Prediction: Wolves Will Wreak Havoc On Polls

Vast changes occurring in the program since Lincoln last competed as a member of the 3A-1 Conference in 2011 puts Lincoln football on a whole new level.

One wouldn’t know that based on Hootens’ preseason predictions, which according to a poll of conference coaches, ranks the Wolves fourth among the 2020 conference lineup.

First year Lincoln coach Reed Mendoza, returning to the school where he served as offensive coordinator and head junior high coach from 2017-2018 after an 0-10 stint at Dover in 2019, has a potential wrecking crew on his hands.

“I think it’s a tougher conference than what people think. I psyched myself out a little bit yesterday. I was home for lunch eating and I was flipping through Hootens [ football magazine] and there’s no doubt, Cedarville’s going to be tough, Charleston’s going to be tough, Greenland’s going to be tough,” Mendoza said. “But we’re not going to just sit here and act like we’re not confident in ourselves either. I feel like if we’re healthy, we can play with any of those teams and beat them, and our goal is a conference championship and a state championship.”

“We’re going to worry about us and not worry about other teams and that’s not a slap-in-the-face to them, it’s just we want to put the focus on us ‘cause that’s what we can control.”

Besides Mendoza’s familiarity with the Lincoln program, the only coach returning from last season is Defensive Coordinator and now assistant head coach, Beau Collins, who took over as head junior high coach in 2019.

“Coach Collins has the most tenure of anybody here. He’ll continue in every role that he had last year and he’s someone that I feel very comfortable with,” Mendoza said. “I know that I lean on him a lot. I think we complement each other well. He’s kind of not what I am when it comes to a lot of different things.”

None of the current 3A-1 teams: Hackett, West Fork, Greenland, Mansfield, Charleston, Lavaca and Cedarville, have yet to play a down at Wolfpack Stadium with its new turf installed in 2017. Lincoln also added a fieldhouse at the high school campus with an improved weight room, coaches offices and indoor training facility that also has turf. The school partnered with the Wolfpack Foundation to accomplish much of these top-notch upgrades that also feature an inflatable tunnel and Wolf mascot costume to pep up the hometown crowd.

Prior to the 2011 season in which Lincoln (7-4, 4-3), then coached by Brad Harris, reached the state football playoffs for only the second time in school history, the Wolves struggled. Between Lincoln’s 1995 playoff season (7-4, 5-3) as member of the 2A-1 Conference and not counting either 1995 or 2011 the Wolves won 25 games total and lost 123 overall with a 13-98 conference mark as a member of the 3A-1.

From 2012 through 2019 as a member of the 4A-1 Conference, Lincoln qualified for the state playoffs three times (2013, 2015, 2018) achieving an overall record of 41-44 and going 23-33 in conference as the smallest league school in a higher classification.

Mendoza attributes the difference primarily to good coaching.

“I believe in calling it like it is. The program’s been in a lot better hands before coming into now [reentering the 3A-1] than it was probably coming into 2011 and that 3A to 4A jump,” Mendoza said. “Coach [ Brad] Harris and Coach [Don] Harrison both did good things here. I know there was a guy in between, but definitely those guys are good football coaches and know how to run a program.”

A rash of injuries kept Lincoln from making the playoffs last season as a 4A team — and telling a talented group of seniors, who went 9-1 in seventh grade and competed well at the junior high level under Mendoza’s direction, they aren’t good enough to make the 3A state playoffs will only fire them up.

The current senior class played a major role as the Wolves snapped a 19-game losing streak to Prairie Grove and made the State 4A playoffs in the 2018 season in which Lincoln finished 8-3. Lincoln has no intention of missing the 3A playoffs this season and Mendoza is equally motivated following an 0-10 season at Dover in 2019 and a disappointing finish to the 2017 junior high season.

“We feel like we do [have something to prove],” Mendoza said, while acknowledging the senior class wants to make their mark upon Lincoln football.

“They feel like probably underachieved a little bit as freshmen. I definitely feel like we did. That’s on us coaches more than it is the kids. I felt like we were more talented than what we finished at 5-5 [as freshmen in junior high football], but I like the direction we’re going. I like where their heads are at and looking forward to getting to play.”

Taking Lincoln lightly this season may spell disaster for opponents, who may have been too quick to write them off.