Talk with Livingston coach Finis Vanover these days, and he knows the question is coming.

Following Friday’s heart-stopping 21-20 win over previously undefeated Huffman-Hargrave, people are lining up to ask the coach how, in just his third season, he built a district champion at a place that hadn’t tasted a title since 1963. The Lions went 0-9 in 2017, prompting a regime change that brought Vanover to the school.

In two years, Livingston still had little more to hang its hat on – the Lions went 0-10 in 2018 before winning twice last season. Few outside the program knew what would happen next. Livingston bounced back from a pair of season-opening losses to run off eight straight wins, capped by Friday’s comeback win against Huffman-Hargrave that will give a community something to remember.

“It’s been a dog’s life…three years have felt like 21,” Vanover said Sunday. “This has been quite a process. The kids understand what the bottom of the barrel is like, and they know what the castle to the outhouse theory is.”

Following three straight seasons without a district win, Livingston put together a perfect season to win the District 10-4A Division I title outright. The 2020 success, despite the varsity’s struggles, began to take shape two seasons ago.

“We kept this junior class together,” Vanover said. “They won nine games both as freshman and junior varsity teams. We knew they’d be special. This group doesn’t know anything but winning. That’s been the difference.”

Carrying confidence from Thursday’s subvarsity games to Friday’s bright lights isn’t guaranteed, and Vanover’s young Lions bounced back from a pair of early defeats and slowly climbed the ladder of success. The Lions beat Orangefield 21-20 for their first win and haven’t looked back.

In Friday’s penultimate clash, even a 20-7 fourth-quarter deficit proved nothing more than a bump in the road. Livingston’s defense came up with two fourth-quarter interceptions and the offense kicked it into high gear in time to mount an improbable comeback. Ja’Marri Green caught a 30-yard touchdown pass in the final minute for the winning points.

“Our defense has carried us whenever our offense was a little slow to get going,” Vanover said. “It’s been that way all year. Friday they helped us out until our offense caught fire, and then the offense made that deficit up.”

The win set off a weekend-long celebration throughout a community that’s been starved for football success.

“The district title means everything,” Vanover said. “This community hasn’t had an outright district champion since 1963. The last time they went to the playoffs was 2012. This community is so proud for the kids, their parents, their cousins, everyone.”

Vanover said he had a hunch that the year could be special months ago, before COVID-19 turned everything on its head.

“We knew we had something special with these kids,” he said. “We fretted and worried about how we would be able to keep them together and stay competitive. They handled every adversity and set-back well. This is a special bunch with lots of character.”

The Lions have found their success with an aggressive defense aimed at giving the ball back to an explosive offense. Statistically, the Lions don’t have a superstar: the defense often sets the offense up with a short field, and the offense gets the ball wherever it needs to go to score.

“None of our guys are going to win the Ford F-150 player of the week award,” Vanover said. “That’s not the way we are built. This is the most unselfish group I’ve coached since 1984 when we won a state championship [with Beaumont French]. They are almost exactly like that group. They don’t care who gets the credit or scores.”

With an improbable (DCTF picked Livingston to finish sixth in the 6-team district) championship already in hand, the Lions turn their attention to making the most of the school’s first playoff appearance since 2012. It’s been since 2007 that the Lions won a playoff game. Vanover hopes to change that, but he won’t change his team’s approach.

“We focus on ourselves,” he said. “We just do what we do best and not trouble ourselves with too many Xs and Os. Our guys know where to line up, and they know where they are supposed to be at the end of the play when the dust settles.”

It’s a simple formula that’s worked for eight straight weeks. But for Livingston, eight may not be enough. The Lions open the playoffs on Nov. 14 against Chapel Hill.