Coach John King’s message at the 2019 Booster Club football banquet was a farewell to all of the hard-working seniors and call to the rest of the team to get ready for the next season.
King, speaking to the Class of 2020, praised the dedication and fight of the seniors on his team.
“There has been more stress this year than there ever has been. Trying to repeat as state champions, all the buzz around the football team and all the opportunities we had. But I’ll take that stress any day of the week,” King said to the crowd at Mobberly’s Elevation building. “Not many teams come through Longview that can say they swept East Texas, not once, not twice, but three years in a row. We had a back-to-back undefeated record season. That’s the third time that has happened in the program’s history.”
The graduating members have seen a lot of record breaking during their time on varsity.
King said that the Lobos qualified for the playoffs for the 19th consecutive year which is a school record. The senior class has a three-year varsity record of 40 wins, 3 loses, which is the most of any graduating class in the history of the Lobos.
While King has been proud to coach them over these past years, he told them to not focus on the past but to look towards the future.
“I hope Lobo football is not the highlight of your lives. I want it to be a great memory, but we hope there’s more things that come down the road,” King said. “So when your days of playing football are over, you better have something to fall back on. I’m hoping that the discipline, the structure, time management skills and teamwork that you have learned during your time as Lobos will help carry your forward.”
As part of the banquet, King and the Lobo staff announced the 2019 permanent team captains: Haynes King and Tyshawn Taylor.
Other awards were also given out: Academic All-State — 2nd team is Drew Beltran, Haynes King, Michael Mavhunga and Sawyer Goram-Welch, Honorary Mentions — Owen Kuenemann, Parker Cox, Raul Torrez and Syre Moore; Iron Man Award — Kaden Meredith; SPORTyler Chamber of Commerce — Parker Cox.
The Frank Lebus Scholarship gave two scholarships, each worth $2,200. One went to Drew Beltran and the other to Kyas Moore. The Alvin Khoury Scholarship also gave away two scholarships, each worth $1,000 with one to Drew Beltran and the other to Parker Cox.
Drew Beltran was also tabbed as the Defensive MVP while Kaden Meredith took offensive honors. Drew Beltran was selected as the Scholastic MVP.
King’s message then shifted to the underclassmen, which includes 27 returning lettermen and 7 returning starters.
“Our 2020 season will be here before you know it and there are a lot of unknowns surrounding this football team right now. With us going to be in a new classification, we don’t know who we’re going to play, where we’re going to play. But I can tell you where one game will be played,” King said. “August 28, AT&T Stadium, Longview versus Temple. But between now and August, it’s up to all of us. We need to concentrate on the things we can control and that’s be the best football team we can be. We do have a chance at being a good football team. How good, we will find out.”
The 2016 freshman team went 8-2 and the junior varsity team went 9-1 with both squads picking up district titles.
Eight Lobos are expected to sign on National Signing Day on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Spring football practice begins Monday, April 20, with the annual Green-White Game set for Monday, May 18.