By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
LINCOLN, AL – The Springville Tigers took to the road on Friday night and headed up I-20 to Lincoln for a big region matchup. Springville sat at 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the region. When the lights went out in Lincoln on that evening, the Tigers were staring an off week in the face with a 3-2 record, 1-1 in the region, after a 31-15 victory.
The Springville Tigers huddle up.
Photo by: Michael Evans
The Tiger defense held Lincoln on the first drive of the game. When the Golden Bears lined up to punt, freshman Colton Hill blocked the kick and recovered it for the first touchdown of the night and Springville would be up 7-0 with 10:49 to go in the first.
Springville’s defense kept Lincoln out of the end zone again but pinned the Tigers deep. 85 yards later, Trigg Murdoch capped off a 93-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run and the Tigers would find themselves with a 14-0 lead with 11:45 to go in the second.
Lincoln would get on the board at the 7:31 mark on a big 51-yard pass. They would go for two and get it, making it 14-8 Tigers.
Jake Conner and company would sustain another long drive, with a 45-yard pass to Brady Seaman included. Conner would run it in from 10 yards out to put his team up 21-8 with 4:56 to go before half.
Lincoln would score with 55 seconds to go before the break, on a 22-yard reverse pass to make it 21-15.
Rather than run the clock out. Springville got into field goal position and Patrick Williams would nail a 39-yard field goal to extend the lead to 24-15 heading into the locker room.
The Tigers would get the ball first in the third, but they would not be able to put up any points in the period. They had a fumble inside the 10 and a holding penalty that killed a drive during the quarter. However, the defense held Lincoln scoreless as well.
The fourth quarter would see more defensive football with Lincoln missing a field goal early on. Springville would take the ball down the field and, with 2:55 to play, Gavin Webber would score on a three-yard run to make it 31-15, which would be the final.
Springville coach Jon Clements had the following to say of the win, “Big region win on the road. Really proud of our offensive line tonight. Hats off to Lincoln. They had a great game plan for us. I was extremely proud of our guys for facing adversity multiple times in the game and keeping their heads down and continuing to play.”
The community, as always, was out in full force at Lincoln and the head coach took notice. “A huge thank you to the community of Springville. They showed up in a big way tonight and continued to support our boys.”
The Tigers will use an off week next week to “get some guys healed up and get ready for Jacksonville in two weeks,” said Clements.
