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MIDLAND - A disastrous first half almost turned into another miraculous comeback for the Lake View High School football team on Sat­urday.

The El Paso Parkland Matadors jumped out to a 42-7 halftime lead before holding off a furious comeback by the Chiefs en route to a wild 49- 41 Class 4A Region I Division II area round playoff victory at Grande Communications Stadium.

The Chiefs finished the season 6- 6 under first­year head coach Sterlin Gilbert. Lake View was trying to make school history by reaching the third round of the playoffs for the first time.

But the Matadors ( 9- 3), thanks to a monster first half, had other plans.

Parkland, like Lake View, was trying to make it to the third round of the playoffs for the first time. The Matadors accomplished that, setting up a regional quarterfinal game next weekend against Stephenville.

Parkland running back Mike Davis ran for 214 yards and touchdown runs of 14 and 80 yards as the Matadors built a seemingly comfortable 35- point advantage in the first half. Quarter­back Assad Taylor ran for three TDs and threw for another in the opening 24 minutes.

Lake View’s only score in the first half was on a 17-yard TD pass from quarterback John David Baker to wideout Jace Stovall.

Anybody who left the game at intermission missed seeing the Chiefs play arguably their best quarter of the season in a thoroughly dom­inating third period. Lake View recovered two straight onside kicks to get back in the game, as the Chiefs scored three TDs in a span of less than five min­utes.

Running back Chris Blair, who had a team­high 95 yards rushing, opened the third quarter with a 14-yard TD run.

That score was followed up by 13-yard TD run by wide re­ceiver Chris Martinez, and a pair of short TD runs by Baker.

With the Chiefs trailing 42- 35 heading into the fourth quarter, the comeback at­tempt looked promising when Blair broke free on a 61-yard TD pass from Baker with 8:16 left.

However, placekicker C. J. Lee hit the right upright on the PAT attempt, leaving the Matadors with a slim 42- 41 lead.

The Matadors finally got their offense back on track with a 39-yard TD pass from Taylor to wide receiver Israel Hernandez, giving Parkland an eight-point edge with 4: 47 remaining.

With the way they were clicking on offense early in the second half, the Chiefs had to be thinking about punching it into the end zone one more time and convert­ing a two- point attempt to pull even with the Matadors. Those aspirations were de­railed, however, when the fi­nal pass in Baker’s brilliant career ended in an intercep­tion by Parkland linebacker Darren Mickens.

After the game, the Chiefs coaches and players were de­flated by the loss, but they were all proud of Lake View’s effort to recover from the large halftime deficit.

“ We always talk about re­siliency, and we just chal­lenged ourselves in the lock­er room at halftime,” Lake View safety Rodney Akers said. “ We knew we could come back and win like we did last week. We fell short, but it shows our character and how much we care about these fans.

“ We just came out with a bunch of character, and a bunch of courage. I love these guys, and I’m glad I’m playing with them. They’re a bunch of fighters, and I love that.”

The Chiefs had gone 4- 26 in their previous three sea­sons.

The 2008 season was a complete turnaround, as the Chiefs won their first dis­trict game in three seasons on their way to reaching the postseason for the first time in four years.

Last week’s win against Dumas was the first playoff win for Lake View since Gil­bert was under center for the Chiefs in 1996.

Saturday’s season- ending loss doesn’t ruin all the mo­mentum the program gained this season.

“ I told those kids at half­time that we’ve got a choice — either fight ,or lay down,” Gilbert said. “ I knew we’d come out fighting, and we fi­nally had some good things happen for us in the second half.

“ That’s what we kept dig­ging for in the first half. We couldn’t get the ball to bounce our way, or fall our way.”

But converting those two onside kicks in the third quarter gave the Chiefs new life.

Gilbert was especially sor­ry for the 32 seniors on the team who played their final game.

“ It was an unbelievable ef­fort by our kids,” the Lake View coach said.

Baker, who plans to play in college, will always cherish the memories of how hard he and his teammates competed during the 2008 season.

Even he couldn’t believe how close the Chiefs came to pulling off an astonishing comeback.

“ Our intensity was unbe­lievable,” said Baker, who threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns in addition to running for 61 yards and two more scores.

“ I can’t even put it into words how much respect I have for the people around me. They never quit and they never will — not in life, and not in football.

“ That’s what Lake View High School is about. We’re never going to quit, no mat­ter what the odds are.

“ This senior group, we started something here to­day and this season. We’re leaving an example for these younger guys and how you’re supposed to carry yourself.”