Seniors Say Goodbye To Railer Football

[October 21, 2017]  By Benjamin Yount

LINCOLN – Every football senior night at Lincoln High School ends the same.

The score of the game may change. And sometimes the Railers win, sometimes they lose. But senior night always end the same.

A minute or so after the final whistle sounds, the senior class realizes that they will never play another down of football for Lincoln High School again. The seniors take a knee and tears start to fall.

It happened again Friday night, just seconds after Lincoln's 56-41 loss to Freeburg High School.

The Railer seniors, Issac Dueringer, Braden Tisadale, Isaiah Bowers, and Titus Cannon, all hit the ground at Handlin Field and let their emotions wash over them.

Titus Cannon heads for the endzone. Cannon finished Friday night' game with three touchdowns. He set a record for the most touchdowns in a season at LCHS with 19. 

“It's been one heck of a ride, and I've loved every minute of it,” Isaiah Bowers said through his tears Friday night. “Being in this environment is truly a blessing from God. The way he put everyone in my life, it's just perfect for me.”

“I just tried to play throughout the game,” Braden Tisdale said Friday night. “But when they scored that last time, it just hit me.”

Senior Issac Dueringer said that the same late fourth quarter touchdown which put the game out of reach also hit him square in the mouth.

“We had 1:10 left, and I realized that was it,” Dueringer said as he fought back his tears. “We've played together for 10 years, and I realized those were the last plays I'd ever play.”

Senior Isaiah Bowers runs for the edge against Freeburg, Bowers would end the night with two touchdowns and 101 all purpose yards.

Senior Titus Cannon broke two records this year. He set a new single game rushing mark earlier this year, and last night he set the record for touchdowns in a season. He fell just short of the single season rushing record as well.

But the records were not on Cannon's mind after the end of the game.

“Heading into the season, I didn't think about breaking records,” Cannon said. “Our goal was six wins, to make the playoffs. But to come out and break the records is amazing. I never thought I'd end up on the wall.”

Cannon scored three touchdowns Friday night, Bowers scored two more. But Freeburg scored at will. In fact the game looked at times more like a track meet than a Lincoln High School Football game.

Lincoln head coach Matt Silkowski said after the game that Lincoln let another one slip through their fingers.

“We just didn't play very well on defense tonight,” Silkowski said. “That's what did us in.”

Lincoln finishes the season with three wins and six losses, an improvement over last year.

Freeburg finishes their season with two wins and seven losses.

[by Benjamin Yount; picture by Sherri Sparrow]