Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Wolves Get Sorely Needed 4A-1 Win
LINCOLN SPOILS BERRYVILLE HOMECOMING 39-34
BERRYVILLE — Lincoln junior Levi Wright started at quarterback, passing for 240 yards and rushing for another 55 to lead the Wolves to a sorely-needed 39-34 4A-1 Conference football victory at Berryville Friday.
Lincoln coach Don Harrison was ectastic as the Wolves celebrated their first conference win of the 2019 season.
“He didn’t think he was going to start (at quarterback) tonight. Tyler Brewer’s injury has just gotten worse and so I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we’re going to assess it, but going forward I think we found a guy that can play quarterback for us,” Harrison said. “The kids fought hard. They did what we asked them to do. They fought their guts out to the very end and that’s what we needed all night.”
Playoff Hopes Alive
The victory was crucial for the Wolves, who came into the contest tied with the Bobcats with identical 0-2 marks in the 4A-1.
Harrison told his team, “Either they’re going to be 0-3 or we’re going to 0-3.”
“If you’re 0-3, you are behind the 8-ball. There is a less than five percent chance if you really look at it of making the playoffs and we knew we couldn’t be 0-3 tonight,” Harrison said. “I told their coaches it stinks that somebody had to lose that game cause it was a great game. It was an awesome battle. We had taken two on the chin. We were down a little bit, but Tuesday they looked really good at practice. They had a little skip in their step. We got Noe Avellaneda back. I think that was a huge break for us. Noe practiced a little bit on Tuesday and man he looked really good on Thursday. I think that was the shot in the arm the boys needed.”
Crucial Defensive Stop
Midway through the fourth quarter Berryville appeared on the verge of keeping Lincoln in the 4A-1 cellar driving to Lincoln’s 3 aided by a late hit out-of-bounds penalty tacked on. The Bobcats had first-and-goal from the 10 when Lincoln’s defense rose to the occasion. Two Brett Parsons’ runs moved the ball to the three, but the Bobcats then went backwards hurting themselves with consecutive false starts. Lincoln smothered Berryville quarterback JD Smith for no gain on third down forcing the Bobcats into fourth-and-goal from the 13.
A field goal was within range, but three points would still leave the Bobcats at a deficit on the scoreboard forcing them to go for it on fourth down. Lincoln defensive back Tanner Barnum picked off a pass near the sideline and his momentum carried him off the playing field.
“Tanner Barnum made a great pick down here. We had to go 95 yards. I think he was out of bounds at the 5-yard line, and then of course, Christian Sellers made a heckuva run on the outside,” Harrison said, referring to a first down 24-yard run around left end that stimulated the Wolves’ offense and got them out of the shadow of their own end zone.
Wright converted fourth-and-8 with a 9-yard pass to Avellaneda, and Sellers did the rest breaking a a 44-yard burst up the middle for the game-winning score.
“Then we put together a great drive, capped it off with a touchdown, and then we had to come out and make a stand,” Harrison said. “We did make a stand and we got the ball back and we were trying to run the clock out.”
Khilling Two Drives
Nathan Khilling’s relentless pursuit from defensive end spoiled Berryville’s last two possessions. After Lincoln’s go-ahead score the Bobcats sent their offense out at their own 43 with 3:27 to go, plenty of time to mount a drive. Khilling penetrated the Bobcat line and latched onto one leg of the ball-carrier refusing to let go. By the time his teammates arrived Khilling had recorded a 3-yard-loss. Smith threw two incomplete passes and was hit in the act of throwing on fourth down which turned the ball back over to Lincoln at the Bobcat 40 with 2:36 showing.
A holding call wiped out a first down and Lincoln turned the ball back over to Berryville with the clock down to 29 seconds.
Smith scrambled for 22 yards, then spiked the ball from Lincoln’s 47 stopping the clock with 16 seconds preserved. Smith passed to Dominic Henry for 14 yards. An injury time-out halted the clock giving Berryville one final shot with first-and-10 from Lincoln’s 33 and two seconds remaining.
Khilling’s all-out rush bearing down on Smith forced the Bobcat signal-caller to throw well short of any receivers and time expired giving Lincoln a 39-34 win.
“He has a motor. He plays every play as hard as he can. We don’t ever have to question Nathan’s effort ever. There’s never a time we’re saying, ‘Now, you’re being lazy,’ cause Nathan doesn’t know that word exists. He’s just got a motor and he gets to the ball and just another great senior. Awesome senior leadership and he sets the tone with his example. He doesn’t have to talk. He doesn’t have to tell them. Everybody’s just trying to keep up with Nathan most of
the time on defense because he’s always getting to the ball.”
Second Quarter Explosion
Both teams played their hearts out with neither defense able to stop the other offense during the first quarter.
Blake Arnold caught a 36-yard touchdown pass on the last play of the first half to cap 20 unanswered Lincoln points which erased a 20-7 deficit and put the Wolves on top, 27-20, at halftime.
“He’s the heartbeat of our team. As Blake goes, we go and we figured that out the last couple of weeks. The last two weeks he’s been player of the game,” Harrison said, laughing. “We might look and see if he’s player of the game again for three in-a-row, but that catch he made down there and then the one he made down here they (the officials) said he stepped out-of-bounds, but we’re going to see on film. That was a heckuva catch and then run down there. It was unbelieveable. He’s come a long way in the last three years that I’ve got to coach him as a football player and as a young man. It’s been so rewarding to see it and at the same time it’s fun to coach him.”
This week Lincoln celebrates Homecoming. The ceremony is at 6:30 p.m. followed by the Homecoming football game against Green Forest at 7 p.m. at Wolfpack Stadium.