Turnovers Doom the Chiefs as Lake View Falls to Lubbock High

LUBBOCK, TX — The Lake View Chiefs traveled to Lubbock on Friday with the hopes of beginning the season 3-0 against Lubbock High. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, a slow start and inopportune second-half turnovers doomed their chances of a victory as Lake View fell 37-13.

"We put ourselves in a hole early on in the game," Chiefs head coach Hector Guevara said. "But the kids played hard. We battled back to within four points, but couldn't finish offensively or defensively."

Lubbock High scored first on a 32-yard field goal after a Chiefs' fumble midway through the first quarter. After another Lake View punt, the Chiefs' defense committed their lone mistake so far on an explosive 62-yard touchdown pass. Up 10-0, Lubbock High added another score on a quarterback keeper inside the 5-yard line after a long march that ate up much of the second quarter.

The Chiefs finally answered with two minutes to play in the half. After marching the ball down the field, quarterback Chris Alvizo found Calvin Whitfield over the middle for a 16-yard touchdown to put Lake View on the board.

Lake View's Connor Williams stepped up just before the buzzer to keep more Lubbock High points off the board when he sacked the quarterback on a key third down with less than 1o seconds to play. The sack made the subsequent field goal attempt a difficult one, and the Westerners missed it to keep the score at 17-7.

After a stop by the Chiefs on Lubbock High's opening drive in the second half, Lake View drove 80 yards down the field for another touchdown. Alvizo connected with Whitfield near the goal line for the duo's second touchdown connection of the game. The Chiefs pulled within four points, but unfortunately, that is as close as Lake View would get.

Lubbock High would score on the ensuing possession to go up by 11, and then events would go from bad to worse for the Chiefs. A fumble by Lake View set up another easy score for the Westerners, and then an almost pick-six on the following Lake View possession allowed Lubbock High to score again. 

The Westerners would score once more with time winding down in the fourth quarter to claim a 37-13 victory.

Lake View will bounce back from this loss, but it was evident on Friday why turnovers kill a team's chances at victory. Lubbock High won the turnover battle 4-1.

"We can't spot teams that many points to start a game," Guevara concluded. "[Lubbock High] is a good ball club. I'm not taking anything away from them. We'll get better and we will learn from this."

Next up, the Chiefs return home to host Pecos on Friday, Sept. 18. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at San Angelo Stadium.