McClain O’Connor ran back the opening kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown, tossed two TD passes and ran for a score Friday to lead Lincoln County’s football team to a 51-12 win over visiting Calvary Chapel.
Coach Rich Ottley said, “McClain’s done a great job on kickoff returns this year, and the moment I saw the ball go deep I said that’s a mistake on their part, and sure enough, he took it to the house. It’s one of the longest of the season. He has another one that’s pretty close to that too.”
As quarterback, O’Connor completed 6 of 7 passes for 148 yards, hitting Jordan Harrington and Mike Wood on scoring passes of 31 and 52 yards, both in the second quarter.
Preston Robbins rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns, one for 57 yards, on 11 carries for the Lynx (4-3, 3-2 Division III Southern). Robbins now has 539 yards on 56 carries for the season. Calvary Chapel is 0-6, 0-5.
“I thought our offense executed really well (456 total yards), and their (Calvary) defense has been pretty good this year,” Ottley said. “They haven’t scored a lot of points offensively, (only 19), but defensively they have been pretty good and I felt our offense really executed to put up those kind of points.”
While Calvary is still winless on the season, Ottley pointed out they have lost two games by a 6-0 score, to White Pine and Mountain View.
Other players for Lincoln who did well, Ottley said, were Derek Shumway and Will Culverwell. “Shumway did not have many carries (5 for 32 yards), but he executed the plays that we gave him, and Culverwell showed well on defense.”
Wood had three catches for 87 yards and one touchdown.
Lincoln is in fourth place of the Division III Southern with two losses and host Needles this Friday. The Mustangs have only one league loss and Ottley knows it will be very tough game. “I think we are capable of winning the game, and then if we get some help from some other teams, the playoff picture will be really wide open. With The Meadows (5-0) beating Agassi (4-1), that puts some possible twists where things could change a lot.
We only have to win one of our last two games to make the four-team playoffs,” Ottley noted.
The Lynx have won three of the last five meetings with Needles.
Lincoln’s final game of the regular season will be Oct. 30 at home against Mountain View. Needles plays league leader The Meadows in their final game also Oct. 30
