Railers remain undefeated with 20-0 win over Charleston
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[September 03, 2022]
Charleston -- It took a
little while for the Railer football team to get on track, but once
it did, Lincoln moved its record to 2-0 with a 20-0 win over
Charleston in the Apollo Conference opener for both teams.
For the coach of a team starting the
year 2-0 for the second straight season and holding its opponents
scoreless in both its 2022 games, Lincoln head coach Matt Silkowski was
not pleased with the effort from his team against Charleston early in
the game.
“We were terrible in that first
half, absolutely terrible,” he said. “We didn’t have school today.
During my lunch break, I had them come in and do some stuff. I thought
that would be okay, but it just wasn’t enough. We were half asleep out
there. It was just very undisciplined football; we were a shell of
ourselves.
“We kind of woke them up at halftime
a little bit, and just came out and played the way we expected to play
the entire game that second half.”
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Angel Haro
The teams each had one possession in
the first quarter of the contest and neither scored. Following a
Charleston punt with under seven minutes left in the second quarter, the
Railers took possession and marched downfield 68 yards for their first
touchdown. Ki’on Carson scored on a 2-yard run with 1:32 left and a PAT
by Angel Haro gave Lincoln a 7-0 lead. The drive featured a 19-yard pass
play from Darren Stevens to Jaden Leadley. Stevens finished the evening
completing 4 of 5 passes for 70 yards.
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Silkowski said he was glad to see
Lincoln show signs of life as the second quarter progressed.
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Ki’on Carson
“We kind of turned it on a little
bit and played well,” he said. “I told our guys that, when we play well,
we’re a good football team. But when we don’t, we’re just not very good.
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“I felt very fortunate to get out of
that first half with a lead, because I didn’t think we played good
enough to have a lead. But they didn’t either.”
Silkowski said the fact that Lincoln
did not have classes Friday impacted his team’s focus.
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Darren Stevens
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Jaden Leadley
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“I think our kids learned a
lesson today, and I think I did too,” he said. “If we have a
no-school [game day] like that again, we’ll have to come up with a
better plan than we had today.”
In the second half, Lincoln’s
defense forced Charleston to go 3-and-out as the Trojans couldn’t
pick up a first down after receiving the opening kickoff. The Railer
offense then drove 55 yards for its second touchdown, a 1-yard run
by Carson along with a PAT by Haro to give Lincoln a 14-0 lead.
The Railers rounded out the
scoring in the fourth quarter when Stevens hit Gabe Smith on a
35-yard TD pass play for Smith’s lone reception of the game to give
Lincoln its final 20-0 margin of victory.
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Gabe Smith
Lincoln’s defense got a shutout
for the second consecutive week. Seven Railers totaled at least two
tackles each, including Payton Johnson, who led the team with seven
tackles.
Lincoln milked the clock in its
final possession of the game with several running plays, including
several carries by Johnson, who also totaled 35 yards rushing in the
game. Silkowski said Johnson getting some carries was a reward for
putting the team above himself earlier in the week.
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Payton Johnson
“Payton was very unselfish this
week when we needed some help at the offensive guard,” Silkowski
said. “So him and Jerod Fults went over and learned that spot to
give us some depth there this week. We thought we’d reward Payton
for being such a good teammate and sacrificing for the team and
learning another spot. He just cares about the team and wants to
win.”
Lincoln will look to remain
undefeated in its home opener September 9 when the Railers host
Jersey High School from Jerseyville.
[Loyd Kirby]
Note: all statistics in this
story are unofficial.
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