Lincoln County topped Aquinas 28-24 at home to improve to 5-2 overall and, more importantly, 2-0 in region play. The Red Devils move into a tie for the top spot in class 1A (Division II), region 8 alongside Greene County, who will come to Lincolnton next Friday to break the tie.
Senior quarterback Trey Huff engineered an efficient Lincoln County offense that gained 355 yards in total and scored touchdowns on four of its first six possessions. Huff rushed 20 times for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns. And he completed 4 of 5 passes for another 84 yards. Three of the completions went to fellow senior Franklin Brown, who also scored a 3-yard rushing touchdown to with 5:50 remaining to put the Red Devils ahead for good.
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Until Brown’s go-ahead score, Aquinas had an answer for every Lincoln County blow, even when the Fightin’ Irish lost to injury stars Jim Franklin, the area’s leading passer, and Clark Jackson, maybe the area’s best player, on the third and the fourth snap of the third quarter.
Franklin completed 10 for 10 passes for 172 yards and one touchdown before leaving the game. His 8-yard touchdown strike to Malachi Gordon in the first quarter tied the game at 7-7. And the next time Aquinas’s offense got possession, he flipped it out to Jackson in the flat so Jackson could run 73 yards to set up a 3-yard rushing touchdown for Franklin two plays later. Jackson had 102 yards receiving before leaving the game.
Even after Franklin and Jackson departed, Aquinas took the lead two more times. When freshman Jack Rhodes took over for Franklin, he made a key 15-yard completion to senior Kevin Douglas on third-and-13 to set up a 9-yard touchdown run by Christian Kates, another freshman, a couple plays later that gave Aquinas a 21-14 lead midway through the third quarter.
But Huff marched Lincoln County right back down the field for a touchdown drive in which he passed or rushed for all 58 yards the offense gained on the drive. A 20-yard completion to Jack Antonakos and an 11-yard touchdown run were the key plays on the drive that tied the game at 21 near the end of the third quarter. When Huff scored, Aquinas’s Jackson, who had re-entered the game, went down for good, a sad sight for the Aquinas faithful.
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But Rhodes, Douglas and company had another answer on the ensuing drive. After two unproductive plays, Rhodes lofted a deep pass down the middle that Douglas snagged for a 44-yard completion on third-and-nine that set up a 26-yard field goal by Rhodes that gave Aquinas a 24-21 lead with 11:11 left in the fourth quarter.
Lincoln County then put the Fightin’ Irish away by driving 56 yards on 10 plays to set up Brown’s go-ahead touchdown. Junior RJ Crite put the finishing touches on the win on the following series when he sacked Rhodes on the first two snaps to the delight of the home crowd.
Chad Cook is a sports columnist who is known on the field and court as AugBball. Follow him on Instagram @AugBBall
