Both Starting Quarterbacks Sharp in Friday’s Scrimmage Between Longview + John Tyler

TYLER -- With one week left until the 2013 season officially kicks off, the starting quarterbacks for both Longview and John Tyler had strong showings in the teams' scrimmage Friday night at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.

Longview's starters outscored JT four touchdowns to two in the controlled portion of the scrimmage, which consisted of 25 plays apiece. John Tyler scored a 13-3 victory in the live-action segment that featured two 15-minute halves played with a running clock.

Lobos junior quarterback Dezmond Chumley finished the night 10-of-12 for 122 yards and one touchdown. He completed his first eight passes and connected with six different receivers.

"(Chumley) played pretty good tonight and I thought the first unit on offense played well at times as a whole," said Longview coach John King said. "There's some things that we're definitely going to have to correct before next week.

Meanwhile, John Tyler junior quarterback Geovari McCollister was 17-of-25 for 194 yards and two touchdowns passing and added 66 yards on 10 rushing attempts. McCollister is taking over for the graduated Greg Ward, who passed for more than 4,000 yards and accounted for 57 touchdowns in leading JT to the Class 4A Division I state semifinals a season ago.

"He did what I wanted him to do, he did exactly what I know he can do and should do for 16 games," Holmes said of McCollister. "He's versatile; he can throw the ball and he's got some receivers to throw it to."

Longview running back Ja'Mycal Hasty had six carries for 98 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown for the Lobos' second score of the controlled scrimmage. Hasty later engineered a nine-playing touchdown drive operating at quarterback out of the wildcat formation.

Lobos receiver and Texas commit Dorian Leonard led Longview with four catches for 83 yards, but limped off the field early during the first live-action period and did not return.

John Tyler senior running back Reggie Gipson finished with 36 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, and led the Lions with five catches for 45 yards and another score. Junior receiver Nick Cain had four catches for 50 yards, while sophomore Duntavion Gross had two receptions for 46 yards, which included a 33-yard TD catch for JT's first score of the night.

"(Gross) did what he's been doing since two-a-days," Holmes said. "He's a young kid that's getting a shot to do what he needs to do and he's taking advantage of it. He works hard in practice and it shows in the game with what he did out here today. And then you add the other older guys that's with him, we don't drop off far from what we had last year."

Longview scored three touchdowns in its first 15 plays with the first-team unit. Chumley got it started with a 7-yard pass to Stephon Anthony, which was followed by Hasty's 70-yard run on the very next play. A few plays later, L'Darrius Peterson's 1-yard TD run came after receptions of 37 and 20 yards by Leonard. Hasty added a 3-yard scoring run out of the wildcat later on in controlled action.

John Tyler scored twice in the controlled session. The first coming on McCollister's 33-yard strike to Gross and then on Gipson's 2-yard run, which he helped set up with a 25-yard reception.

Longview could only a muster a 31-yard field goal by Andres Perez in the live-action portion, while John Tyler scored twice on a 2-yard pass from McCollister to Gipson and a 9-yard run by Jeremy Wilson.

While Holmes was upbeat about his team's performance, he knows there's still work to be done.

"Overall I probably give them about a C today just because I still have the same concerns I had before I got here," he said. "But I got to see some kids play that actually kinda surprised me."

King said there were some things his team could've done better.

"There were some bright spots but there were some rough spots too," King said. "I thought we did some good things early on. Had some chances to get off the field early defensively but gave up some third and longs, jump offsides to give them first downs and didn't tackle too well. We could've executed better in the red zone offensively but there were some good spots."

John Tyler opens the season next Friday at Lufkin, while Longview travels to Allen to face No. 10 Coppell on the same night as part of the Tom Landry Classic.