Lincoln County High School senior Mason Thornock carries the ball as junior Cody Zile looks to block for him during the Lynx win over Democracy Prep Sept. 27.
The Lincoln County High School (LCHS) Lynx played host to one of their long-standing competitors, Las Vegas’ Democracy Prep High School, defeating the Blue Knights 58-32 Sept. 27.
Early in the game, the competition’s spirit was apparent through their pre-game hype session and their cheerleaders’ spirited performance. But LCHS was equally ready to see a win after their embarrassing loss against Virgin Valley two weeks earlier. During the bye-week, the Lynx dived into their training with renewed vigor, and that practice paid off within the first few plays of the game.
LCHS started the game on defense, but the Blue Knights’ first possession would be short-lived, as a four-and-out situation handed the ball back into Lynx hands. In the first play of their first possession, Lincoln County’s Cody Zile drummed out a touchdown. After getting the extra two points, the Lynx allowed Adrian Ward-Palmer to put Democracy on the one-yard line, leading to Democracy Prep’s first touchdown of the game.
After a botched kick and subsequent reattempt, the ball was back in Lincoln’s possession, and soon it was returned to the end zone. This time, the ball was carried by Hagen Boyce and was followed by another two-point conversion.
Democracy Prep’s next possession proved unfruitful thanks to a sack by Trevin Perkins, and a tough Lynx defense, thus forcing the away team to punt. The Lynx pushed hard into the backfield, but fumbled the ball, resulting in another Blue Knights touchdown.
The next Lynx possession also turned into a touchdown, this time thanks to Mason Thornock, but Democracy Prep answered with a kickoff return by Ari Snow that ended up in Lincoln County’s end zone.
The first half continued to bounce back and forth, each team answering the other, with the scoreboard barely able to keep up.
The highlights of the second half began when Zile, normally the quarterback for the Lynx, caught an interception. This gave Thornock a chance to score another LCHS touchdown, this time without converting points. Another huge play came when, on receiving a kickoff, the ball hit a Blue Knight, which then put it in play, allowing the Lynx to recover the ball and begin their onslaught anew.
In the end, the efforts of both teams were tremendous, but Lincoln emerged victorious 58-32.
Zile passed for 96 yards and ran for 125. Boyce was responsible for three of LCHS’s touchdowns, running for 99 yards, while Thornock caught four throws for 69 yards, ran for 148 yards and put up two touchdowns of his own. On defense, Perkins always seemed to be on top of the Blue Knights’ quarterback, and managed to put him down at least twice. Of note, Democracy Prep was responsible for 12 flags, excluding those thrown due to a kickoff going out of bounds, while the Lynx only inflicted five of their own.
Following the game, Coach Ryamond Wadsworth was proud of what the team had accomplished. “The biggest things I’m glad we took away from this game,” he said during an interview, “was that we played a full game. Sometimes teams can get lackadaisical and we didn’t.” Talking about the one-sided second half of the game, he simply said that, “We made our adjustments at halftime, and we executed them. It was very encouraging.” He also went on to express his excitement for the rest of the season, saying, “We look forward to competing in all of our other games.”
