LINCOLN -- As the books close on the 2016 football season, Lincoln (3-7, 2-5 4A-1) looks to the future, having missed the playoffs by the slimmest of margins, 3 points.
There were several scenarios coming into week 10 in which Lincoln could have secured a second-straight playoff berth. The first would have been a victory over Huntsville (4-6, 3-4) in week seven -- a 36-34 loss. The second would have required Berryville (3-7, 1-6) to defeat Huntsville by six points or more in week 10. A third scenario, if Lincoln could have found a way to upset 4A-1 Conference champion Prairie Grove (10-0, 7-0) in week 10, probably wouldn't have worked out due to Huntsville owning the tie-breaker by defeating Lincoln in head-to-head competition. Neither were the Tigers willing to roll over and hand the Wolves a game with Prairie Grove's defense suffocating Lincoln for the first three quarters in the Nov. 4, 33-20, Tiger victory.
After falling behind, 19-0, Lincoln put three touchdowns on the board in the final quarter. The problem was Prairie Grove's defense held the Wolves to 25 yards of offense in the first half and Lincoln was scoreless for the first three quarters. That changed in the fourth period with Lincoln senior Gohon Lee recovering a muffed punt at Prairie Grove's four. Senior quarterback Harrison Swayne tossed a shovel pass to junior Braden Umberson inside the tackles and he scored. Prairie Grove scored twice in less than six minutes to up their lead to 33-6, but Lincoln drove 58 yards in four plays bolstered by a 53-yard pass play from Swayne to Umberson. Swayne snuck in from the one and Lincoln got the ball back with Umberson's interception two plays later. The Wolves covered 60 yards in six plays with Swayne hooking up with Umberson for 32 yards. Lincoln head coach Don Harrison said the Wolves executed well in the fourth quarter.
"We did a good job with our scheme at times," Harrison said. "When you execute that well, good things happen."
Harrison said had the Wolves played with that type of intensity and focus throughout the season, they would have been in the playoffs. Season totals show Swayne completed 87 of 183 passes for 1,422 yards with a touchdown to interception ratio of 17 to 11. Sophomore Caleb Lloyd was the Wolves' leading rusher, carrying the football 154 times for 566 yards, averaging 3.7 yards-per-rush with 4 touchdowns. Swayne gained the second most rushing yards of any Lincoln back, despite having negative sack yardage subtracted from his rushing totals. Swayne still gained 525 yards on 72 attempts for 7.3 yards-per-carry and 7 touchdowns. Junior Jacob Anderson was also a factor in Lincoln's ground game with 66 rushes for 248 yards and a 3.8-yards-per-carry average with 1 touchdown.
Of Lincoln's 31 offensive touchdowns, 17 came via the air while 14 were accomplished on the ground. Umberson finished as the Wolves' leading receiver with 45 pass receptions for 702 yards, an average of 15.6-yards-per-catch with 6 touchdowns. Senior tight end Dalton Lee caught 24 passes for 487 yards, averaging 22.2-yards-per-catch with 6 touchdowns. Lloyd caught 12 passes for 138 yards, averaging 11.5 yards-per-catch with 2 touchdowns. The offensive line surrendered 13 sacks and offensive coordinator Tyler Dorton said the Wolves are trying to get away from having their linemen go both ways.
"That's the way it is at the small 4A schools," Dorton said. "We don't mind having our backs go both ways, but we really want to separate our offensive and defensive linemen."
Dorton, who is head junior high coach, said the coaching staff has worked among the junior Wolves to accomplish that goal.
"We made some strides in developing a junior high defensive line that really doesn't take away from our offensive line," Dorton said. "So, they don't have to go both ways. They can play one side of the game and concentrate."
Sports on 12/07/2016