Jersey HS dominates late to defeat Lincoln 26-14

[September 10, 2022]  Lincoln–Although the singer Meat Loaf sang that “two out of three ain’t bad,” there’s a good chance members of the Lincoln Community High School football team would disagree.

The Railers entered their Sept. 9 game looking to move their record to 3-0 on the year after winning their first two contests of 2022 for the second straight year and holding their opponents scoreless while doing so. However, Jersey High School used a dominant running game late along with some defensive heroics to hand Lincoln its first loss of the season as Jersey won 26-14.

Frank Sanders

Jersey High School, located in Jerseyville, took its first lead with 7:55 remaining in the game on a 17-yard touchdown run by Chase Withrow. Withrow dominated the fourth quarter as the Railers could not contain the senior running back as he almostexclusively carried the Panthers to their second win of the season.

Lincoln looked to retake the lead on the following possession, but on a 2nd-and-10 play from the Jersey 32-yard line, Jersey cornerback Francis Vogel intercepted a Railer pass with just under 5:00 remaining in the contest. With just over a minute remaining in the game, the Panthers faced a 3rd-and-11 situation from the Lincoln 30-yard line. Conventional thinking would dictate that Jersey run the ball to take more time off the game clock or force Lincoln to use a timeout to stop the clock. However, the Panthers instead used some deception as quarterback Easton Heafner faked a handoff and then Tanner Brunaugh in the middle of the field. The Jersey senior caught the pass and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown. Keegan Griffith hit the extra point to give Jersey its 26-14 final margin of victory.

Isaac Decker

After the game, Lincoln head coach Matt Silkowskiwas disappointed with the effort from his team late in the contest.

“We couldn’t block anything,” he said. “Defensively, we just got tired and worn out. We made some plays and had some turnovers, but we just couldn’t capitalize. And we couldn’t hold our own up front tonight.”

Ki’on Carson

The game wasn’t without some bright spots for the Railers, however. Neither team could move the ball on its initial possession of the game, but on the first play of Lincoln’s second possession, running back Ki’on Carson scampered 63 yards for a Railer touchdown and the first points of the game.

On Lincoln’s next possession, it appeared Carson bettered his previous effort, and Lincoln ran the same play and the Railer junior carried the ball 65 yards to the end zone. The touchdown was wiped out, however, on a holding penalty against Lincoln.

With the team’ knotted at 7 at halftime, Lincoln scored early in the third quarter on a 23-yard pass play from Darren Stevens to Carson. Angel Haro hit the PAT to give the Railers a 14-7 advantage.

Angel Haro

Darren Stevens

“It was play action,” Silkowski said of the Stevens-to-Carson scoring play. “It was something we’ve been working on for a while, we just haven’t had an opportunity to use it. I thought we were going to hit [Railer tight end Jaden] Leadley on the backside seam on that but Darren kind of flushed the pocket. He did a good job getting to his secondary read on that play and made something of it.”

Those would be Lincoln’s final points of the night, however, as Jersey scored 19 unanswered points in the remainder of the game to escape with a 26-14 win.

Ki’on Carson led Lincoln with eight carries for 79 yards and four catches for 68 yards. Isaac Decker carried the ball nine time for 57 yards for the Railers.

While the Jersey running game dominated the latter part of the game, the Railer defense wasn’t without several highlights in the contest. In the third quarter with Lincoln leading 14-7 and Jersey driving downfield into Railer territory, Lincoln’s Owen Grant rushed the Jersey quarterback and knocked the ball loose, allowing teammate Frank Sanders to pounce on the ball and thwart the Panthers’ drive.

Decker and Sanders led the Railer defense with five tackles each, including four tackles for losses by Sanders.

Lincoln will look to bounce back on September 16 when the Railers host Apollo Conference foe Mahomet-Seymour in a 7 PM homecoming game.

[Loyd Kirby]