Clamping down : Greenland, Lincoln focus on limiting mistakes

FAYETTEVILLE — With comparable offensive systems and identical 1-2 records, Greenland and Lincoln's 1-3A Conference opener Friday night pits two teams closely akin to each other.

The similarities put a premium on execution and ball security. The team who commits thefewest miscues is expected to prevail Friday night at the Wolf Den.

"We're both in the same boat," said Brad Harris, Lincoln's second-year head coach."It looks like a pretty evenlymatched game.Whichever team executes the best and makes the fewest mistakes, in terms of missed tackles and execution on offense, has a good chance to win. It should be a good game if we can do those things."

A welter of early missteps upset Greenland's equilibrium during last week's 40-21 loss to Pea Ridge. The Blackhawksconverted multiple Greenland turnovers into 21 points.

"The first 15 minutes did us in," said Tracy Sutton, Greenland head coach. "I don't even think the bus driver had time to get off the bus and get a hot dog yet."

An offensive line that's yet to congeal as a unit was culpablefor the slow start. New linemen occupy the front each week, making it difficult to build cohesion.

"We've had different linemen each week," Sutton said. "We haven't had the same five up there. We have to have more continuity. There's still spots open, but nobody wants to take charge and take those spots. I've never seen anything like it."

Sutton said the Pirate offense needs to be more opportunistic and less charitable in Friday's conference opener.

"We can't give up 21 points off turnovers," Sutton said. "That's the big thing, and we've got to score when we've got opportunities. At times we've been real good, but we're so inconsistent. We'll have nine guys do their job, and two who won't, and they always seem to find those two."

Magazine's 30 first half points last Friday exceeded the 23 Lincoln's defense ceded during the first two weeks. The Rattlers (3-0) piled on three more touchdowns during the third quarter of their 51-12 victory.

"We weren't nearly as aggressive as we were the first two weeks," Harrissaid. "We were arm tackling instead of putting a body on a body."

Lincoln's Week 1 win at Westville, Okla., ended the Wolves' 31-game winless streak. Still riding the crest of that watershed victory, Lincoln performed admirably the next week, losing a closely-contested 16-6 game to Green Forest.

Harris said last week's lopsided defeat roused the Wolves from the lingeringeuphoria that attended the season-opening win.

"It knocked us back a step," Harris said. "We were still pretty confident after Week 2. I don't want to say we overlooked Magazine, but it was a game where we had played well against them last year [36-27 Magazine win].

"It had been a while since these kids had won a football game, maybe it snapped us back into reality. We got it handedto us in Week 3, so we'll have to regain our focus for this week."

Sutton credited Harris for revitalizing the once moribund program that hadn't won a game since 2005 prior to the seasonopening win at Westville.

"They've got some good athletes, and they play hard," Sutton said. "The kids have bought into his system. If he stays there, they should be pretty good."