Prep football: Clovis West sneaks by in win, but Lemoore still proved a lot to its coach
The Clovis West football team breathed a sigh of relief on Friday night.
Lemoore proved they can play with one of the top teams in the Central Section.
And that’s fine by Tigers coach Rich Tuman.
Lonnie Franks scored the game-winning touchdown with 24 seconds remaining that gave The Bee’s fourth-ranked Golden Eagles a 27-26 victory over No. 7 Lemoore at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis.
Even with the loss, it still gives Tuman plenty of hope for the rest of the season.
“We believe now,” he said. “If we can step on the field against Clovis West and compete like we did tonight, we can step on the field anywhere and compete. I think they believe now and that’s what they did last year. It fired us up last year and we went on a run.”
After losing to Clovis West (2-1) last season, the Tigers (2-1) went on to win the next 10 games, including a Central Section Division II title.
Lemoore will host No. 9 Sanger next Friday.
The Tigers had taken a 26-21 lead on Kobe Green’s 85-yard kickoff return with 3:33 remaining. Lemoore failed on a two-point conversion.
That gave Clovis West plenty of time to drive down the field with its weapons.
And that’s what they did especially on third-and-10 with 1:10 remaining when Tyler Patrick connected on a 17-yard pass play to Tytus Khajavi at the 1-yard line. Then Franks scored for the win.
Clovis West coach Eric Brown gave Lemoore plenty of credit in a game that went back-and-forth.
“Lemoore did a great job,” he said. “They were prepared and their kids were ready to fight and they believed for every minute of that game that they were going to win.”
But Brown added that his team still has “a lot to fix” but seeing how his team responded gives him plenty of optimism for the remainder of the season.
“Our kids showed they have heart and they’re going to finish the game no matter what,” he said.
“Our team has to feed off each other better and feed off the emotion in the game. We need to use that momentum, and when the offense makes a big play and scores, our defense has to have a mindset and saying we’re going to get a stop. Same thing with the defense. We’re too explosive to not have momentum swings in our favor to the game.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
