Lions ready for road opener

By Kyle Mooty

LPR Editor

The Lockhart Lions took improving to the Nth degree last season, winning eight games after a total of just two victories in the previous 20 games dating back to the 2020 season.

A 62-7 route of San Antonio Burbank, a Bi-District championship and a 49–42 narrow loss ended their season to Corpus Christi Flour Bluff, both games played at Alamo Stadium, aka The Rock.

This year’s Lions have their eyes set on more success, but they will open their season Friday night at non-district foe San Antonio Southwest at Dragons Stadium.

Lockhart returns school single-season rushing leader Ashton Dickens at quarterback, a mighty trio anchoring the offensive line, a receiving corps which head coach Todd Moebes said could be the most explosive in his five seasons here, and a defense that brings back loads of experience.

An early preview of things to come came last week at Lions Stadium when Lockhart hosted the Medina Valley Panthers of Castrovuille in a preseason game. Medina Valley is coming off a 5-6 season.

Stealing the show early against Medina Valley was junior running back Jonathan Gonzales, who raced 70 yards for a touchdown on Lockhart’s first offenses position.

Each team’s starters only played eight minutes. Medina Valley, which is in the same Class 5A-1 District 13 as San Antonio Southwest, opened on offense.

Lockhart allowed two first downs on the first series but ended the second series with a fumble recovery by sophomore Ayden Scott.

Medina Valley did complete a 70-yard catch and run touchdown pass on its second-to-last play of offense for the starters.

Lockhart started two freshmen – Jordan Frohock and Kadon Moebes — on offense, yet it was junior Nathaniel Gonzales who found the end zone with his first carry on a 70-yard sprint around the right side, outrunning the nearest Medina Valley defender by 10 yards.

On the Lions’ second offensive series, they mixed the run/pass up nicely, Dickens completing a 7-yard pass to Moebes, Bart Key running for a first down, and Quavon Reese running on a receiver sweep for several yards. Gonzales had back-to-back runs of 10 and 8 yards, and Dickens connected with Gabe Deutsch for 13 more.

“I felt good about it,” Coach Moebes said of the scrimmage. “There were certainly some good signs from the team on both sides of the football. There were other things that we have to get better at.”

THIS WEEK

The Lions will meet the Southwest Dragons at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Dragon Stadium in San Antonio.

Southwest finished second in its district last season and was 7-4 overall. The Dragons return five starters on each side of the line.

“They are going to be a very hard-nosed football team,” Moebes said. “They’re bringing back a lot of guys. They have a great tradition and high expectations for success. I don’t see this year being any different for them.”

Top returners for the Dragons are free safety/running back Tyson Deen, junior running back Charles Stemley, senior, linebacker Peter Pusateri, and senior defensive lineman Rian Kilpatrick.

Lockhart is ranked No. 4 in Fox 7’s preseason Central Texas 5A rankings.