Railers vs Braves: The almost but not quite

[September 27, 2021]   The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Lincoln 11 Friday:
No. 9 IHSA-ranked Mt. Zion led 20-8,
with one half left to play.

The Railers began Quarter 3 with the ball
but turned it over after fourth down.
Then the Braves ran it in from 23 yards out,  giving the Lincoln crowd reason to frown.

Lincoln fans thought, “If we could only score, perhaps we’d gain some momentum.”  But alas, a third interception by the Railer offense
wasn’t going to help LCHS get ‘em.

Sadness was rampant, but for a few;
dejection engulfed the rest.
As Mt. Zion moved the ball when third quarter expired, it appeared Lincoln wasn’t up to the test.

With Lincoln down 27-8 entering the final frame, the Braves looked poised for another TD.  But on fourth and 6, Mt. Zion had an incompletion and Lincoln fans cheered with glee.

Starting from their 17, the Railers marched down the field; Ki’on Carson scored a TD from 5 yards out.  Then Elijah Pollice hit Jaden Leadley on the 2-point conversion; slowly, more and more Railer fans began to shout.

Lincoln now trailed by 11, by the score of 27-16, and only 8:27 was remaining.
Many Railer fans thought, “If only we could make a big play…” but their hope appeared to be waning.

With each yard the Braves gained as they drove to Lincoln’s 27, Railer fans’ hopes continued to crumble, but then Lincoln fans came to life on the very next play when Payton Johnson recovered a fumble.

With 3:08 left, Lincoln had the ball at its 27, but three incompletions gave the Railers fourth and 10; with under three minutes left in the contest, it appeared it wasn’t in the cards for Lincoln again.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, the offense came to life, giving Railer fans reason to shout as Pollice hit Carson on a 72-yard pass play, and Lincoln had the ball 1 yard out.
 

At the 2:31 mark, Carson ran it in for a TD, the conversion did not succeed.
So the Railers trailed 27-22; only one more TD did they need.

The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Mt. Zion; the Braves offense set up near midfield.  Mt. Zion’s offense had been strong all night, but would the Railer defense yield?

The Braves were whistled for motion,
then called for a hold to slow their drive.
A 6-yard run followed by unsportsmanlike conduct kept Lincoln’s hopes alive.

Mt. Zion’s drive went nowhere; the Braves punted, Lincoln got the ball on its 37-yard line.  With only 1:06 remaining in the game, would the Railer offense shine?

The drive started well for the Railers,
as Pollice hit Isaac Decker for a 13-yard gain.  Two incomplete passes took time off the clock, but Railer fans’ hopes did not wane.

Pollice appeared to find Tony Gandolfi on a 16-yard screen, and Railer fans started to howl.  But a yellow flag was thrown and Lincoln lost yardage;
holding was the foul.

That made it 3rd and 16 for Lincoln’s offense, and only 33 seconds left to go.
Pollice then hit Decker to set up fourth-and-10, but a Railer penalty interrupted the flow.

Facing fourth-and-15, Pollice took the snap, only 10 seconds remained to play.
He scrambled, heaved the ball, and as it came back down Railer fans’ hopes slowly faded away.

Somewhere fans are cheering, much like
the Railer faithful did this whole game through.  But there is no joy in Lincoln,
As the Railers came up short, 27-22.

=========

Teams usually aren’t fond of hearing how a contest was a “moral victory,” but there were a lot of positives for the Railers in their performance against Apollo Conference foe Mt. Zion, who entered the game as the No. 9-ranked Class 4A team in the most recent IHSA poll.

Unofficially, the two teams were fairly even on offense, with Lincoln amassing 215 rushing yards and 160 passing yards as Mt. Zion totaled 271 and 126, respectively.

While Lincoln outgained the Braves through the air, LCHS coach Matt Silkowski said he’d like to get a bit more production in all phases of the passing game.
 

“We’ve got to get better in the passing game, just all in all,” he said. “We’ve got to get better play out of our quarterback, our receivers have got to do a better job of getting open, clean up some pass protection stuff.”

“I think our run game is working really well; we just need a little bit more of a passing game to kind of complement that. We had some open receivers tonight but just didn’t get it on them. And they had a really good plan. So we’ve got to keep working; it’s always a work in progress for high school kids.”

Silkowski recognized there were some positive aspects of Lincoln’s performance in the contest.

“There were a lot of good things,” he said. “Elijah [Pollice] played well; he did a lot with his legs. We thought we had a good game plan with utilizing him in the running game a little bit, and that stuff came through. He took advantage of the opportunities he had.”

After a few weeks of being stifled a bit, Railer Ki’on Carson unofficially tallied 106 yards receiving as well as 84 yards rushing, the latter total being somewhat deceiving as he recovered a mishandled ball for a loss which diminished his rushing total.

Silkowski said the Railers went in with a plan to again get Carson more involved in the offense.

“We thought, the way they were lined up to take away his running game, we could open him up in the passing game,” Silkowski said of Carson. “Their defensive coach had a really good plan for Ki’on and our outside run game. We were able to do some things up the middle, though, that forced them to make adjustments, which allowed us to readjust and get Ki’on back on the permeter; there in the fourth quarter and the late third, he was able to take advantage of those opportunities.”

One aspect that doesn't show in the statistics of the game is the crowd. While Mt. Zion had a large contingent of supporters at the game, attendance was great by Lincoln fans, buoyed by a raucous student section. In addition, the LCHS marching band was present in the stands, providing musical interludes between plays to add to the atmosphere at Handlin Field.
 

With the victory, Mt. Zion moves to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the Apollo Conference. Lincoln falls to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

For their homecoming game, the Railers host Mattoon on October 1 in a 7 PM conference matchup.

[Loyd Kirby]