FOOTBALL: Longview edges West Brook for state championship

Published 6:39 pm Saturday, December 22, 2018

A 2-yard touchdown run by Jessie Anderson with 4 minutes to go kept Longview in front for good, and the Lobos ended an 81-year state championship drought with a 35-34 victory over West Brook on Saturday in the UIL 6A Division II final at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

West Brook was the first Jefferson County team to reach a state football final since Port Neches-Groves lost to Stephenville in the 1999 4A Division II title bout and the first Beaumont team to make it since French tied Odessa Permian for the 1984 5A title. West Brook has won only one championship, and that came during the year it opened (1982, 5A).

The Bruins (13-3) had a chance to make it two championships before an announced crowd of 48,421, but Longview’s Michael Martin recovered a Robert McGrue fumble near midfield with about 3 minutes left that ended West Brook’s last threat. The Lobos (16-0) worked the ball to the Bruins’ 3 before running out the clock.

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West Brook had led by as much as 34-26 going into the fourth quarter. The Lobos kicked a field goal from 28 yards out and forced the Bruins to punt with about 6 minutes remaining.

Following Anderson’s touchdown run, Javan Rideau picked off a pass attempt for the extra two points.

The Bruins outrushed the Lobos 349 yards to 146, but Longview totaled 569 yards of offense thanks to offensive MVP Haynes King’s 423 yards on 16-of-27 passing. La’Ravien Elia of West Brook completed 10 of 21 for 144 yards, giving the Bruins 493 total yards.

Elia was also the leading rusher for the game with 136 yards on 13 carries. Teammate Jakobi Holland had 13 totes for 122 yards, and McGrue carried 17 times for 69 yards.

King rushed 12 times for 65.

Jephaniah Lister of Longview was named the game’s defensive MVP.

West Brook was ahead 28-20 at halftime after trailing 13-7 through the first 12 minutes.

— I.C. Murrell

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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