Frenship finishes unbeaten regular season
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Updated: November 9, 2008
The Frenship football team made sure Friday night that history would come nowhere near repeating itself.
Back in 2003, Frenship had a chance to take a big step as a program and finish with an undefeated district campaign. But a loss at San Angelo Lake View in the regular-season finale ended those hopes, and the Tigers were out of the playoffs a week later after a first-round loss to Palo Duro.
Five years later, the seventh-ranked Tigers had a chance to complete just their third unbeaten regular season and a third straight undefeated District 4-4A run. In came the Chiefs, looking to secure a playoff spot, but they left only with a 45-23 defeat as the Tigers used a strong first half to brush aside any doubt early.
“It’s a process that started a long time ago for all of us,” offensive lineman Mason Walters said. “We wanted to come out and play our type of football. We’re trying to go 10-0 … and now we’re ready to go into the playoffs and see how far we can take this thing.”
If Friday was any indication, it should be another deep run for the Tigers (10-0, 5-0 in 4-4A), who with an outright championship in hand will face - ironically - Palo Duro at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Dick Bivins Stadium in Amarillo.
“We feel good where we are,” head coach Brad Davis said. “Physically, we’re in great shape. We don’t have any major injuries. Mentally we’re in great shape and we feel like we’re right where we belong, and the kids are expecting to go into the playoffs and do well. But it all starts over with the new season. Everybody has a fresh start in the playoffs. We’ve got to get geared up and ready for Palo Duro.”
Despite the loss, Lake View will reach the playoffs for the first time in four years thanks to Big Spring’s 31-0 win over Hereford, which launches the Chiefs (5-5, 2-3) and Steers into the postseason. Lake View will face Dumas at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Lowrey Field.
“We’re excited and can’t wait to get to work in the morning,” first-year Lake View coach Sterlin Gilbert said. “The kids have put in a lot of hard work and effort since January to put us in a situation to play in week 11. That’s been our ultimate goal from the get-go and we’ve finally reached that goal.”
On Friday, however, it was Frenship’s goal of going undefeated that took center stage, and the Tigers used an early scoring spurt and a 22-point barrage to end the first half and put it out of reach.
Tailback Bryan Seicks opened the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run on Frenship’s first series, and following a Stoney Allison interception at the Lake View 28, quarterback Tyler Lloyd made it 13-0 when he hit Lance Ratliff just inside the goal line for a 17-yard scoring strike.
Defensively, it was just a sign of things to come for a Tiger unit that came in allowing just 214 yards per game. They held Lake View to 55 yards total offense in the first half and 202 for the game, forcing two Chiefs interceptions.
“Our defense has been tremendous all year,” Davis said. “Our coaching staff does a great job getting these guys prepared for what they’re going to face. It’s all new faces but they took that as a challenge to prove that they can be a great defense, and it turns out they may be the best defense we’ve had here in a long time.”
Lake View was able to weather Frenship’s first few punches and climbed to within 13-9 on a 45-yard C.J. Lee field goal and a 37-yard touchdown toss from Baker to Paul Mesta.
But the Tigers responded quickly and took advantage of Lake View mistakes to put the game away.
Following the Mesta touchdown, the Tigers needed just two plays to return to the Lake View red zone, and Lloyd finished off the short drive with a 16-yard touchdown run. Frenship’s defense forced a three-and-out, and C.J. Condren fell on a muffed punt that bounced off the legs of the Lake View receiver at the Chiefs 20. Two plays later, Preston Dotson barreled into the end zone from 13 yards out to push the lead to 28-9.
Dotson scored again right before halftime from 2 yards out to make it 35-9 going into intermission.
Lake View scored twice on a pair of Baker runs, but couldn’t get close enough to make a rally. Lloyd connected with Ben Christian on a 21-yard TD pass late in the third quarter, and Lance Ratliff finished the scoring with a 21-yard field goal in the fourth, allowing Frenship’s second- and third-stringers to finish out the game.
“We were hoping to jump on them early and build a lead so we could get a lot of kids in the game, and we were able to do that,” Davis said. “It’s always good to win and also good if you can get control of a game and get a lot of kids in the game.”
FRENSHIP 45, SAN ANGELO LAKE VIEW 23
SA Lake View 3 6 7 7 - 23
Frenship 13 22 7 3 - 45
First Quarter
FRE-Bryan Seicks 4 run (Lance Ratliff kick); 7:44
FRE-Ratliff 17 pass from Tyler Lloyd (kick failed); 3:01
LV-C.J. Lee 45 FG; 1:03
Second Quarter
LV-Paul Mesta 37 pass from John David Baker (kick blocked); 10:06
FRE-Lloyd 16 run (Dallas Croyle pass from Lloyd); 7:56
FRE-Preston Dotson 13 run (Ratliff kick); 5:35
FRE-Dotson 2 run (Ratliff kick); :21
Third Quarter
LV-Baker 7 run (Lee kick); 7:30
FRE-Ben Christian 21 pass from Lloyd (Ratliff kick); 2:04
Fourth Quarter
LV-Baker 1 run (Lee kick); 10:34
FRE-Ratliff 21 FG; 7:42
TEAM STATISTICS
LV FRE
First downs 10 16
Rushes-yards 29-105 36-265
Passing yards 97 64
Comp.-att.-int. 6-13-2 5-10-0
Punts-avg. 3-28.0 2-29.5
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 1-5 1-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: SA Lake View, Tay Williams 10-56, Chris Blair 11-27, John David Baker 8-22; Frenship, Ross Jackson 6-82, Bryan Seicks 10-73, Landon Lamb 4-60, Preston Dotson 9-56, Tyler Lloyd 2-8, C.J. Condren 1-2, Case Clay 1-(-2), Cole Martin 1-(-3), Brandon Hanslik 1-(-5), Zach Edwards 1-(-6).
PASSING: SA Lake View, Baker 6-12-1-97, Paul Mesta 0-1-1–0; Frenship, Lloyd 5-10-0-64.
RECEIVING: SA Lake View, Jace Stovall 2-34, Mesta 1-32, Beau Burton 1-22, Dominic Manuel 2-4; Frenship, Ben Christian 1-21, Lance Ratliff 1-17, Lamb 2-15, Jedidiah Mannon 1-11.
By George Watson LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
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