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 “We were really
excited the (during) the first half,” Lincoln Head Coach Andy
McDonald said Friday night. “Our defense was really battling hard
out there.”
Twice,
Lincoln’s defense stopped the Decatur Eisenhower Panthers inside
their 20 yard line during the first half.
Senior Eric
Sutton laid an exclamation point on the tough defensive stance with
a sack about midway through the second quarter.
The bend but
not break he Railsplitter defense did so well, Lincoln trailed by
just six points at halftime.
Then
Eisenhower’s Braxton Woodland took over.
The 6’2, 200
pound, senior running back scored three touchdowns Friday night, two
in the third quarter alone.
“He’s
outweighing many of our players on the field by a legitimate 100
pounds,” Coach McDonald said. “That’s asking a lot of our guys to
tackle him one on one.”
Even two on
one, Woodland was too much for the Railer defense.
Eisenhower Head
Coach Drew Wagers said Woodland’s size and speed made the Panther’s
game plan simple.
“We started the
night with (the plan) ‘We’re going to feed the beast’, and that’s
what we did,” Wagers said after the win.
Woodland also
played a standout game on the defensive side of the ball.
“He’s
definitely one of the biggest, fastest, strongest guys that we’ve
seen so far,” junior quarterback Garrett Aeilts said.
Lincoln was
further undone by big plays.
Eisenhower also
ripped a 60 yard punt return for a touchdown and a 30 yard pick six
in the fourth quarter.
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Both Lincoln
and Eisenhower were looking for their first wins of the 2014 season
Friday.
Eisenhower is
now 1-3, while Lincoln falls to 0-4 on the year.
But the
schedule for the mighty green now becomes very difficult.
The Railers
will host Sacred Heart Griffin next week, then travel to Rochester
the following week
Both SHG and
Rochester are defending state champions. Neither team has lost a
game yet this season.
Coach McDonald
said his team just needs to stay focused.
“Guys are here
to play the sport, to compete,” McDonald added. “They gotta keep
their heads up, they gotta keep battling. Because it sure doesn’t
get any easier.”
Senior capitain
Chris Duong said the Railsplitters can take some positive momentum
into the next week, regardless of their opponent.
“We have got to
forget about the second half (of Friday’s game),” Duong said as the
Railers boarded the bus. “We need to think about the first half.
Think about how well we did defensively.”
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