Rojas leads Pirates past Lincoln

LINCOLN — Adrian Rojas stepped up when the Greenland Pirates needed him most.

The running back who doubles as a linebacker came up with an 80-yard interception return to paydirt with a little more than 6 minutes remaining Friday to put things away for the Pirates.

He added a rushing touchdown late as Greenland came up with a 1-3A conference opening victory over Lincoln, 21-0.

"We finally made a playto separate us," Greenland head coach Tracy Sutton said of Rojas' interception and subsequent return. "It gave us a little breathing room. Adrian made a good play and broke a tackle for the touchdown."

Lincoln (1-3, 0-1 1-3A) put up a solid defensiveeffort, holding Greenland scoreless in the first half, but couldn't consistently gain first downs in the second half to help the defense.

"Defensively we played good," Lincoln head coach Brad Harris said. "Offensively, we stink right now. We're not moving the football and we're not putting the ball in the end zone."

The Wolves were driving, down only 7-0, beforequarterback Zach Summers threw the untimely pass over the middle to Rojas that he took the distance.

"That's a backbreaker," Harris said. "We're in the ballgame right there. The most disappointing thing I thought is when you throw the pick, that we let him return it however far it went. We didn't even bother trying to make the tackle."

Lincoln didn't manage to score in the first half either, despite showing some promise on its first drive when Summers found Justin Carr down the sideline for 47 yards.

Greenland (2-2, 1-0 1-3A) drew first blood on its first drive of the third quarter.

The Pirates went on a 13-play, 67-yard drive that benefited from Rojas finding Anthony McCool on a fake punt pass for 22yards.

Quarterback Jordan Larkan hooked up with Justin Bramall from 13 yards out on third-and-10 to get Greenland on the scoreboard.

Both teams took shots at each other the remainder of the second half until Rojas' interception and touchdown put Greenland ahead by 14.

The Wolves had three more drives after theturnover to try and score, but they turned it over on downs twice and threw an interception in the end zone to end the game.

Rojas capped off the scoring with a 1-yard burst with 1 minute left. He finished with 12 carries for 38 yards and the 22-yard pass to McCool on the fake punt.