The Lincoln County and Laughlin football teams line up for the National Anthem before the Lynx Homecoming game on Sept. 27. (Courtesy photo)
The 1-4 Lincoln County High School football team hosted the 2-3 Laughlin Cougars for Homecoming at Mike Anderson Field in Panaca on Sept. 27.
Lincoln County fell by a score of 40-16,
The Lynx opened the game receiving from the Cougars and after converting a couple of first downs, running back Will Culverwell broke a big rush into Cougars territory. After driving the ball up the middle to the one yard line, Lynx quarterback Derek Schumway turned over the ball on a fumble. The Lynx held Laughlin to a 4th and 5 and received the ball on the Cougars 21 yard line after a botched snap on the punt attempt. Jesse Mathews drew a pass interference call on a 3-15 pass from Schumway prior to Preston Robbins scampering into the end zone and then scored on the conversion with thirty-six seconds left in the first quarter.
The Lynx were called for delay of game when the subsequent kickoff went out of bounds and were forced to re-kick. On the re-kick. Laughlin senior running back Christian Avery picked up the ball on the second bounce and ran untouched into the end zone to score. The conversion was no good leaving Lincoln in the lead at 8-6 with 19 seconds remaining in the first.
In the second quarter, after a series of flags left them with a third and fifteen, the Cougars completed a 35-yard pass for a first down on the Lynx 45 yard line. Laughlin senior running back Anthony Escaraga took a sweep left into the end zone with 2:37 remaining in the first half. The game remained scoreless for the remainder of the second quarter, and Laughlin took a 12-8 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Cougars opened the second half with a first and ten on their own 40 and after a 20-yard rush on the first play from scrimmage and a flag on the Lynx for a late hit out of bounds, found themselves with a first and 10 on the Lincoln 25. The Lynx defense stopped the next two plays for losses, but were called for a fifteen-yard face mask penalty giving the Cougars a first down inside the Lynx fifteen yard line. Laughlin scored a touchdown and successful two-point conversion to increase their lead to 20-8 with 10:05 remaining in the third quarter. Zack Shinkle took the short kickoff. On the subsequent series Preston Robbins ran for a 43 yard TD followed by a two point, quarterback keeper for the conversion. Four minutes later the Cougars scored again and following an unsportsmanlike conduct flag on the Lynx, Avery scored a two-point conversion to increase the Cougar lead to 28-16. On the next series of downs, Lincoln would turn the ball over on downs at the 50 yard line. On the first Laughlin play of the subsequent series, Avery would scamper around the left end and score an additional Cougar TD with four seconds left in the third.
The one bright spot in the fourth quarter for the Lynx was a Kendall Thomas fumble recovery, however the Lynx would turn over the ball on a botched pitch and Anthony Escaraga would finish the game with an additional rushing touchdown for Laughlin. The Cougars would win the game by a final score of 40-16 increasing their Division III Southern record to 2-2 and dropping the Lynx to a league record of 1-3. The Lynx are scheduled for a much-needed open week on Oct. 4 and will next travel to Needles, Calif. to meet the Mustangs Oct. 11.
