LINCOLN-Lane Homewood rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns and threw two touchdown passes as the Sylvan-Lucas Mustangs outlasted a feisty Lincoln squad to earn a 36-24 victory in the season opener for both teams Friday evening at Mettner Field.
A large crowd turned out for Sylvan-Lucas’ first visit to Lincoln in five years, despite a distance of only 16 miles between the two towns as the game kicked off with a temperature of 97 degrees. Lincoln won the toss and elected to receive but disaster struck early for the Leopards after a fumble on the game’s first play from scrimmage. Sylvan-Lucas took immediate advantage driving 31 yards in seven plays with Brody Batchman scoring from three yards out to give the Mustangs a 6-0 head start after the missed two-point try. Lincoln then answered with a four-play 39-yard march culminating in a 37-yard scoring strike from Logan Meier to Caleb Dotterer and the two-point conversion, putting the Leopards in front 8-6.
The Mustangs then regained the lead on their next series when Homewood capped off an eight-play 47-yard drive with a three-yard run and the two-point conversion was good to give Sylvan-Lucas a 14-8 lead after the first quarter.
Lincoln then went back in front just 37 seconds into the second stanza on a five-yard run by Meier and the two-point conversion to make the score 16-14 in favor of the Leopards. However Sylvan-Lucas scored two more touchdowns before the quarter ended on a two-yard run by Homewood and a 17-yard pass from Homewood to Matthew Lawson to allow the Mustangs to take a 28-16 advantage into intermission.
After both teams came up empty on their opening possessions of the second half, Lincoln drew closer with 5:01 left in the third period on a 37-yard pass from Meier to Xavier Miller and the two-point conversion narrowed Lincoln’s deficit to 28-24. However, Sylvan-Lucas, aided by a key personal foul penalty against Lincoln marched down the field again and finished off an eight-play 52-yard drive with a threeyard run by Wilson transfer Taegan Thrasher and the two-point play was good as Sylvan-Lucas built their margin back up to 36-24.
That would turn out to be the last scoring of the game as neither team put up a tally in the final 12 minutes as Sylvan-Lucas won their sixth straight game in the series. Lincoln’s last win was a 50-12 rout in September, 2015.
In all, Homewood accounted for 104 of Sylvan-Lucas’ 218 yards of total offense including 190 yards rushing . Meier led Lincoln with 91 yards rushing and 106 yards passing as the Leopards outgained the Mustangs with 258 yards of total offense. Lincoln (0-1) was hurt by 17 penalties for a total of 135 yards including one penalty that negated an interception by Xavier Miller. Sylvan-Lucas (1-0) used their running game to chew up much of the clock in the game’s final four minutes while amassing 20 total first downs.
Sylvan-Lucas will take on St. John’s-Tipton in their home opener at Weatherman Field on Friday, September 8 while Lincoln will remain at home to face Pike Valley.
