It seems like either the John Tyler Lions or Robert E. Lee Red Raiders are good. It’s practically never both. Regardless, this year it’s John Tyler who’s making some noise as they stand at 7-1 and average 236 passing yards and 162 rushing yards, two sacks and 36 points per game.
The two closest games they’ve played include a 35-30 win over Horn of Mesquite on the road and a 26-21 loss on the road to Lancaster, a team that is 7-1 on the year. The Lions have served two shutouts and thus far have outscored their opponents 268-103. The teams they’ve played are quality, such as Lufkin, Corsicana, Lindale and Jacksonville.
Still not impressed? What if you were told that quarterback Greg Ward is 122-of-175 for 1848 yards. Yeah, insane numbers right. He also has 21 touchdowns on the year. With numbers like that, one might think he’s careless with the ball and turns it over too much, but that’s not the case. He has not thrown a single interception on the year and he has a quarterback rating of 144. If that doesn’t impress you, nothing will.
Ward has solid targets like Fred Ross who has 36 receptions for 631 yards and nine touchdowns and Darion Flowers who has 30 receptions for 532 yards and five touchdowns.
The team’s running game is led by, Oh, that would be Ward again who has another six touchdowns on the ground. Five other Lions have rushed for at least one touchdown.
That’s just the offense. The defense has 15 sacks, eight interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
Their playoff ticket is stamped and it will be interesting to see how deep they can go as they show what Tyler football is among the best there is.
The Lions have two games left as they prepare for the Nacogdoches Dragons this Friday and the Whitehouse Wildcats next week. Both games are slated for a 7:30 kickoff.