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LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – Doug Cook (Dania Beach, FL/University School of Nova SE University) threw for 335 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but the Lincoln University defense couldn't slow down DaRonte McNeill as the Lions fell, 63-19, on Saturday afternoon at Lincoln University Stadium.
“We knew going into the game that they were a big running team that has depth,” Lincoln head coach O.J. Abanishe said. “We just wore down in the middle of the third quarter. That's when they took advantage of our lack of depth on the defensive side of the ball.
The Vikings (4-3 overall, 3-1 CIAA), who amassed 507 total yards of offense, raced out to a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter, but Lincoln (1-6, 1-3) responded as
Philip Jean-Juste (Miami, Fla. /North Miami Beach HS) caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Cook to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 4:53 remaining in the first half.
After a McNeill touchdown extended the advantage to 21-7, the Lions continued to battle back as Cook connected with Matt Coston for a 5-yard touchdown to trim the margin to 21-13 with just over 13 minutes left in the third quarter.
After a pair of Elizabeth City State scores,
Kester Lewis (Bowie, Md./Grady HS) recovered a
Kasey Gamble (Brandywine, Md./Gwynn Park HS) fumble in the end zone to help cut the Lincoln deficit to 35-19 with 5:24 remaining, but that was as close as the Lions would get.
Cook was 29-of-50 passing to pace the Lincoln offense, while Coston and Mitchell had eight and five catches, respectively for 97 and 69 yards. Gamble led the ground game with 58 yards on 12 carries and
Gerald Swain (Burlington Township, N.J./Burlington Township HS) finished with 21 yards on eight touches.
Defensively,
Brion Robinson (Silver Spring, MD/Springbrook HS) finished with a game-high 11 tackles, including 10 solo stops to lead the defense.
Jacob Lockley (Philadelphia, PA/Mastbaum Vo-Tech),
Dawan Marzett (Los Angeles, CA/Westchester HS) and
Gavin Lampkin (Baltimore, Md./W.E.B. Dubois HS) each had eight tackles.
“We got three more weeks to go and the conference race is a toss up,” Abanishe said. We just have to focus on stopping the run game.”
McNeill finished with 27 yards on 139 carries and added six touchdowns.
Lincoln steps back into action 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 20 in Petersburg, Va., against Virginia State University in a key CIAA Northern Division contest.
