The Teague Lions scored on a go-ahead 20-yard touchdown pass from Zak Leija to Bryce Bates with 42 seconds remaining in the game, sending the home crowd into a roar in the Lions’ home opener, but the defending 2A State Finalist Tolar Rattlers responded with a well-executed 40-yard field goal with room to spare in a 23-21 thriller as no time remained to stun the Teague Lions and the home faithful.
Tolar held a 14-0 lead at halftime and seemingly had the game in control, but the Lions offense awakened on 8-yard hard nosed touchdown run by senior twoway standout Korey Silar with 3:27 left in the third quarter to cut the Rattler lead to 14-7 after Alex Lopez converted the extra-point.
Leija tied the ball game on a 72-yard touchdown run, racing past the Rattler defense with 10:41 left in the fourth quarter. Leija converted on a two-point conversion pass to put Teague ahead, 1514, their first lead of the night.
With 5:10 remaining in the game, Tolar responded with a touchdown and was unsuccessful on the two-point conversion attempt.
Teague countered with a methodical drive of their own, driving down to the 20-yard line when Leija connected on the go-ahead touchdown pass to Bates. The Lions were unsuccessful on their two-point conversion, and their lead stood at 21-20 with under a minute to play.
The Rattler offense converted on a deep pass into Lions territory down to the 30-yard line, forcing them to spike the football with no timeouts remaining. The Rattlers converted a 7-yard pass before having to spike the football again, this time with 4 seconds remaining. Tolar’s field goal unit closed out the game with a successful 40yard field goal to regain the lead for good in the final seconds. After the loss, the Lions fell to (1-1) on the young season.
The Lions will travel to Ferris next Friday night to take on the Yellowjackets and will host rival Mexia the following week at Lion Stadium.
Local News
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