The No. 2 Wall baseball team has unfinished business with the state championship game
LAKE VIEW

San Angelo Lake View football made important strides in first year in Class 4A

A look back at the 2018 season for Lake View football

Amy McDaniel
San Angelo
Lake View players enter the field for the game against Brownfield on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, at San Angelo Stadium.

The Lake View Chiefs only won three more games than they did last year, which wasn’t all that many considering they didn’t win any the year before.

But it was those three wins that defined the Lake View football season, which despite a playoff loss ended on a positive note for the first time since 2015.

“It was both relieving but at the same time disappointing,” senior quarterback-turned-running back Kendall Blue said of Lake View’s 3-9 overall record. “We definitely should have competed more in a few of our games. We should have won a few more games. I, personally, should have performed better. But at the same time, winning our first home game of the year, winning our first district game in a few years and then winning our first playoff game in a few years, that was pretty astounding to me.”

Lake View did indeed make forward strides but with some missteps along the way.

“Always, as coaches, you like for the season to be a little better, but it was great to see our kids react to adversity, then finish positively,” said head coach Hector Guevara, who guided the Chiefs to break a losing streak that predated his arrival in August of 2017. “We started off pretty good, but then in midseason we had a stretch where we struggled, as a whole, and then a little stretch where we were there in a game and couldn’t finish a game. And then we finished strong, won a district game, won a playoff game and competed well in the area round.

“It was a good season. The win-loss is not going to show it but, overall, our kids’ character and their will to keep working says a lot about them.”

Guevara led the Chiefs to their first district win 2015, their first playoff berth since 2015 and their first playoff win since 2014. Lake View beat Clint Mountain View 28-21 in the bidistrict round of the Class 4A Division I playoffs before falling to Wichita Falls Hirschi 55-23 in the area round last Saturday in Abilene.

Lake View’s 35-0 win over Fabens in Week 2 broke an 18-game losing streak. The Chiefs’ 35-20 win over Big Spring in the regular-season finale meant they didn’t have to settle for what was essentially the automatic bid to the playoffs out of their four-team district.

It was Lake View’s first year competing in Class 4A after struggling at the bottom of the “enrollment lottery” in Class 5A for the last several years. That didn’t mean Lake View’s schedule was that much easier because many of the same nondistrict opponents from years past were still on the schedule.

So while the three wins were a step forward, there were at least three games the Chiefs felt they should have won.

Lake View lost 47-42 to open the season against Lamesa, 27-7 to Llano and 34-27 to Brownfield. All three schools are smaller than Lake View and, with exception to the Llano game, Lake View had chances to win but could not finish.

“Unfortunately, we had injuries and we didn’t play well. It was a combination of a lot of things,” Guevara said.

“The kids had that intestinal fortitude to compete, even though it was frustrating, they didn’t lose focus on the ultimate goal. They wanted to win a district game – more than one – but they won one. And once that happened, they were bidistrict champs, then an area finalist against a Top 10 team in the state and one of the best running backs in the state. We competed well against them and strides were definitely made.”

“I feel like we had a pretty good season,” senior defensive lineman Manuel Baeza said. “Yeah, we had a rough start, but towards the end we started to find our groove and knew what we needed to work on and we got better.”

Baeza was one of several Chiefs honored on the all-district team.

Junior utility player Rudy Martinez was an Iron Man selection on the team, while Baeza, Blue, wide receiver Ahmad Daniels, offensive lineman Anthony Guevara, kicker Daniel Ramos and defensive backs Johnny Espinosa and Anthony Martinez were first-team selections.

Daniels, who up until his senior season had focused solely on basketball, was glad he made the decision to come out for football.

“We wanted to show people we were capable of winning and flipping the script,” Daniels said. “It was kind of difficult at first, but once we all came together, we got the hang of it. (Against Hirschi) I was kind of surprised in us, myself. We did better than I thought we were gonna do.”

Daniels had a career day against Hirschi, catching eight passes for 146 yards. He finished with 678 yards and eight TDs for the season, despite missing two games to injury.

“I feel like we overcame a lot of obstacles,” said Espinosa, who had 11 interceptions for the season even though he missed two games to injury. “We definitely set a lot of different goals for the foundation of the Chiefs program.”

Espinosa is not satisfied, he said.

“No, I want to win 10 games. I want to win state," Espinosa said. "So it was a little joy, but at the end of the day, I want to win everything.”

Guevara said that’s the mentality he hopes carries over into next season with the returning starters like Espinosa, Rudy Martinez and Anthony Martinez, all juniors.

“They want to win. Their goal has not changed, which is good,” the coach said. “We got that playoff atmosphere, that taste, and hopefully we can teach those juniors the leadership skills so they can carry the torch next year.”

2018 Lake View Football Results

Lamesa               L 47-42
Fabens                W 35-0
Snyder                L 61-21
Fort Stockton     L 34-6
Llano                   L 27-7
Brownfield         L 34-27
Hereford             L 56-7
xSeminole            L 55-6
xAndrews             L 55-14
xBig Spring           W 35-20
yMountain View     W 28-21
zWF Hirschi          L 55-23

x-District 2-4A Division I games; y-bidistrict playoff game; z-area playoff game