches-Groves defense.

PN-G’s defensive front did not have any answers either. With well-fed country linemen and beefy backs devouring the clock, Livingston seriously jeopardized the Indians’ playoff hopes and ruined any homecoming victory thoughts, 34-14, before 7,000 at a beautifully renovated Indian Stadium.

Football sweetheart Carli Miller deserved a more evenly played second half. When the Indians returned for the third quarter, they had to feel good about their 14-14 tie because they had survived four first-half turnovers.

Livingston shortened the proceedings by ripping off wide chunks in PN-G’s defensive front – a similar tactic to Nederland’s victory plan of a week ago. Once again, a completely new Tribe tackling unit offered very few answers.

PN-G (3-2 and 1-2) got beat at its own ball-control game again, 26:25-21:35, because Livingston took it to the Tribe’s line on both sides of the ball. Harrison Tatum never imagined he would be escorted to the homecoming dance by a couple of strangers named Carlos Moreno and Buck Bland.

Moreno and Bland sacked Tatum five times for minus 46 yards and found it fairly easy to return to the country with a 2-2 overall mark and 2-1 league record.

“We just decided to pound the rock,” the Livingston coach explained his simple halftime adjustment. “That’s what we do best. We didn’t execute in the first half. A lot of credit should go to our offensive line and our defense stepped it up.

“Our theme for the week was perfect discipline and I don’t know that it was perfect but it was close enough.”

Indians’ chief Matt Burnett could not fault his team’s effort. Burnett tipped his hat to Livingston’s superior second-half results.

“They did a much better job in the second half,” Burnett said. “That’s pretty much the story. They’ve got some good athletes. Going in at half, I thought we had pretty much controlled their offense. We thoroughly believed we would win the game. Then Livingston turned it up.”

Livingston averaged 6.1 yards a rush. Since the Lions’ coach could do that, he never needed to throw any. Guards Robert Rippy and Tommy Thinnes opened decent-sized spaces. Quinton Jackson led all rushers with 109 yards on 15 carries, capping his work with a 49-yard fourth-quarter touchdown dash to turn out the lights with 5:15 to play.

“They had a good running game,” Indians senior linebacker Alex Gaspard said. “They weren’t bigger than Nederland but they were faster. We felt good about our chances at half but they stepped it up in the second half and we didn’t.”

The Lions assumed the upper hand, taking the second-half kickoff 60 yards in nine snaps. Wide body Jordan Nixon (9 for 35) slanted behind extra-large Mark Reynolds on a four-yard scoring slant for a 21-14 edge. The count increased by another score midway in the fourth quarter when Undra Holman galloped 16 yards untouched with a pitchout around his left side. The Indians’ defense bit for the inside belly fake to Jackson.

“I couldn’t see early that it would be like that,” said Lions’ sack leader Moreno. “I never thought it would be this easy… But we played as a team and you could see their line was getting frustrated.”