The Greenville Lions will try to put a tough loss behind them when they complete their non- district football schedule with a game tonight in Dallas against the Lincoln Tigers.

The kickoff is at 7:30 at Forester Field, 8233 Military Parkway. The Lions’ preseason schedule had the game listed for Pleasant Grove Stadium, home of many Lincoln games in the past. But it is at Forester, a stadium the Lions have played in during previous seasons.

The Lions lost a 38-37 heartbreaker to W.T. White of Dallas in the 2019 season opener last week at home. W.T. White blocked an extra point and intercepted a Greenville pass at the Longhorn 10 in the final 30 seconds to preserve the victory.

Though it appeared the Longhorns could have been offsides on the blocked kick, there was no call. Lions coach Darren Duke said it was hard to tell on the game video if the Longhorns were offsides.

He said it “wasn’t the officials” that got the Lions beat.

“A couple of mental mistakes,” he said. “It looks like things we could correct. I hate to put it on one play. It was a good football game.”

The Lions showed expected big-play capability as they rolled up 518 total yards, including 348 rushing and 170 passing. Lester Turner, who rushed for 135 yards on 16 carries, ran for a 61-yard gain. Brandon Stephens, who led the Lions with 169 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 19 carries, ran for a 45-yard touchdown and threw to receivers Caleb Johnson and Shawn Brown for touchdowns of 55 and 60 yards. Stephens was 7-of-21 passing for 170 yards.

W.T. White led for much of the game. The Longhorns finished with 402 yards of total offense and took advantage of three Greenville turnovers.

“The kids kept coming back and they kept coming back,” said Duke. “That shows a lot of their determination.”

Lincoln, meanwhile, dropped its season opener, 21-16 to Wilmer-Hutchins.

“I think it’ll be an other team with good speed,” said Duke. “Good athleticism. You know Lincoln has a lot of tradition. A lot of history over there as anathletic program and a football team. And so I think you have to go over there and expect them to play hard. Expect them to compete. Especially at home.”

Lincoln went 10-of-25 passing last week with quarterbacks Michael Phillips and Travelle Gunels for 93 yards and one touchdown.

“They have a good screen (passing) game,” said Duke. “A lot of fast receivers. So it’ll be another challenge for us defensively to be able to defend some big-play kids.”

Jarrion Patton led the Tiger receivers against Wilmer-Hutchins with three catches for 39 yards and Gabriel Cole- man caught three for 23 yards.

Coleman led the Tiger rushers with 19 yards on two carries.

The two teams were scheduled to play last year in Greenville but got in only 14 plays before the game was suspended and eventually called off due to lightning. It was not rescheduled.

The is the Lions’ last non-district game before starting their eight-game District 8-5A-II schedule at home on Sept. 13 against Corsicana, the defending district champion.

“And so you know we’re trying to bounce back and so we’re looking to just be more consistent,” said Duke. “We want to continue with the big plays but I think that defensively we’ve got to shore up some things. Just sort of make a few more plays.”
