Jacksonville ends Lincoln football
season, Silkowski’s coaching tenure with 77-0 drubbing of Railers
[October 25, 2025]
JACKSONVILLE – The Matt Silkowski Era of Lincoln Community
High School football came to a disappointing end Friday night in
Jacksonville. Not disappointing in the sense of Lincoln’s effort, as
the players opened the game with determination on display, hustling
down field and providing hope that the results of the game would be
heavily contested all evening.
However, at the conclusion of the contest when the scoreboard clock
struck zero, the final tally showed that the Crimsons handed the
Railsplitters a 77-0 loss. While the results were certainly not
indicative of the way anyone on the Lincoln sideline hoped the game
would go, the evening also served as a catalyst to remember better
times, when the success of the team showed in the number of
victories it compiled rather than in the individual plays that
players made during the course of a game.
Lincoln had been susceptible to big plays early in a game throughout
the season:
* September 12 - Rochester scored on a 39-yard touchdown pass on the
fifth play from scrimmage
* September 19 - U-High ran the opening kickoff back 75 yards for a
touchdown
* October 3 – Macarthur scored on a 35-yard touchdown run on the
first play from scrimmage
* October 10 – Glenwood ran the opening kickoff back 80 yards for a
touchdown
* October 17 – Quincy Notre Dame ran the opening kicking back 91
yards for a touchdown.
Against Jacksonville, the game started with a bit of a double whammy
for Lincoln. On the fifith play from scrimmage, the Crimsons’
Terrion Jackson ran the ball 64 yards for a touchdown and an early
7-0 lead. On the Railers’ first play from scrimmage after the
ensuing kickoff, Lincoln’s freshman Logan White—pressed into the
starter’s role late due to injury—threw an interception that was
intercepted by Jeremiah Jackson and returned 20 yards for another
Jacksonville score. Only 73 seconds had elapsed from the scoreboard
clock, and Lincoln was down on its collective knees looking up at a
14-0 deficit.
While the Railer defense made some tackles and the offense gained
positive yardage on some plays from scrimmage, it wasn’t enough
against the Crimsons. Jacksonville added another touchdown in the
first quarter and four more in the second period to hold a 47-0 lead
at halftime. The Crimsons kept pouring it on in the third quarter,
scoring three more touchdowns as well as a safety for some variety
to lead 70-0 heading into the final stanza. The Crimsons tacked on
an additional touchdown in the final quarter and won 77-0.
“[It was] not the outcome we wanted tonight,” said Silkowski, who
coached his final game for the Railers as he steps down after 10
years leading the team. “We had a really rough start, going down 14
to nothing like that.
We had some success on the ground, we just couldn’t stay ahead of
the chains. Every time we’d kind of do something good, we’d kind of
go backwards and we dug ourselves too big of a hole we couldn’t get
out of, unfortunately.”
The 77-0 final score was the Railers’ largest margin of defeat since
Lincoln fell to Sacred Heart-Griffin 70-0 on September 25, 2015, the
season before Silkowski’s arrival. The loss was Lincoln’s biggest
under Silkowski since his first season at Lincoln when Sacred
Heart-Griffin beat the Railers 62-0 on September 9, 2016.
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The dominance showed up in the unofficial game statistics as well.
The offense of Jacksonville outgained the Railers 436 to -16. The
Crimsons also tallied more first downs that Lincoln 12-4 and gained
an average of 15.6 yards per play in the game.
Seth Durbin led Lincoln with 63 net yards rushing, including a
29-yard run. Quinten Mead gained 21 yards and had a run of 13 yards.
After the game, Silkowski was none too pleased with the tactics of
Jacksonville after the Crimsons had the game well in hand.
“[It puts] a sour taste in your mouth the way they handled that
second half like that keeping your starters in when you’re up 47,”
Silkowski said. “I’ve been at it 18 years and never seen anything
like that.
“It’s really unfortunate that high school kids were treated like
that; I know that’s something that I would never do, and nobody else
in the conference has ever done that to us. It’s just really, really
shameful in my opinion.”
Lincoln played the game with freshman Logan White at quarterback.
White was given the start when Briggs Davenport was unable to play
due to injury.
“He managed the clock well,” Silkowski said. “We tried to get some
quick game stuff going early, and we didn’t do a good job protecting
him. He did the little things the right way, which was really all we
could ask from him.”
The game marks the conclusion of Silkowski’s tenure as Railer
football coach, with Lincoln going 1-8 this season and compiling a
28-60 mark during his 10 seasons at the helm. He departs the program
ranked No. 3 in career wins for LCHS football.
And while a 1-8 season record and a 77-0 loss in the final game
aren’t the way he would’ve scripted his farewell season leading the
Railsplitters, Silkowski said it wasn’t a complete surprise given
that he had so many players stepping into leading roles.
“We kind of knew we could struggle this year with so much
inexperience,” Silkowski said. “Obviously, not the way we wanted
that to end, but that will fade—that game--and we’ll always remember
the positive things and the great memories and relationships we
made.”
Looking back, Silkowski was also appreciative of all the local media
coverage given to the Railer football program.
“Being around here for awhile now, no other programs really get the
coverage like you guys [local media] provide our program, our kids
and the community,” Silkowski said. “Not just football, but
basketball as well. Thank you for that. I know it’s a lot of hard
work, and you put a lot of time and hard work into it, and it is
very appreciated.”
[Loyd Kirby]
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