Johnie Logue
Sports Reporter
The Lincoln Cardinals came out ready to play, executing as some are saying their best first quarter of the season in a 54-14 romp of Wellington-Napoleon on the road in their final regular season game on the schedule.
A somewhat surprising loss by Adrian to upstart Tipton, 19-16, gave Lincoln the outright conference championship on a beautiful night to play football. Adrian was missing three key players in the upset. Tipton, a hard team to figure, and an enigma of sorts, has now beaten both Lincoln and Adrian.
Well-Nap, who came in at 5-3 and with a good passing quarterback; a big, powerful running back and a deadly kicker, looked to give the Cardinals a game. It never materialized as Lincoln jumped to a 24-0 first quarter margin and, as they say, never looked back.
Lincoln did struggle on their first three plays with signal caller Connor Lynde scrambling and throwing one away but then the senior hit Darren Roberts who raced down the field in typical Roberts form, zig-zagging his way to near midfield. After a couple of running plays to place the ball on the two yard line, Lynde would scramble in for the score. He would then hit Kyle Eckhoff, who was wide open for the 2-pointer conversion to make it 8-0 at the 5:08 mark..
The Cards next score would come at exactly the three minute mark on a 40 yard run down the left sideline by Ross Johnson. The play was preceded by a fumble recovery by Mack Hesse after Jacob Plumb forced the fumble. Lynde would edge the goal line for the 2-pointer.
Lincoln wasn't done as a pass from the 14 to Hesse and a 2-point run by Johnson made it 24-0 after one.
The nightmare for Wellington-Napoleon would continue with Johnson powering his way in from 21 yards. The 2-point conversion by Eckhoff was good again and it was 32-0 with 8:25 still on the clock.
To no one's suprise, Elijah Owens, a 6'3", 225 pound running back, would break one from 65 yards out and down the sideline to get Well-Nap on the scoreboard The kick was good and it was 32-7 as the home crowd came alive on their Senior Night.
The next Lincoln TD was a ten play struggle. Lynde hit Roberts from five yards out but he was pushed out inches from the goal line. Johnson found a hole and scored while Lynde raced around the left side for another 2-pointer and it was 40-7 going into halftime.
The second half started with a bang as Lynde hit the sure-handed Roberts with a bomb from midfield at the 11:37 mark. Roberts eluded his defender and raced home.
Johnson found the goal line again for 2 points to make it 48-7.
Lynde intercepted a pass up the middle to kill a nice drive by Wellington-Napoleon. Freshman speedster Dawson Parrott would take a crossfield sideline pass and race down the field 26 yards for the score. The PAT failed and it was now 54-7 and the fat lady was looking for a song to sing.
Wellington would score on a bomb against Lincoln's JV in the fourth. The PAT was good and the final tally was 54-14 as freshman quarterback Riley Sanders took a series of knees to run out the clock.
Coach Brad Drehle commented, "Our kids came out with a purpose tonight. I am very proud of them. Wellington-Napoleon is a good team and it wasn't easy. I tell our players that all we are guaranteed this time of year is 48 minutes. You tackle and make plays and good things will happen."
Sophomore Camden Everhart commented, "We punched them in the face as the coach always says. They are good, but I don't think they were ready for us tonight."
Ross Johnson had a busy night with 3 touchdowns and two 2-point conversions. He was 17-131 rushing and led with seven tackles. Lynde was 10-78 while Eckhoff was 12-79, Mundy was 1-10, Everhart 3-12 and Srader 7-22.
Lynde was 9-16 for 124 yards in the air. Roberts was 2-72 receiving.
Lincoln, 8-1 and conference champions received the top seed in their district and will host Slater at home on Friday. They could have rematches with both Tipton and Cole Camp before it is all said and done.
As always, BCE TV will be there Friday night at 7:00pm for all of the action.
