Loeffler's Link

Mounting frustration: Lincoln
misses chance for third victory

Oct. 6, 2018

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- We need a word stronger than frustrating, because you can't put together a string of bad-word adjectives in front of it to describe Lincoln football.

Well, you can and probably have, but not here.

Demoralizing? Closer, but still not enough.

Things just seem to happen to football programs that are trying to end a 46-year losing streak. When you haven't had a winning season since 1972, winning becomes very, very elusive.

It was once again a series of small things that led to the biggest thing of all --- another loss --- as the Quincy Hawks escaped with a 14-13 win over the Blue Tigers to put a damper --- albeit, probably a small one --- on Lincoln's homecoming festivities Saturday at Reed Stadium.

This was a game the Blue Tigers could have won, if not should have won, but didn't.

Frustrating.

"It's very frustrating," Blue Tigers coach Steve Smith said. "We left a lot of points out there in the first half, we should have been up 21 points."

Maybe. But instead, it was a 7-6 deficit, with the points for Lincoln (2-4) coming on field goals of 43 and 47 yards by freshman Fernando Ramirez.

In the end, it was three points the Blue Tigers didn't get in the second half, as Ramirez missed what would have likely been the game-winning field goal with three minutes left.

"We've got to make all field goals, not just a couple in the first half," Smith said. "The conference we're playing in, that's going to get you beat."

A win would have secured the Blue Tigers' first three-win season in five years, and just the second in 15 years. A win would have also secured the first 3-3 start since 2003.

Forget the fact that Lincoln's two wins this season have come against teams who are now a combined 0-10, 3-3 is still 3-3. And 15 years is a long time.

But Quincy (2-4) made enough plays, maybe just one more play, to deny Lincoln of the modest mark.

The Blue Tigers put together a pair of nice drives in the first quarter, but both stalled and they had to settle for two field goals to take a 6-0 lead.

"Our quarterback play in the first half and our receivers not catching the ball," Smith said, "those things didn't happen. We've got to make the plays you're supposed to make."

The Hawks turned it over on downs at Lincoln's 3 midway through the second quarter, but then drove it 81 yards in eight plays on their next possession to take a 7-6 lead at the break on a three-yard run by Jordan Smith.

Then to open the second half, the Hawks went 74 yards in seven plays, capped by Theo Hopkins' one-yard plunge,  and the margin was 14-6.

But not for long.

The Blue Tigers answered less than four minutes later when Henry Ogala threw a strike to Justin Korakakos, who sprinted 52 yards for a touchdown with 9:18 left in the third quarter to make it 14-12.

There was still plenty of time left in the game, but don't you go for two? You haven't been 3-3 in 15 years, so why not?

"I thought about it," Smith said, "but I felt like we were in a good position to come back and win the game, which we were. If we make the field goal, we win the game.

"We talked it over as a staff through the headsets, and we thought best decision was to go ahead and kick it. It was a smart decision."

The PAT was good to make it 14-13 and that, of course, was the final score.

Lincoln's last drive was a laborious one --- it took 17 plays and nearly 10 minutes to go 57 yards, and it ended with Ramirez's missed field goal, a kick that was woefully short and left.

But in his defense, and we're talking about a Dream Team defense, it was a 50-yard attempt. There's also this: entering the game, Ramirez had only been 1-of-5 on attempts from 40-plus yards, so he actually defied the odds in the first half.

Still ...

"That missed field goal just left us behind the eight ball," Smith said. "We've got to make that field goal, that's what it is.

"(It wasn't too long), he can go 60 yards. He just got nervous and didn't make the play he was supposed to make at that time."

Neither team managed their timeouts well in the second half --- both were out with more than 5 1/2 minutes left. So when the Hawks got it back after the miss with 2:58 left, it only took one first down to run out the clock.

Frustrating. So close ... so what?, Smith said.

"There are no more moral wins," the second-year head coach said. "We didn't get the W, I'm upset we didn't get the W ... we've got to win, because our team is good enough to beat people.

"I don't care about anything other than winning."

How frustrating it is when you don't.

Quincy players celebrate as the football (right) falls short and left of its target on a late field attempt by Lincoln's Fernando Ramirez during Saturday's game at Reed Stadium.