Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lincoln Weathers Storm WOLVES 3-0 BEGINNING CONFERENCE PLAY
LINCOLN — Momentum swung in Subiaco’s favor and Lincoln had to weather a storm as the Trojans scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter, yet the Wolves prevailed 48-20 Friday.
Early success was a key for the Wolves. For the second week-in-arow Lincoln springs a long run to set up a touchdown on its opening drive. Last week Christian Sellers ripped off 51 yards at Keys, Okla. On Friday, Christian Crittenden did the honors with a 49-yard carry to start the first quarter. A few plays later Wolf quarterback Caleb Lloyd connected with senior Sterling Morphis for a 6-yard touchdown pass. Bradley Drain capped Lincoln’s third drive with a 3-yard touchdown plunge on a fullback dive giving the Wolves a 14-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Lincoln tacked on two more touchdowns on Lloyd’s 38-yard connection to Morphis followed by a 2-point conversion good for a 20-0 lead. Later in the half, Sellers, who led Lincoln with 124 yards on 18 carries busted a 33-yard touchdown run up the middle putting Lincoln up 28-0 at the half. They would need the cushion.
The Trojans used a bit of luck to get on the board on their opening possession of the second half. Quarterback Luke Hertlein completed a 21-yard pass to Gage Lee to convert third-and-17. As a Wolf defender rushed him, Hertlein, rolling left, threw back across his shoulder and the ball was tipped by a Lincoln defensive back then landed in the hands of Gage (4 catches for 61 yards), who crossed the 50 and stepped out-of-bounds at Lincoln’s 47. From there Subiaco scored on Thomas Bourgeois’ 47-yard reception from Hertlein. The touchdown was one of Subiaco’s better executed plays of the game with Bourgeois getting behind the secondary beating 1-on-1 coverage down the left side. Bear Moore’s kick made the score 28-7.
Lincoln couldn’t answer on the ensuing possession after getting into second-and-9 at its 30. Lloyd couldn’t get a handle on the shotgun snap and was hit by Subiaco defensive back Dodge Mendenhall. In the scramble
“A lot of the challenges are probably my speed. I really need to get a little bit faster, but I feel like I could play at the varsity level pretty well.” Levi Wright
Lincoln Sophomore
Connor Miller recovered for Subiaco at the Wolves’ 18. The short field set up Hertlein’s 2-yard touchdown run. He pivoted and raced left on a bootleg managing to extend his body and hit the pylon as the Wolves pushed him out-of-bounds. Moore’s P.A.T. boot cut Lincoln’s lead to 28-14.
A pair of touchdown runs by Lloyd (8 carries for 53 yards), including a 19 yard score, gave the Wolves some breathing room by extending the margin to 40-14 at the close of the third quarter although both conversions failed. In the fourth quarter, Lloyd broke the plane on a 3-yard carry. This time Lincoln’s 2-point conversion succeeded and the Wolves led big, 48-14.
Subiaco’s offense took the field and was on the march again. On first and 10 in Lincoln territory at the 39, Hertlein threw an 18 yard pass to Lee, who was forced out at the 21. Lincoln’s defense tightened once the Trojans advanced into the red zone, but on third-and-15 Hertlein found Lee for Subiaco’s final touchdown on a well-thrown ball with Lee breaking across the end zone.
Although they gave up three touchdowns, Lincoln’s defense was generally effective limiting Hertlein to 128 passing yards and a 36.4 completion percentage. The Wolves held Subiaco to 36 yards rushing. Lincoln had one interception. Bourgeois finished with 2 catches for 53 yards.
On offense Lincoln exploded for 296 rushing yards with two backs Sellers and Crittenden (13 rushes for 109 yards), both going over 100 yards. Lloyd completed 11-of-24 passes for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has not thrown an interception this season.
Sophomore Levi Wright continues to blossom at tight end after switching from the line last year as a freshman.
“It all started out with me just playing around in practice one day,” Wright said. “I asked coach, ‘let me run a couple routes,’ and he let me. The next practice he told me to get out there and it just kept going. And finally, when springball came around I just started playing it. They liked what they saw.”
Wright had one catch for 36 yards against Subiaco and wants to become a better receiver by improving his speed.
“A lot of the challenges are probably my speed,” Wright said. “I really need to get a little bit faster, but I feel like I could play at the varsity level pretty well.”
LINCOLN 48, SUBIACO ACADEMY 20
Lincoln 14 14 12 8 — 48 Subiaco 0 0 14 6 — 20
FIRST QUARTER
Lincoln — Sterling Morphis 6-yard pass from Caleb Lloyd (run failed). Lincoln — Bradley Drain 3-yard run (2-point run).
SECOND QUARTER
Lincoln — Sterling Morphis 38-yard pass from Caleb Lloyd (run failed). Lincoln — Christian Sellers 33-yard run (2-point run).
THIRD QUARTER
Subiaco — Thomas Bourgeois 47yard pass from Luke Hertlein (Bear Moore Kick).
Subiaco — Luke Hertlein 2-yard run (Bear Moore Kick).
Lincoln — Caleb Lloyd 19-yard run (pass from Caleb Lloyd). Lincoln — Caleb Lloyd 1-yard run (pass failed).
FOURTH QUARTER
Lincoln — Caleb Lloyd 3-yard run (run failed).
Subiaco — Gage Lee 15-yard pass from Luke Hertlein (conversion failed).
TEAM STATISTICS
Lincoln Subiaco Total offense 466 164 Rushing yards 296 36 Passing yards 170 128 Rush average 6.6 N/A Comp-Att-TD-Int 11-24-2-0 N/A Fumbles lost 1 0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Lincoln, Christian Sellers 18-124, Christian Crittenden 13-109, Caleb Lloyd 8-53, Matthew Sheridan 2-13, Bradley Drain 3-7. PASSING — Lincoln, Caleb Lloyd 11-24-170-2-0. RECEIVING — Lincoln, Sterling Morphis 4-59, Hunter Phelan 3-45, Levi Wright 1-36, Blake Arnold 1-12, Dawson Calico 1-9, Christian Crittenden 1-9.