Washington County Enterprise-Leader
All-Around Noteworthy Gridiron Performance
WRIGHT LEADS FOR WIN IN FIRST START AT QUARTERBACK
BERRYVILLE — Lincoln junior Levi Wright began his career handling the football on every play as starting center in seventh and eighth grade, but in a switcheroo took snaps Friday.
Filling in for injured starting quarterback Tyler Brewer, Wright led Lincoln to a come-from-behind, 39-34, conference win on the road at Berryville in his first start as a signal-caller. He completed 14-of-27 passes for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns with an interception.
First Game At QB
“First game he’s ever played at quarterback and I thought he did a pretty good job,” said Lincoln coach Don Harrison. “He was real nervous and he came in and he settled down. He made some key throws. He made some pin-point pass throws that we had to have, but a lot of his deep stuff and the one he threw to Blake Arnold here when Blake Arnold was wide-open he had a lot of time. So, the O-line gave him a lot of time and he found some receivers and hit some spots and then he carries the ball pretty good, too. He’s a pretty good runningback when he takes off with the ball. I’d be anxious to see how many yards he had tonight.”
Wright finished with 9 rushes for 55 yards and 2 touchdowns and became the man of the hour.
First Half Deficit
Things looked bleak for the Wolves falling behind 20-7 with 5:23 elapsed in the second quarter.
At that juncture Berryville had out gained Lincoln in total offense 183-76, and racked up 13 first downs to 4 for the Wolves.
Although Berryville gained 362 yards on 49 rushes for an average gain of 7.4, an opportunistic Lincoln defense found ways to stop the Bobcats from running amok and the Wolves’ offense produced three unanswered touchdowns to close out the final 3:34 of the first half.
Lincoln Passing Game
Wright and the passing game began to make a difference as Lincoln athletes showcased their talent all over the field.
Daytin Davis returned a sky kick 18 yards giving Lincoln prime field position at its own 46. He then caught a pass from Wright for 8 yards to get the drive off to a good start. On third-and-9 from the Bobcat 41, Wright completed a 36-yard pass to Davis, who made a rollover catch and was marked down at Berryville’s 5-yard line.
“Daytin had some great catches tonight. The one where Levi threw him the post over the middle was awesome,” Harrison said.
Four plays later Wright used his 6-5, 225-pound frame to hammer the ball in from the one. The kick failed yet Lincoln was within, 20-13.
Touchdown Pass
On the next series, Marcus Sturgill made a touchdown-saving tackle when Berryville’s Dominic Henry ran the ball into Wolf territory at the 49. A personal foul penalty added 15 yards and the Bobcats had first-and-10 at Lincoln’s 34, but the Wolves dug in and halted the drive at the 26 two yards short of a first down with the second quarter clock at 1:29.
This drive started the same way with Wright finding Davis for 9 yards. Two plays later Wright busted a 43-yard run and was tackled by his facemask moving the ball to the Bobcat 7. Wright threw a touchdown pass to Noe Avellaneda alone near the left corner of the end zone, then kicked the PAT to tie the game at 20-all with 55 seconds to play in the first half.
19-Second Drive
Tanner Barnum recovered a Bobcat fumble to set up Lincoln’s fourth touchdown of the half which covered 51 yards in 19 seconds. Wright tried to throw deep to Davis, who was triple-covered and the ball fell incomplete. He then hit Avellaneda for 12 yards followed by an immediate time-out with only three seconds appearing on the first half clock. Wright lofted a deep throw to Blake Arnold, who made a catch inside then 10 then refused to go down breaking tackles and making his way into the end zone to complete a 36-yard spectacular scoring play. Wright kicked the PAT and the Wolves took momentum and a 27-20 lead into halftime.
Former Lineman
Wright started at center on the offensive line as a seventh grader and again in eighth grade. Still, his athleticism began to emerge along with a growth spurt and a commitment to reduce his playing weight. During the off-season going into Wright’s ninth grade season, the Wolves were playing ultimate football just out there messing around. Coaches realized Wright could catch the football one-handed, and began considering where to play him.
“OK, we got to move him. He’s getting taller and he’s slimmed up a little bit and we had to move him,” Harrison said. “It was one of the best moves we had.”
Throwing Ability
Last season, Wright was messing around late in the year and started
playing a little quarterback and throwing the ball a little bit once again impressing the coaches with his potential.
“So, we worked on him this year being the backup quarterback and man he did just an amazing job tonight,” Harrison said. “He’s another kid that stepped up to the plate. He wasn’t going to play defense at all tonight and we told him that we had to have him and he went both ways and he gutted it out. I’m super proud of him.”
Selective Play Calling
Harrison’s play calling early in the contest enabled Wright to compete some relatively easy throws and build confidence which led to the big-play long throws downfield as the game progressed. Wright completed his first 4 passes including short throws of 3 yards to Davis and 7 yards to Blake Arnold.
“Like I said he was nervous. It’s his first game ever starting at quarterback so we didn’t want to come out here and try to throw the deep-ball the first 10 plays,” Harrison said. “We talked about hitting the quick stuff, hit and miss and then I think it was on the second drive he hit Daytin Davis on the corner and it was an unbelievable throw.”
Actually that came on the Wolves’ first series and Wright’s third pass with Harrison taking a chance on the eighth play of the game. Wright lived up to the confidence shown in him and delivered a 35-yard bomb to Davis to set up Lincoln’s first touchdown.
Rough Spots
Wright wasn’t perfect. He dropped a snap in the shotgun and made an ill-advised throw resulting in his only interception of the game by Berryville senior Tyler Payne with eight minutes left in the first half that led to the Bobcat’s building a 20-7 lead. He had a shanked punt go off the side of his foot and travel only 10 yards then took out his frustration and was flagged for a late hit with the Wolves trailing 34-33 in the fourth quarter.
Grace was on his side, however. Wright could have been ejected. He wasn’t and Barnum intercepted a Bobcat pass which prevented Berryville from increasing its lead.
Winning Drive
Wright then led the Wolves on an 8-play, 95-yard touchdown drive bookended by a pair of Christian Sellers’ runs, the first for 24 yards and the last a 44-yard touchdown dash that gave Lincoln a 39-34 lead.
Wright completed a crucial fourth down pass to Avellaneda for 9 yards when the Wolves needed 8 to keep the drive alive. He kicked off and booted 3-of-5 extra-points seldom coming off the field.
All-Around Contributor
Wright kicked for Lincoln the last two weeks while Avellaneda was out with an injury. In the pregame warmups Avellaneda didn’t like how his ankle felt kicking the ball. Harrison told him, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll have Levi kick, just play.”
“Levi did it all tonight and he’s a special guy. He kicks, he punts. He can play quarterback. When he’s out there he might be one of our best receivers,” Harrison said. “When he’s on defense he might be one of our best defensive players. He’s just such a special football player and I’m just lucky to get to coach a guy like that.”