Lincoln Adds Nonconference Win

Lincoln didn’t show up wearing Lavaca jerseys and the Wolves weren’t confused during their covid-19 prompted 49-14 nonconference victory over Johnson County Westside Friday at Wolfpack Stadium.

The scheduling change threw off many with Lincoln replacing Lavaca, which according to a post on Fearless Friday canceled due to covid, leaving the Sept. 18 date on Johnson County Westside’s varsity football schedule open. As of Sunday, some online schedules still showed Lavaca playing Johnson County Westside on Friday and there were media outlets reporting the Golden Arrows won the contest by the same score as Lincoln accomplished Friday’s win.

But this game was all Lincoln, thanks to efforts of Lincoln athletic director Deon Birkes working to get the Wolves a game in week three that would have been a bye for the Wolves before starting conference play. The contest was originally supposed to be a road game for Johnson County Westside and Birkes kept it that way getting the Wolves home field advantage.

Offering the Class 2A Rebels a chance to play on turf at Lincoln’s Wolfpack Stadium increased the appeal of filling a hole in the schedule. Lincoln exploded for 49 first half points establishing a running clock for the duration of the second half.

The Wolves intercepted Johnson County Westside on the first play from scrimmage and the offense cashed in on a short field with senior quarterback Levi Wright passing to classmate Daytin Davis for a 23-yard touchdown. Wright ran in the 2-point conversion and Lincoln enjoyed an early 8-0 lead.

Lincoln’s next possession resulted in another touchdown pass from Wright to Kyler Calvin for 48 yards. This time the Wolves opted to kick the extra-point and went up 15-0.

The Wolves added a third touchdown in the first quarter with Wright finding Davis on a 12-yard route. The conversion failed, but Lincoln led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The offensive fireworks continued in the second period.

Wright scored on a 1-yard carry and Lincoln got the ball right back

with another interception. Matthew Sheridan carried the ball across the goal line on a 3-yard run and with the extra-point kicked through the uprights the Wolves relished a 34-0 lead, which increased to 41-0 when tight end Audie Ramsey caught a 15-yard pass from Wright to score the first touchdown of his career on a well-designed and well- executed play. Ramsey lined up on the left side of the formation and slipped across to the right side behind the offensive line.

The Rebels didn’t cover him and he made the reception at the line of scrimmage with nobody between him and the goal line making tracks across the 15 yards before the defense could catch up.

Johnson County Westside returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown to get on the scoreboard and tacked on a 2-point conversion to make the score 41-8.

Rafael Regalado helped Lincoln answer by running the next kickoff back to near mid field and the Wolves drove for a touchdown. Wright threw his fifth touchdown pass of the night to Tyler Brewer and the Wolves took a 49-8 lead into halftime after adding a 2-point conversion.

Johnson County scored on a short run during the third quarter, but the conversion failed. Neither team scored beyond that and Lincoln claimed a 49-14 win playing their fourth nonconference game of the season to improve to 2-2 overall.