Railer football team earns second
win of the season with 41-12 defeat of Lanphier of senior night
Last 9 minutes of
game not played due to safety concerns
[October 10, 2026]
Lincoln, Ill. -- There was plenty to talk about following the
Lincoln football team’s 41-12 senior night win over Lanphier.
Obviously, LCHS earning its second win of the season was a most
welcome result after playing a brutal stretch in its schedule.
And giving the Railer senior football players the positive
experience of getting a victory on their senior night will certainly
be a good memory for those players.
In addition, Lincoln saw improvements in pretty much every facet of
its game, with several players stepping up to make key plays and
contributions at various points in the game.
“I swear to you, the only reason I feel like these losses hurt so
bad is because of the looks on the kids’ faces,” said Railer head
coach Aaron Fricke. “And I wanted so bad to get them another win. I
wanted to improve on last year's record. Not for me with an ego, but
just for them to know that you are trending in the right direction
and all this work you're putting in does matter.
“So, is it still where we want it to be? No, but I will take the win
and I'm happy with how they played.”
Perhaps the most talked about aspect of the game after all was said
and done will be that the game actually wasn’t all said and done.
That was an incident taking place at the conclusion of the contest,
however, and should not overshadow the performance of the Railers in
earning their second victory of the year.
Lincoln received the kickoff to start the game, and while LCHS
gained positive yards to drive the ball near midfield, the Railers
came up short on a 4th-and-1 situation, turning the ball over to
Lanphier on downs. It didn’t take long for Lincoln to regain
possession, as senior Seth Durbin made an acrobatic interception a
few plays after the Lions offense went to work, giving the Railers
the ball on Lanphier’s 42-yard line. Lincoln moved the ball
downfield as the first period came to a close. Then 53 seconds into
the second quarter, freshman Kruz Froebe connected with Kane Komnick
on a 35-yard pass play for Lincoln’s first touchdown. Colby Bowman
hit the point after to give LCHS a 7-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Railers to notch a second touchdown,
thanks to a heads-up play by the defense. Lanphier had 1st-and-10 at
its own 40-yard line when Lions quarterback Bentley George took the
snap and, as the Railer defensive line crept closer to him, took a
couple steps back farther away from the line of scrimmage. As the
defensive pressure got closer, George threw the ball from near the
30-yard line toward the right side of the field. It appeared perhaps
the ball slipped from his grip as he threw it, and the football
landed near the 25-yard line. That made the play a lateral pass as
opposed to a forward pass, so the ball remained live. As it bounded
toward the out-of-bounds line, Komnick sped over, and while he
couldn’t corral the loose ball, he did manage to deflect it to keep
it in bounds. Close behind Komnick was Jalen Shaffer of the Railers,
who spied the ball as it bounded away from the outstretched hands of
a diving Lanphier player. Shaffer scooped it up and managed to nose
it across the goal line before being downed, due in part to a boost
from teammate Dray’den Neal, as Neal hustled downfield to help with
blocking or being at the ready if the ball bounced another
direction. But Shaffer controlled it as he crossed the goal line,
and the score propelled Lincoln to a 14-0 advantage.
The Railer defense had its moments as well. As Lanphier drove the
ensuing kickoff near midfield, Lincoln’s Leland Jackson delivered a
big hit to a Lions receiver as he crossed midfield. Unfortunately
for LCHS, Jackson was whistled for a penalty on the tackle,
eliciting a chorus of boos from the Lincoln fans.
A short time later, Lanphier found the end zone on a 30-yard pass
play to tighten the score at 14-6.
[to top of second column] |
But the Railers responded, as Froebe connected with Komnick on a
47-yard pass play, with Komnick dragging a Lanphier into the end
zone on the play as Lincoln extended its lead to 20-6 with 3:41
remaining in the first half.
The Railers decided they wanted to try to notch another score before
intermission. LCHS attempted an onside kick and did so to
perfection. Logan White squibbed the ball the necessary distance as
Lanphier could not find the handle, giving Lincoln’s Komnick an
opening to swoop in and snare the loose ball. Lincoln worked the
ball downfield with a 28-yard pass play from Froebe to Shaffer. Then
it was Durbin on a 10-yard run into the end zone with 3:00 minutes
remaining in the period to make the score 27-6 at halftime.
Lanphier opened the third period with a quick touchdown on a 54-yard
pass play to cut the Lions’ deficit to 27-12.
Lincoln and Lanphier each had a possession but neither team scored.
With about a minute left in the third quarter, Lincoln had the ball
on the Lanphier 40-yard line. The Railers moved downfield with a
23-yard gain on a connection from Froebe to Paxton Lora. Then with
28.1 seconds left in the period, Froebe found Durbin in the end zone
for a 15-yard touchdown strike, moving the score to 34-12.
LCHS added another score in the final period when Reece Warner ran
the ball in from 14 yards out with 9:14 remaining in the game. The
extra point by Bowman extended Lincoln’s lead to 41-12.
It appeared tempers between opposing players had been flaring
throughout the contest, and following the ensuing kickoff, the
officials called both coaches onto the field to discuss safety
concerns. After a few minutes of discussion, the decision was made
by the officials not to continue the game. With 9:07 remaining on
the game clock, the officials and the Lanphier squad began vacating
the field, and Lincoln was deemed to be the winner, a turn of events
that left most onlookers--and Lincoln head coach Aaron
Fricke--confused as to what took place.
“I was in shock, like I didn't even understand what was happening,”
Fricke said. “I thought they [the officials] were going to tell me,
‘Hey, talk to your kids.’ I've been called out to the middle of the
field to talk about player language with the other head coach, and
us both go back and address our benches. I've never been called over
and they basically said, ‘Hey, it's not safe if we continue this
game.’
“To word it the best way possible, there was a lot of dirty stuff
going on at the end. They were starting to throw helmets and
punches. We had a kid getting punches thrown at him on the sideline.
They started accusing us of all kinds of stuff that the referees
clearly said that they did not hear or see us do. And so, they kind
of stooped really, really low there at the end trying to get
something.
“I think they expected to get their first win against Lincoln. I
think it didn't go the way they thought it was going to, and we were
starting to…really roll there. And they decided they didn't want to
continue the game, so it's unfortunate.
“It really stinks for the kids because, for one, some of the stuff
that they were accusing is ridiculous. And two, we didn't get to
finish the last nine minutes. We have two games left, and we want to
take advantage every minute. But when safety is an issue, we don't
want our kids to get hurt because they're frustrated. So luckily we
were able to pull our kids back, and they decided they didn't want
to continue, the refs thought it was dangerous, so we ended the
game.”
The Railers improved to 2-6 with the win and travel to Springfield
Southeast on October 16 for a 7 PM finale of the season.
LCHS Football vs Lanphier
highlight video
[Loyd Kirby]
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