LINCOLN -- Lincoln showed pizzaz opening up its passing game highlighted by quarterback Tyler Brewer's 89-yard bomb to Daytin Davis while routing Keys, Okla., 41-13, at Wolfpack Stadium Friday.
Brewer, who completed 14-of-20 passes for 217 yards and 2 touchdowns, threw the ball about 40 yards in the air. Davis caught it on the run and did the rest galloping into the north end zone to record Lincoln's longest play from scrimmage since Drew Harris connected with Alec Pitts on a 90-yard touchdown pass on Sept. 20, 2013, in a 71-0 win at Dover.
The Wolves' defense played scrappy. After picking up two first downs on their opening drive which eventually stalled, Keys didn't achieve another first down until the 8:05 mark of the second quarter at which point they trailed 13-0 following rushing touchdowns by Christian Sellers and Noe Avellaneda. Sellers rushed for 201 yards on 24 carries leading Lincoln's ground game which racked up 251 yards on 32 attempts.
Avellaneda's interception on third-and-16 set up Lincoln's first touchdown. Lincoln head coach Don Harrison said getting Keys in those type situations was part of the game plan which the Wolves' defense carried out.
"Defensively I thought we played very well. That's a very explosive team. That No. 2 (Bryce Sanders, 12 carries, 129 yards), we've seen him twice now and he can go. He's got some speed. He's got all the moves. He's pretty impressive," Harrison said. "I thought we did a really good job of bottling him up, keeping them in third and longs. That offense doesn't do good in third and longs and we had them in third and long all night."
Lincoln's second touchdown was made possible when punter Levi Wright took off around left end gaining 13 yards on fourth-and-12 from the Wolves' 47 with 11:17 showing in the second quarter. The gamble paid big dividends because Lincoln forced a turnover on downs deep in Wolf territory at the 19 when Nathan Khilling and Blake Arnold put the heat on Keys' sophomore quarterback Lane Taylor causing an incompletion.
The Wolves fashioned an 81-yard drive with Christian Sellers racing 55 yards to the Cougars' two. Wright scored out of the Wildcat Formation. Brewer passed to Davis for a 2-point conversion and the Wolves enjoyed a 21-0 advantage.
Keys punted away its next possession with the ball traveling 47 yards to the Wolves' 11. Brewer went deep to Davis and Avellaneda kicked the point-after for a 28-0 Lincoln cushion.
Colby Nottingham, a 5-10, 180-pound sophomore runningback, returned the ensuing kickoff into Lincoln territory at the 46 and Keys mounted its only scoring drive of the first half capped by Sanders' 14-yard rush which made the score, 28-7, at intermission.
Keys had only 5 first downs throughout the first half. Lincoln almost equalled that number by picking up 5 first downs during a 9-play, 83 yard march to paydirt to build a 34-7 advantage on Daytin Davis' leaping 21-yard catch on a pass from Tyler Brewer at the 5:48 mark of the third quarter.
Keys answered with a 4-play, 76-yard drive highlighted by Sanders' 66-yard scoring romp to cut Lincoln's lead to 34-13 with 4:40 to go in the third.
The Wolves turned up their defense early in the fourth quarter. Arnold sacked Taylor for an 11-yard loss. Two runs left Keys facing fourth-and-11. Khilling flushed Taylor out of the pocket on fourth down and he was ran out-of-bounds for no gain by Austin Raines.
Lincoln set up its offense from the Cougar's 46 and used 8 straight runs with Avellaneda playing quarterback to score culminated by Avellaneda's 6-yard run for the final touchdown.
Lincoln converted 2-of-3 third downs in the first half, but was 1-for-6 over the final two quarters including their last possession when they took a knee and ran out the clock. Keys converted 2-of-7 third downs before halftime and just 1-of-4 in the second half.
"Offensively, we sputter at times. Then all of a sudden we started having bad snaps and then we panic. Then we go out there and everything's fine and we just go right down the field so we got to clean that kind of stuff up. We got one more week before we get into conference and we play Gravette at Gravette," Harrison said. "We fumbled a couple of times. We were lucky to recover it and that comes to hustle. We got to do a better job of cleaning up execution."
LINCOLN 41, KEYS, OKLA. 13
Lincoln^7^21^6^7^--^41
Keys, Okla.^0^7^6^0^--^13
First Quarter
Lincoln -- Christian Sellers 1-yard run (Noe Avellaneda kick), 3:40.
Second Quarter
Lincoln -- Noe Avellaneda 6-yard run (Pass failed), 10:02.
Lincoln -- Levi Wright 2-yard run (Daytin Davis pass from Tyler Brewer), 3:11.
Lincoln -- Daytin Davis 89-yard pass from Tyler Brewer (Noe Avellaneda kick), 1:02.
Keys, Okla. -- Bryce Sanders 14-yard run (Jordan Andrews kick), 0:15.1.
Third Quarter
Lincoln -- Daytin Davis 21-yard pass from Tyler Brewer (kick failed), 5:48.
Keys, Okla. -- Bryce Sanders 66-yard run (kick failed), 4:40.
Fourth Quarter
Lincoln -- Noe Avellaneda 6-yard run (Noe Avellaneda kick), 6:00.
TEAM STATISTICS
Keys, Okla.^Lincoln
First downs^12^27
Total offense^245^468
Rushes-yards^32-197^46-251
Passing yards^48^217
Rush average^6.2^5.5
Comp-Att-Yds^TD^Int^4-12-48-0-1^14-21-217-2-0
Punts-Avg.^4-35.5^2-40.5
Penalties-Yds^6-65^4-25
Third-down conversion^3-11^3-9
Fourth-down conversion^0-3^2-4
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Keys, Okla., Bryce Sanders 12-129, Colby Nottingham 11-61, Shaymon O'Neal 1-5, Lane Taylor 6-4, Kaden Gower 2-(-2), Totals 32-197. Lincoln, Christian Sellers 24-201, Matthew Sheridan 4-32, Noe Avellaneda 8-14, Blake Arnold 1-9, Levi Wright 3-6, Tyler Brewer 6-(-11). Totals 46-251.
PASSING -- Keys, Okla., Lane Taylor 4-12-48-0-1. Lincoln, Tyler Brewer 14-20-217-2-0, Noe Avellaneda 0-1-0-0-0. Totals 14-21-217-2-0.
RECEIVING -- Keys, Okla., Bryce Sanders 3-52, Cooper Hamilton 1-(-4). Totals 4-48. Lincoln, Daytin Davis 5-126, Noe Avellaneda 6-59, Levi Wright 2-30, Christian Sellers 1-2.
Sports on 09/18/2019