All-time series lead at stake in 57th JT-Lee clash

There are some records that seem unattainable.

New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio’s consecutive hit streak, Bret Favre’s consecutive games played streak and Barry Bonds single-season home run record.

These will never be broken — or is it just a matter of time?

At the turn of the century, the John Tyler-Robert E. Lee rivalry was very one-sided toward the high school on the North side of town. When the teams took the field in fall of 2000, JT held a seemingly insurmountable 26-15-1 lead in the all-time series.

But beginning in 2000 and ending last year, Lee has won 12 of the past 14 meetings. Do a little math and it puts the overall series at 28-27-1 for JT.

A win for Lee this year could even the series for the first time ever.

The teams meet in the 55th edition of the Rose City Rivalry at 7 p.m. today at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.

“You’ve got a lot of friends over there, so you don’t want to get beat because you see them all year long and get to hear about it,” said Lee coach Darrell Piske. “You want the bragging rights … you don’t really have to get them up for a game like this.”

The Red Raiders (0-2) haven’t experienced success since September of 2011 when REL achieved its lone victory of the year in this contest.

John Tyler is dealing with its own unforeseen adversity, thanks to an upset loss last week at Lancaster which dropped the Lions (1-1) from No. 1 in Class 4A to No. 7.

“It lets you know you can be beat,” said JT coach Ricklan Holmes. “The kids understand from day one, if you don’t do the small things, they turn into big things and put you in a position to lose the game. That’s what happened to us (last) Friday.”

Holmes put forth three goals he wanted John Tyler to attain in his first season as head coach.

“Our first goal is to win the Tyler championship,” Holmes said. “The second is to become the district champion and the last one is to be a state champion. All of those mean a lot to us. You have to take care of them one at a time. This Friday, it starts with Robert E. Lee.”

REL had bragging rights from last year after a 38-30 win. Meanwhile, JT rebounded from the setback to get on a roll in Class 4A and advance to the Division I state semifinals.

Piske said that puts it into perspective. Yes, this is an important game, but more crucial for the Red Raiders is continuing to improve.

“For a game like this you try to keep them to play within themselves so they don’t get overhyped

trying to beat their buddy over there,” Piske said.

The Red Raiders have gotten the best of JT in this cross-town “war” because of a superior ground force. Three years ago, when REL stunned a then unbeaten John Tyler squad, Lee combined for 197 yards rushing, highlighted by a scoring run from Chris Dinkins, who outfoxed three Lions defenders near the sideline to reverse field and go the distance. Last year, REL had three running backs go over the century mark.

One of those tailbacks is LaQuintas Wallace, who in two games this season has amassed 283 yards and six touchdowns.

Piske understands that JT’s focus will be on Wallace.

“They are going to be prepared to stop the run because (all they’ve heard all week) is ‘Lee always runs on John Tyler,’” Piske said of JT’s defense. “We are going to have to make sure we’re balanced and have our play-action (passing) working well and be able to run it off the edge.”

The Lions offense is multi-faceted and explosive at receiver, quarterback and tailback.

Senior Greg Ward enters with 519 yards passing and six touchdowns in just two games. The Houston commit has also rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown. His favorite target, Oklahoma State commit Fred Ross is averaging 26.4 yards per catch with four touchdowns.

Lee has allowed teams an average of 242 yards passing and 331 rushing per game this season.

“We are going to have to be more (careful) with our angles and have good tackling,” Piske said. “It will be a challenge, but we want to see marked improvement over last week.”

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS OFFENSE JOHN TYLER (Spread) — QB 1 Greg Ward (6-0, 170, Sr.), RB 22 Reggie Gipson (5-9, 175, Jr.), SB 4 DeQuante Woods (5-11, 185, Sr.), WR/Z 8 Fred Ross (6-2, 190, Sr.), LT 62 Emmanuel Terrazzas (6-2, 235, Sr.), LG 56 Adrian Pulido (6-0, 255, So.), C 55 Chris Starling (5-11, 250, Sr.), RG 52 Travaughn Moore (6-3, 260, Jr.), RT 75 Ken Holmes (6-3, 240, So.), WR/Y 2 Darion Flowers (6-0, 180, Sr.), WR/X 3 Justice Liggins (6-1, 190, Sr.), K 40 Noe Diaz (5-10, 195, Sr.). ROBERT E. LEE (Pro-I) – QB 12 Raleigh Poster (6-0, 175, Jr.); RB 20 LaQuintas Wallace (5-10, 205, Sr.); FB 30 Desmond Dunn (Jr.); WR 10 Cedric Brown (5-10, 170, Sr.); WR 9 Marquiston Williams (5-11, 175, Jr.), TE 87 Matthew Weeks (6-4, 250, So.), LT 77 Zacchaeus Page (6-4, 280, Sr.), LG 74 Ryan Rendon (6-1, 255, Jr.); C 64 Josh Wyscarver-Smith (6-1,240, Sr.); RG 75 Lane Haeger (6-2, 240, Sr.); RT 71 Ian Chase (6-4, 305, Sr.). K 37 Lumi Kaba (Sr.) DEFENSE JOHN TYLER (4-3) — DE 5 Kavante Jefferson (6-2, 195, Sr.), NG 28 DeAndre Miller (5-11, 230, Sr.), DT 66 Chris Mobley (6-1, 235, Sr.), DE 81 Tyus Bowser (6-3, 230, Sr.), WLB 15 Andrew Clark (6-0, 205, Jr.), MLB 24 Richard Gipson (6-2, 220, Sr.), SLB 4 DeQuante Woods (5-11, 185, Sr.), CB 25 Traven Johnson (6-1, 190, Sr.), CB 2 Darion Flowers (6-0, 180, Sr.), FS 13 Terry Ausborne (5-11, 170, Jr.), SS 21 Elliott Hart (5-11, 175, Sr.), P 40 Noe Diaz (5-10, 195, Sr.). ROBERT E. LEE (3-4) — DE 29 Etim Asangansi (5-10, 230, Jr.); NT 94 Antron Henry (5-11, 240, Jr.); DE 91 Keith Anderson (6-2, 230, Sr.); SLB 44 C.J. Thompson (6-0, 225, Sr.); WLB 47 Roderick Gaines (So.); SS 35 Deontay Walker (6-1, 215, Sr.); Bandit LB 85 Justin Eweni (6-2, 220, Sr.); S 11 Jay Roberson (6-2, 160, Sr.); FS 15 Rezzin Pullum (5-10, 175, Sr.); CB 3 Davier Harris (5-10, 155, Sr.); CB 8 Bryce Stewart (6-1, 175, Sr.). P 37 Lumi Kaba (Sr.)