Strong
1st half for the Railers but out of gas in 2nd half
By Scott Kirby
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[September 07, 2013]
SPRINGFIELD
--
After coming off a tough matchup in Week 1 against the No.
2-ranked Jacksonville Crimsons, the Lincoln Railers were confident they
could bounce back against a struggling Springfield Lanphier team.
Lanphier didn't win a game last year and lost to Lincoln 22-14 on Aug.
31, 2012. The Lanphier Lions lost their opener a week ago to the
Springfield Senators by the score of 44-12. With both teams entering
Friday night's contest 0-1, they had something to prove, and both teams
wanted to get in the win column.
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Lincoln
won the toss, and after receiving the kickoff for a minimal gain, the Railers
would start their first possession on their own 28-yard line. On first and
second down Lincoln didn't have much success, but then on third down Lincoln
quarterback Austin Krusz threw a pass to senior wide receiver Wes White for a
big first down. On the following play Krusz hooked up with White again for
another long gain and another first down. White also did it on the ground with a
big run to the left of the field for yet another first down. The Railers marched
the ball 69 yards down the field and found themselves on the 3-yard line with
just a couple of minutes gone by in the first quarter.White was called on
again, with Krusz handing the ball off to him for the first touchdown of the
game, to the left side of the line. Grant Cooper would miss the extra-point
attempt to make the score 6-0 in favor of the Lincoln Railers.
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The Railers would then kick off to the Lions to give them their first
possession of the game. On the kickoff, Will Cook made an excellent open-field
tackle to save a kickoff return for a touchdown. The Railer defense was able to
make a couple of good stops, but No. 44 Detric Mitchell, the big 6-foot-3,
258-pound running back for the Lions, was able to bust it up the middle for a
touchdown to tie up the score. The extra-point attempt after was good to put
Lanphier up 7-6.
Lincoln's second possession was much like their first. On first down Shawn
Cannon had a big gain for a first down. Then Krusz hit White for another first
down, followed by a pass to Keaton Letterle for a 6-yard gain. Brent Metelko was
next, with a huge run up the middle for a first down. Krusz was spreading the
ball all over the place, and next in line was junior wide receiver Will Cook.
Krusz threw a pass to Cook for another first down and followed that up with a
with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Cook. Lincoln would then make the 2-point
conversion as Krusz hooked up with White again to make the score 14-7 in favor
of your Lincoln Railers.
After receiving the kickoff from the Railers, the Lanphier Lions would start
on their own 35-yard line. On the first play of the Lions' second possession,
quarterback Joel Thomas scrambled for a 65-yard touchdown run. The point after
touchdown was good to tie the score at 14-14 with 2:58 to go in the first
quarter.
On their next possession, Lincoln was forced to punt after a three-and-out.
Then Lanphier fumbled the ball with 3.1 seconds left in the first to give the
ball right back to Lincoln.
Chris Duong started the second quarter with a big run to the left side of the
field, but Lincoln's drive stalled and the Railers were forced to punt. Not much
going on for both teams in the second quarter, with the only score coming from
No. 33 Reggie Dickerson of Lanphier with a 3-yard run up the middle with 38
seconds to go in the first half to make the score 21-14 in favor of the Lions.
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The second half started the same as the first with both teams
able to move the ball up the field. The Lions came out of halftime
with a game plan consisting of pounding the ball down the field with
big ol' No. 44 Mitchell. Mitchell is a very hard runner and was hard
to bring down. He put Lanphier up 28-14 with a 6-yard run up the
middle.
Lincoln's first possession of the second half consisted of a
36-yard drive that was stalled due to a pass interference call on
Lincoln and a false start that pushed Lincoln back. The Railers were
able to regroup and put another drive together, ending in a
touchdown pass from Krusz to Letterle with 6:40 to go in the third
quarter. The 2-point conversion was good when Shawn Cannon was able
to cross the goal line to make the score 28-22.
The Lions answered on their following possession. After a long
completion the Lions had the ball on the 2-yard line. Dickerson
pounded it up the middle to make the score 34-22.
After that you could say the wheels fell off the bus. The fourth
quarter belonged to Lanphier. They scored four more times to
Lincoln's one, which was a 57-yard run by White.
The final score was Lanphier Lions 60 and the Lincoln
Railsplitters 28.
Despite the score, the Railers played a hard-fought game to the
end. In the end the Railers just ran out of gas and had some
untimely turnovers. They also didn't have an answer to the big
running back Mitchell of the Lanphier Lions.
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Austin Krusz was 13-23-147 passing with two touchdowns and one
interception. Wes White was 8-116 rushing with two touchdowns. Will
Cook was 5-71 with one touchdown.
The leading tacklers on defense for the Railers were Ethan Kunkel
with seven solo tackles and six assists. Chris Doung had six solo
tackles and two assists.
The Railers travel to Springfield next Friday to take on the
Southeast Spartans, who earned their first victory of the year by
defeating the Canton Little Giants 34-19. The kickoff is set for 7
p.m.
[By SCOTT KIRBY]
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