Railers fall to SHG 49-6

[October 21, 2011]  SPRINGFIELD -- The Lincoln Railers showed no quit on a cold Thursday night football game at Memorial Stadium in Springfield. A small crowd was in attendance on both sides of the field, with the World Series Game 2 being played concurrently. In their last game of the season, the Railers put up six points to SHG's 49.

The Cyclones jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the first quarter with two rushing touchdowns and one passing. Following the third touchdown, SHG successfully recovered an onside kick and shortly delivered another touchdown pass.

Lincoln returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 30. Senior quarterback James Leisinger completed a 16-yard pass to senior wide receiver Logan Armbruster; but Lincoln's advance was stopped on their own 45-yard line with an incomplete pass on fourth down and 12. SHG took over and got creative, running the polecat offense, and ended the first quarter on the 5-yard line with a 28-0 lead.

The second quarter began with SHG completing their march down the field, bringing the score to 35-0. Lincoln's next kickoff return set off an 11-play drive from the Lincoln 15 that included a pass from Leisinger to Armbruster for 39 yards. The possession ended when quarterback Leisinger was stopped for no gain on the fourth down and less than a yard to go.

SHG took over on downs on their own 11-yard line and again drove the length of the field. The drive was capped by a Bland-to-Reavey pass, bringing the score to 42-0.

Lincoln's offense again showed determination and put together a strong drive on their next possession. Garrett Cooper returned the kickoff to the Lincoln 34. Leisinger passed to senior running back Zach Schleder for a gain of 13. Then Cooper carried for a gain of 3. On the next play, senior running back Andy Krusz fought off several SHG defenders to advance the ball 25 yards to the SHG 25. The drive stalled when Lincoln failed on a fourth down and 4. SHG then took a knee to end the first half.

The second half had a running clock. The Railers and then the Cyclones ended their first drives of the second half with failed fourth-down attempts. SHG's failed attempt would lead to Lincoln's only touchdown drive after the Railers got possession on their own 49 with 3:25 left in the third quarter.

At this point, the seniors took over. Leisinger completed passes to Tate Gordon, Armbruster and Cooper to advance the ball to the SHG 22. Schleder then broke free and ran to the SHG 2-yard line before being knocked out of bounds. With 10:30 left in the fourth quarter, Schleder hauled in a short pass from Leisinger to complete the scoring drive. Leisinger was unable to find an open receiver on the two-point attempt and was stopped short of the goal line, leaving the score 42-6.

The Cyclones answered Lincoln's scoring drive with a 63-yard drive of their own, running the clock down to 2:41 and bringing the score to 49-6. Sophomore Austin Krusz played the last series at quarterback for Lincoln and was able to give his brother, senior Andy Krusz, his last handoff as a Lincoln Railer. The series ended as time expired with the final score SHG 49, Lincoln 6.

Congratulations to the Lincoln Railers and first-year head coach Andy McDonald for a hard-fought season in a challenging Central State Eight Conference.

[By TRISH MAURER]