Lincoln Downs Gentry

— Lincoln ran over Gentry early, but the Wolves defense came up with the key play of the night.

Gamebreaker

Lincoln 35 Gentry 14

Why The Wolves won

The Wolves came up with a big defensive stand to end the first half and turned a trick play into a score to start the third quarter to pull away for the victory.

Why The Pioneers lost

Gentry couldn’t cash in with four chances from inside the Lincoln 1 to end the first half and also struggled to run the ball effectively.

The Wolves held Gentry out of the end zone on four tries from the 1 to end the first half and rode that momentum to a 35-14 victory in 4A-1 Conference football Friday night.

Gentry (1-6, 0-4 4A-1) trailed 22-6 late in the second quarter, but had a chance to get closer in the final minute.

Pioneers quarterback Stone Faulkenberry completed a pass to Colby Bryant, who was bumped out of bounds at the 1. The Wolves stopped two running plays for no gain and two Gentry passes fell incomplete, the final one just after the halftime buzzer sounded.

“That defensive stop before the half was absolutely huge,” Harris said.

Gentry coach Brian Little agreed.

“Oh man, that was a killer,” Little said. “But that’s what we’re struggling to do, put those plays together and have a better outcome.”

Bryant accounted for Gentry’s only first-half score with a 105-yard interception return midway through the first quarter.

Lincoln managed to keep the momentum with a touchdown drive to start the second half, punctuated by a trick play on fourth-and-12 from the Gentry 23.

Junior tailback Dustin Simmons, who rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown, threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Gustavo Rojas to push the Lincoln lead to 29-6 with 8 minutes, 35 seconds left in the third quarter.

“We talked the whole halftime we needed to come out and score,” Harris said. “That kind of sets them back.”

Sophomore quarterback Drew Harris also rushed for 98 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown for the Wolves.

The Wolves, who moved up from Class 3A this year, have a huge game next week at Gravette. Harris said he’s very pleased with his team’s performance with the move up in classification.

Gentry pulled within 29-14 on a touchdown pass from Faulkenberry to Bobby Montes in the fourth quarter. The Pioneers mounted another scoring threat, but Lincoln linebacker Colby Barnum intercepted a Faulkenberry pass inside the Lincoln 25.

Upcoming Events