TAMPA — As the Lennard football team walked down the sideline to the other end of the field, the fourth quarter about to begin, a few players made the iconic Longhorn sign with their thumbs and pinky fingers and lifted it in the air.
Their hands were high, but their heads were low.
Lennard, in pursuit of its second straight win for the first time in four seasons, had a lead, but not for long. King began the fourth quarter on the 2-yard line and scored a go-ahead touchdown moments later.
The Longhorns’ disappointment, though, would be brief. Lennard marched down the field later in the fourth, and freshman quarterback Devin Black connected with Deshawn Barnes for a 58-yard, winning touchdown as Lennard beat the Lions 20-17.
It’s Keith Chattin’s third season coaching the Longhorns, but he saw a different team on the field Friday night.
“We didn’t have that toughness the first two years,” he said. “The way we fought back tonight, the last two years that game would have been over.”
Lennard, which won its preseason game and season-opener against East Bay, showed up at Bill Stewart Stadium with momentum. And it didn’t take the Longhorns long to capitalize on it.
Senior athlete Diontae Johnson returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to put Lennard up early.
“I saw a big hole, and I hit it,” Johnson said. “My mentality is to get the ball in the end zone.”
Johnson’s teammate, Josh Shelman, did the same late in the second quarter to give Lennard a 13-7 lead — King quarterback Demario Brisbon scored on a 1-yard keeper minutes earlier — but the Lions weren’t done scoring. Just before the break, Alex Alhomsi kicked a 20-yard field goal to cut the Longhorns’ lead to three.
The Lions took control of the game, and soon the lead, in the second half. But as the dejected Longhorns moped along the sidelines, the Lennard coaches continued to remind them the game wasn’t over. After going 1-19 during the previous two season, the Longhorns’ newfound magic hadn’t yet run out.
And when Black hit Barnes for the 58-yard winner on third-and-10, less than three minutes to go in the game, that much was overwhelmingly evident.
“I’ve been through the losing. It was all just 'I’ instead of the team,” Johnson said. “We got a goal — to get to the playoffs — and we’re not stopping till we get there.”