The nights when lights tower over the field, a mob of crazed fans ready to cheer on a group of guys all decked out in pads and helmets, are over. For the 2010 Cougar football season at least.
Tomball’s dream season came to a close Saturday night in Waco at Floyd Casey Stadium against the Longview Lobos.
Longview (6-4 in regular season) served up 24 points and stopped Tomball (8-2 in regular season), holding them to 0 points. It echoed the words of head coach Tommy Kaiser at the start of post-season: “Records don’t mean anything in playoffs.”
A series of mistakes on both teams lead interceptions and fumbles.
Two short punts from Tomball gave the Lobos excellent field position to drive up the score.
Coming back from halftime down by a 14 point deficit the players on the sidelines bowed their heads as if in prayer.
“We still have another half of a game to go,” cheered fan Cole Froman, a junior. “It’s possible!”
Out played, Tomball was in the second half. The Lobos only allowing the cougars to have 16 offensive plays.
Longview tacked on a field in the start of the fourth and polished off the win with a time-taking 10 play drive resulting in a touchdown.
Tears and frustration arose from players and fans after saying goodbye to the team’s hard effort for the past four months.
“It was a good run, wish it would’ve gone longer,” said coach Cody McGuire.
“The boys are going to be upset. It’s only natural,” Kaiser said. “There’s only going to be one team happy at the end. The team that wins it all. The state champions.”
As for the 45 seniors on varsity, setting foot on the field of Floyd Casey Stadium will be their last game.
“There are some that are hoping to play at the next level, we’ll see how everything goes in the time coming,” Kaiser said.