|
 By Thursday it
became clear the Lincoln Railers were not looking to fall apart.
“This week’s
practices were different,” senior defensive end Eric Sutton said
after Lincoln’s final practice for the week. “There was a lot more
aggression. There was team communication. There were actually a few
fights here and there.”
Lincoln Head
Coach Andy McDonald said nobody wants to see fists fly on the
football field, but he was happy to see his team’s intensity.
“The past two
days of scrimmage and running against the scout team…have been the
two best sessions that I can remember in my eight years of being
here,” McDonald said. “Just being aggressive, physical, and
competitive. It’s what we’ve been trying to get.”
The
Railsplitters lost last week by 10 points to Springfield High
School, however the game was much closer than the final score
showed.
This week’s
opponent is Decatur Eisenhower, final other team in the Central
State Eight without a win this season.
[to top of second column] |
“They’ll be
very athletic. They’ve got good size. They’ve got a quarterback that
is a tremendous athlete,” Coach McDonald noted.
“We know
they’ll be pretty quick,” junior quarterback Garrett Aeilts said.
“We have to be ready to tackle. We have to be ready to fly to the
ball. We have to be ready to make plays.”
The Eisenhower
game is not just the Railers’ second road game of the year, or the
first time the Railsplitters will meet the Eisenhower Panthers in a
CS8 game.
Many Railer
players are looking to Friday night as the best shot a victory for a
while.
Lincoln will
play Sacred Heart Griffin and Rochester in the following weeks. Both
are defending state champs, neither has lost yet this year.
“(A win on
Friday) would mean everything,” Sutton said. “Last week we were so
close. This week we’re even better than we were last week, so we’re
definitely going to get the ‘W’.” |
