REL Rewind: Poster, Johnson answer the call

Published 12:02 am Monday, October 28, 2013

Coaches repeatedly tell players who are not starters to never lose focus because you never know when your name will be called.

Robert E. Lee quarterback Raleigh Poster and running back Kyjuan Johnson know this all too well. Both are upperclassmen and both are backups this season to underclassmen.

Poster, a senior, backs up Zach Hall; and Johnson, a junior, backs up Tavon Wesley.

Well, Poster and Johnson took their opportunity and ran with it, neither stopping until the Red Raiders (4-4, 1-3) had beaten Mesquite 61-54 on Friday to achieve their first District 12-5A victory since 2010.

Before the second half of Friday’s game began, Johnson had accumulated a grand total 48 yards on 10 carries for the season. Take away one carry for 25 and the other nine had combined for 23 yards.

The Red Raiders trailed Mesquite 20-16 at halftime despite Wesley rushing for 87 yards and a touchdown. On first down to start the third quarter, Wesley took a handoff from Hall and rammed into the Skeeters line for a 3-yard gain.

Then a subtle substitution happened.

Wesley trotted off the field and Johnson took his place in the pistol formation behind Hall. Hall took the snap and handed off to Johnson, who exploded through the middle of the line for a 61-yard run.

A stunned Mesquite wasn’t able to prevent Hall from recovering his own dropped snap to score a 4-yard touchdown on the next play.

“It was time to step up. I had to step up,” Johnson said. “I’ve been on the sideline waiting for my time. That is what you do when you’re hungry.”

Johnson must have been starving because the junior tailback finished with 20 carries for 178 yards and three touchdowns (10, 26, 2) in just those two quarters.

Poster was a starting quarterback for REL last season, but this year he is 9 of 19 for 159 yards and two touchdowns. He did not get on the field against Rockwall and was on the sideline for three quarters and 10 minutes worth of Friday’s game.

But with the Red Raiders trailing Mesquite by one point with no timeouts and a little less than two minutes remaining as well as being at their own 20, Poster entered the fray with the mission of driving Lee for a game-winning score.

“I was the starter last year … and even though I am not the starter this year, I have good experience and just kept a good attitude every day and I was confident in myself that I could get the job done,” Poster said.

Poster’s first pass was nearly intercepted. The senior did not give Mesquite another chance to stop him after that, converting a third-and-10 with a rifle pass to Bryce Wilkerson, and another third down with a nine-yard strike to Marquiston Williams.

That set up fourth-and-1 from Mesquite’s 41.

“I am a passer and usually I get to call the play and it’s an option between two plays,” Poster said. “They called it in and it was the right play and it worked.”

What was called in was a quick pass to Williams. The entire success of the play depended on whether Williams could make the catch and elude his defender if fellow receiver Wilkerson was unable to block him.

In the end all Williams had to do was catch it because Wilkerson did enough to spring him and he did not stop until he reached the end zone for a 41-yard catch and run touchdown.

But none of that happens without a key defensive stop.

The two teams combined for an obscene 1,099 yards of offense with 655 of that coming in the second half. REL hadn’t held Mesquite since the second quarter, but with the game on the line, got a three-and-out to put the ball in Poster’s hands.

Mesquite led 54-53 with 2:53 left and needing a first down to run out the clock.

On first-and-10 from its own 34, Patrick Udofia made an open-field tackle to hold Mesquite’s quarterback to one yard. On second down, Greg Lavely did enough to slow down the Mesquite ball carrier for a 6-yard gain.

On third-and-3, the Skeeters handed off to Shadavian Reed. Reed finished with 257 yards and three touchdowns, but he wishes it would’ve been 258. Lee’s Brandon Durman and Antron Henry latched on to Davis and brought him down for 2 yards.

Mesquite then decided to punt instead of going for it.

The rest is Lee history.

Robert E. Lee

Rewind

Final score: Robert E. Lee 61, Mesquite 54

Turning point: Kyjuan Johnson entered the game in the third quarter and his speed through gaps proved too much for Mesquite to handle as he finished with 178 yards and three touchdowns.

The game was over when: Mesquite’s last-gasp pass on the final play of the game fell incomplete.

Key stats: The teams combined for 89 points in the second half after it was 20-16 at halftime.

Warning signs: Lee keeps getting hurt on the big play with six of Mesquite’s touchdowns going for 20 yards or more.

Plus sign: Lee won the turnover battle and got the defensive stop it needed when it mattered most.

What this loss means: The Red Raiders go back to work as potential spoilers for the remaining district foes. There is still an outside shot for a playoff spot if Lee wins out in its remaining two league games and other results go its way.

Notable: The combined 115 points is the most ever in a Lee game eclipsing 107, which REL achieved in a 57-50 win over Marshall in 1992.

Fast forward: Lee faces district unbeaten Longview on Halloween at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Lobo Stadium in Longview.