U-High spoils Railers’ homecoming
with 47-0 win over Lincoln
[September 20, 2025]
LINCOLN – It took all of 17 seconds for the University High
School Pioneers to put a damper on the Railers’ homecoming night.
Lincoln kicker booted the opening kickoff down to the Railer 15-yard
line, and U-High’s Darius Perry juked past a couple defenders before
cutting across the field on his way to an 85-yard touchdown run.
Perry’s score plus a PAT gave the Pioneers a 7-0 lead with 11:43
remaining in the opening stanza.
The early score foreshadowed a rough night for the Railers, and
U-High shut out Lincoln 47-0 to drop the Railers to 0-4 on the
season.
“That was a really rough start for us, with them getting that
opening kickoff return,” said Lincoln head coach Matt Silkowski, “We
kind of got some things going offensively after a turnover then, but
then we turned it over ourselves, and I don’t feel we were really
ever able to recover from that.”
Unfortunately for Lincoln, the Pioneers showcased a balanced attack.
According to unofficial statistics, U-High threw the ball for 250
yards while netting 179 yards rushing. Pioneer quarterback Owen
Kirby threw for 221 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-21 passing.
His favorite target on the night was Cade Cunningham, who caught
nine passes for 135 yards and three touchdowns.
Cunningham snagged the second and third touchdowns for the Pioneers.
He caught a 16-yard toss from Kirby for a score with 4:34 left in
the first quarter, then he grabbed a 59-yard pass for U-High’s third
touchdown of the game with 11:35 remaining in the second quarter to
make the score 21-0.
U-High took the wind out of Lincoln’s sails in the latter stages of
the first half. The Railers appeared to be driving the ball
downfield with some success, but U-High forced a fumble and
recovered the ball on the Railer 40-yard line. Nine plays later,
Rhett Lynch scored on a 7 yard run to put U-High up 27-0. After the
Railer defense denied the extra point attempt by tipping the ball
and deflecting it short of the goalpost, Lincoln seemed poised to
build some momentum before halftime.
However, on the third play of the drive, the Pioneers came up with
an interception and had possession 45 yards from the Lincoln endzone.
U-High moved the ball to Lincoln’s 24-yard line. The Pioneers made
the final snap of the first half with 2.3 seconds remaining, and
with the clock showing no time left, Bodey Klemmensen snared a pass
from Kirby and took it into the endzone before intermission. U-High
made the two-point conversion to make the score 35-0 at halftime.
[to top of second column] |
The Railers were poised to receive the opening kickoff of the second
half, but Lincoln could not secure the ball, and U-High picked up
the loose ball to gain possession on the Railer 31-yard line. A mere
33 seconds later, the Pioneers found the endzone again, this time
with reserve quarterback Griffin Meyer hitting Cunningham on a
13-yard strike to move the score to 41-0 and initiate a running
clock for the remainder of the game.
U-High scored again in the final quarter on an 8-yard pass from
Brady Wettstein to Andrew Alvarez for the Pioneers’ 47-0 final
margin of victory.
The Lincoln offense did have a bit of a new look this week, with the
Railers attempting the most passes they’ve tried in any game this
season. Lincoln quarterback Briggs Davenport completed three of
eight passing attempts but made several throws under pressure from
the Pioneer defense. The sophomore compiled 44 yards through the air
and did so when his intended receivers were covered by the U-High
defense on several plays and Davenport elected to get rid of the
ball and took an incompletion rather than risking a loss of yardage
by being sacked,
“We thought we could get a look and get some stuff, try to get Brion
(McKinnie) involved a little bit,” Silkowski said. “That stuff was
there, but not enough. We’ve still got a lot of work to do; we’re
just not playing very well right now.”
Seth Durbin led the Lincoln rushing attack with 13 yards. Lucas
Melton netted 11 yards for the Railers.
Breon McKinnie caught 2 passes for 24 yards to lead Lincoln in
receiving. Durbin caught a pass for 20 yards.
Jacob Long intercepted a pass for the Railer defense.
The Railers next opportunity to break into the win column happens
next Friday when Lincoln travels to Decatur to face the 0-4 Generals
of MacArthur High School. The contest will be the first of two
consecutive games for the Railers in Decatur as Lincoln travels to
Decatur Eisenhower on October 3 to square off against the Panthers.
Eisenhower is 4-0 after beating MacArthur 47-14 this week.
Eisenhower also beat U-High 28-27 in overtime on September 12.
[Loyd Kirby] |
