Wolfpack Defense Shuts Down Lavaca

— Lincoln jumped out to an early 14-0 lead on two scoring plays by Daytin Davis and went on to defeat Lavaca, 31-13, in 3A-1 Conference action Friday.

Time and time again the Wolfpack defense swarmed to the ball. Defensively, the Wolves stopped Lavaca on 4-out-of-5 fourth down attempts and limited the Golden Arrows to 4- of-13 third down conversions. That offset 237 rushing yards by Lavaca led by Cazen Winters (14 carries for 92 yards), and quarterback Maddox Noel (20 carries for 89 yards).

“Our defense played well all night and our offense put them in tough spots,” said Lincoln coach Reed Mendoza. “We started out hot then we relaxed a little bit.”

The Wolves turned the ball over twice on fumbles in their own territory, but didn’t give up any points because of the miscues. Davis and Kyler Calvin had interceptions to halt Lavaca drives. Both came in the red zone. In the third quarter, Davis picked off a pass at the one where he was inadvertently knocked down by a teammate also going for the ball. Calvin returned his pick 29 yards from the 13 in the fourth quarter.

“Our secondary was in position all night. We had a couple of more picks where we dropped the ball,” Mendoza said.

Lavaca botched an onside kick, which went out- ofbounds to start the game. With five yards tacked on by penalty, Lincoln’s offense went out to the Golden Arrow 42. The Wolves needed only three plays to find the end zone. Matthew Sheridan ran for 22 yards, followed by Weston Massey’s 4-yard carry and capped by quarterback Levi Wright hitting Davis for a 16-yard touchdown less than a minute-and-a-half into the game. Davis finished with 4 catches for 66 yards.

Lincoln also couldn’t execute an onside kick and was flagged five yards for kicking the ball out-ofbounds, but the Wolves’ defense held — stuffing a jet sweep for a 5-yard loss on first down and Audie Ramsey’s sack on third-and-10. Davis returned the punt 12 yards, and after another Massey 3-yard run, Davis took a pitch from Wright, turning the corner and outrunning everybody 61 yards for his second touchdown in less than three minutes.

Lavaca ran a trick play with a wide receiver throwing a deep pass on fourthand-five from its own 29, but the ball fell incomplete. The Wolves couldn’t capitalize, yet led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Lincoln suffered three turnovers on downs in the game and allowed an 11-play, 64-yard touchdown drive by the Golden Arrows capped by Noel’s 3- yard carry, which with the P.A.T. added cut Lincoln’s lead in half to 14-7 with 10:47 remaining in the second quarter.

Davis’ 26-yard punt return electrified Lincoln fans and postured the Wolves for a 35-yard march to counter the score. When the drive bogged down and time about to run out in the first half, Lincoln coach Reed Mendoza sent kicker Teague Vange out to boot a 22-yard field goal through the uprights with 1.7 seconds to go in the first half.

Lincoln began the third quarter with a 17-7 lead and capitalized on a short field when a Golden Arrow punt traveled only 23 yards allowing the Wolves to set up shop at their opponent’s 49. Wright broke a 37-yard run to the house to extend Lincoln’s lead to 24-7.

The Wolves forged a 5-play, 69-yard drive in the fourth featuring the running of Massey, who gained all but the first 14 yards of the drive, which Wright got on a keeper. Massey’s 2-yard scoring run off right tackle established Lincoln’s largest lead of the contest at 31-7.

Mendoza praised the play of Massey noting he came back from a broken leg and scored his first touchdown of the year.

“He had some good carries for us and played well for us on defense,” Mendoza said.

Lavaca scored a late touchdown accumulating 96 of its 287 yards of total offense against Lincoln reserves just before the game ended to make the final, 31-13.

Lincoln racked up 374 yards of total offense with 290 coming on the ground. The Wolves had four rushers gain more than 60 yards. Davis, Sheridan, and Wright tallied 64 yards apiece with Massey adding 61 while backup Caleb Matthews chipped in 46 yards on four carries.

This Friday, the Wolves play at Cedarville coached by Prairie Grove native Max Washausen with playoff seeding on the line. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.

“Cedarville is going to line up and run downhill at you. We have to stop that. It’s as simple as that,” Mendoza said. “Sometimes we complicate the game, but really it comes down to blocking and tackling.”

A Lincoln win gives them a No. 3 seed going into the Class 3A playoffs while a loss drops them to fourth. Mendoza said there are some crazy scenarios where a loss could put the Wolves in the No. 5 seed, but that’s not what he wants.

“We want the three seed. The travel is a little better and it’s a better matchup for us.”

LINCOLN 31, LAVACA 7

TEAM STATISTICS

Lincoln Lavaca Total plays 62 69

First downs 18 18

Total offense

374 287

Rushes-yards

35-290 44-237

Passing yards 84 50

Rush average 8.3 5.4

Comp-Att-Yds TD Int

6-22-84-1-0 4-21-50-0-2 Punts-Avg.

2-38.5 4-31.3 Fumbles lost 2 0 Turnovers 2 2

Penalties-Yds

6-50 7-59 Third-down conversion

6-13 4-13 Fourth-down conversion

1-4 1-5 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lincoln, Daytin Davis 2-64, Matthew Sheridan 9-64, Levi Wright 9-64, Weston Massey 5-61, Caleb Matthews 4-46, Malik Bagsby 1-2, Nick Moa 1-0, Brodey Bowen 3-(-1), Cody Webb 1-(-10). Totals 35-290. Lavaca, Cazen Winters 14-92, Maddox Noel 20-89, Dakota Hartsfield 8-70, Tristan Brown 2-(14). Totals 44-237.

PASSING — Lincoln, Levi Wright 5-19-75-1-0, Brodey Bowen 1-3-9-00. Lavaca, Maddox Noel 4-20-50-0-2, Dakota Hartsfield 0-1-0-0-0. RECEIVING — Lincoln, Daytin Davis 4-66, Rafael Regalado 2-18. Totals 6-84. Lavaca, Cory Arredondo 1-22, Tristan Brown 1-21, Jackson Floyd 1-10, Dakota Hartsfield 1-(-3).

Totals 4-50.