Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Football Fans 'Meeting The Wolves' At Friday Event
NEW TUNNEL UNVEILED
LINCOLN — Fall sports teams were introduced to the public during “Meet the Wolves” Friday at Wolfpack Stadium.
Admission to the community event was towels or monetary donations. Auctioneer Rusty Collins conducted a pie auction for the volleyball team featuring baked goods by Billie Tucker and Briar Rose Bakery in Farmington. The Pee Wee, seventh-grade, junior high and varsity football teams were introduced, along with volleyball, golf, cross country, cheerleaders, band, and mountain biking teams.
Lincoln opens against longtime border rival Westville, Okla., at Wolf Pack Stadium on Aug. 31. This year, the game is being promoted as the “State Line Standoff” with the teams playing for a trophy that the winner gets to keep for a year.
Lincoln unveiled a new inflatable tunnel for the football team to run through while entering the field for a game during Friday’s Meet the Wolves community event. Wolfpack Stadium drew a good crowd of fans eager to get the fall high school sports season underway.
Lincoln begins 2018 playing a second year on artificial turf, with a Fieldhouse completed in 2017. The Wolves are anxious to improve from a 3-7 record the past two seasons with about 40 kids out for football in high school, about 30 in junior high, and around 30 in seventh grade.
“They’re just really happy, they don’t have to drive to the other side of town anymore,” said head coach Don Harrison. “They don’t have to be at school over here and then find a way to get over there and then get back. They’re just really happy that they get to walk out those (high school) doors and they get to walk in these (Fieldhouse) doors. We’re so blessed that all we have to do is walk out our roll up garage door and we’re standing on our turf. We get to practice on it every day. We get to play on it and so it’s really awesome.” Among returning players, Lincoln has six offensive starters
back including senior Caleb Lloyd in his second year at quarterback; and seven defensive starters return. Lincoln made playoff appearances in 1995, 2011, 2013, and 2015 with the Wolves setting their sights on making a playoff run this year.
“Defensively, were bringing a lot back,” Harrison said. “We’re bringing seven back on defense. Offensively, we got six back so it’s not bad.”
Senior Bradley Drain played at 225 pounds last year as a junior on the offensive line. He is now up to 240 pounds and playing fullback and linebacker. Senior Kong Lee was undersized last year at 170 pounds. He bulked up to 205 pounds for his senior season. Returning All-Conference player Hunter Phelan also increased his weight adding 15 pounds and grew two inches from last year.
An influx of sophomores with 19 on the varsity roster is expected to help Lincoln this season.
“They bring size, they bring speed, so we’re hoping to utilize that as much as we can,” Harrison said. “We really feel like they’re growing up fast, and when they’re in practice. Tyler Brewer, right now, he’s the backup quarterback. He’s doing really good. He might see some time at cornerback. Daytin Davis is a cornerback and our X receiver, and then Eli Rich is a backup on offense, but he looks right now he’s our starting free safety on defense. Those are the guys that have done really well and have found a way into the starting lineup.”
The 4A-1 Conference changed with Huntsville moving to 5A replaced by Green Forest up from 3A.
“We look at every game as a win to the point of we think of we can compete and win in every game,” Harrison said. “Losing Huntsville, if I was going to lose somebody, we beat Huntsville two out of three years so I thought we were good competition with them and we hung with them and even the year they beat us, they beat us by a couple of points so it don’t matter whoever they put in the conference you have no control over it so you just got to compete and play.”
Gravette, which beat Lincoln 31-7 last season, has an all-new coaching staff under new head coach Doug Greenwood.
“I know they got a good coach now,” Harrison said. “Bill (Harrelson) left and they hired a really good one so I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. I haven’t seen them yet. I don’t know what they’re running or how they’re doing it. He’s an old coach from Jenks. He’s got to be a good one, he’s got to know what he’s doing.”