Railer football team dominates first half in beating Taylorville 52-19, keeps playoff hopes alive for Lincoln

[October 15, 2022] 

[October 14, 2022] Lincoln – The rain may have dampened Handlin Field on Friday night, but it didn’t dampen the fight in the LCHS football team as the Railers followed last week’s crushing defeat to Effingham with a 52-19 rout over Taylorville to keep Lincoln’s playoff hopes alive.

“I was happy with the way we played and how we responded after last week,” Lincoln coach Matt Silkowski said following the game. “I thought we played really well offensively. Defensively we played really really well at times too, but we gave up some chunk runs that we would like to not have and had a couple blown coverage situations, but all in all, we played really well.”

With rain falling consistently through much of the first three quarters of play, Lincoln found its footing early in its last-ever Apollo Conference football game, racing out to a 21-6 lead after the first quarter and a 38-6 halftime advantage.

Isaac Decker

Ki'on Carson

After the opening kickoff, it took Lincoln all of two plays to break into the scoring column, thanks to the Railers’ dynamic duo of running backs, senior Isaac Decker and junior Ki’on Carson. On the first play from scrimmage, Decker used both speed in the open field and powerful running along the sideline at the end of the play to advance the ball 27 yards. Carson showed his elite speed on the next play to scamper around the left end and into the end zone untouched for a 38-yard touchdown run.

Angel Haro

Angel Haro kicked the extra point to give Lincoln a 7-0 advantage with only 33 seconds elapsed in the game.

Taylorville got on the board with a touchdown on its next possession when Tornado quarterback Baron Odam hit Jake McConnell on a 20-yard touchdown pass. A missed extra point attempt made the score 7-6 in favor of Lincoln.

In a driving rain more suited to building an ark than for playing football, the Railers then imposed their will and frustrated Taylorville by scoring 31 unanswered points in the remainder of the first half.

Darren Stevens

Jaden Leadley

Carson scored on a 64-yard run, Darren Stevens connected with Jaden Leadley on touchdown pass plays of 31 and 78 yards and Carson found the endzone again on a 13-yard touchdown run.

Railer kicker Haro hit the extra points following all four touchdowns, but with time winding down in the second quarter, he had a chance to add more points for Lincoln. On the final play of the half, Haro nailed a 33-yard field goal to end the half and give the Railers a 38-6 halftime advantage. The field goal has traditionally been a rarity for the Railers, but the last one may have happened in the September 13, 2019 Railer game when Alex Bogdanic hit from 32 yards, also as time expired in the first half and also against Taylorville.

“I’m happy for Angel to get that opportunity to do that, and he took advantage of it,” Silkowski said. “Doing it like that, in the rain and sloppy conditions…he came through.”

Taylorville opened the third quarter on a mission to compete. Tornado senior running back Seth Hughes took the ball on the first play from scrimmage of the third quarter and ran up the middle for a 33-yard gain. Hughes shouldered much of the load on the ground for Taylorville in the contest, and the Tornadoes tallied the first points of the second half when Odam connected with tight end Grady Hainant on a 5-yard touchdown pass to make the score 38-12.
 

“They did a really good job,” Silkowski said of Taylorville’s start to the third quarter. “We came out really flat in the second half and they marched right down the field on us. We didn’t really move the ball at all and they came out really aggressive.”

The 26-point deficit, however, was the closest Taylorville would get to Lincoln for the remainder of the game.

Colbie Glenn

The Railers used a more consistent defense--especially against Taylorville’s screen pass plays--in not giving up big plays while the Lincoln offense added two more touchdowns in the third quarter on an 8-yard run by Isaac Decker and a 43-yard halfback option touchdown pass from Carson to Colbie Glenn. Taylorville added another touchdown in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring, playing more even with Lincoln with a 14-13 one point deficit in the second half.

“In that second half, they [Taylorville] did not just quit by any means,” Silkowski said, “so a lot of credit goes to them. They made us play a complete game.”

Although Taylorville ran nearly twice as many offensive plays as the Railers, Lincoln outgained the Tornadoes in total yardage for the contest by a 476-319 margin. Carson led the ground game for LCHS with 6 carries for 118 yards. Stevens ran for 62 yards and Decker added 27 yards and a touchdown. Stevens also threw for 194 yards and two touchdowns while completing 7 of 12 passes.

Leading receivers for Lincoln were Leadley (124 yards, 3 receptions, 2 touchdowns) and Glenn (55 yards, 2 receptions and a touchdown).

Lost in the high-scoring Lincoln offensive output was a solid, consistent defensive effort by the Railers. While LCHS gave up 319 yards, Lincoln held Taylorville to only 45 passing yards in the game, due in part to improved play against the screen pass.

“We’ve been really preaching on the screen,” Silkowski said. “They [Taylorville] threw a lot of screens in our scouting of them, and we found some tells in it. Our kids responded well to the coaching on it this week and they were highly motivated, as you’d expect, against Taylorville and the last Apollo Conference game on live TV with a trophy on the line. It was just a good night for us.”

Tate Johnston

The Railer defense was led by Tate Johnston with 12 tackles and 2 assists. Jared Fults tallied 7 tackles, including a tackle for a loss.

The win over Taylorville moves Lincoln’s overall record to 4-4 on the season. The Railers travel to Troy next week to take on Triad High School as LCHS looks for its fifth victory of the season, a win which would make the Railers playoff eligible and hopeful that the IHSA point system allows them to make an appearance for the first time since 1984.

“We’ve just got to be tough,” Silkowski said. “Triad is a big, physical, tough team. I watched their Week 1 [video] with Mattoon and we’ve had a chance to skim it over throughout the week, and we’re going to have our hands full.

“If we’re going to get Win Number 5, we’re going to have to earn it.”

Lincoln faces Triad on October 21 at 7 PM in Troy, located near St. Louis. WLCN 96.3 FM plans to broadcast the game via radio at 96.3 FM, via audio livestream to electronic devices via the Mixlr app/site and via live videostream on the WLCN YouTube page. Those interested in watching or listening to the game online can access WLCN’s Mixlr and YouTube feeds by going to WLCNOnline.com and clicking the “Watch live” or “Listen live” badge on the home page. Lincoln Daily News will have a game story the following day.

[Loyd Kirby] 
Note: all statistics in this story are unofficial. Photo credits: Steve Klemm