The Lincoln University football team honored their seniors and closed out their season on Saturday at Lions Stadium with a game against Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association North Division rival Chowan University.
 
The Hawks struck early and often and cruised to a 73-30 win over the Lions, leaving Lincoln with an 0-10 record for the season and an 0-7 mark in CIAA games.  The Hawks finished their season at 4-6 overall and 4-3 in league play.
 
Prior to the start of the game the Lions honored 12 players who would be playing their final game in a Lincoln uniform:  wide receivers Andre Price (Rialto, Calif./Jurupa Hills (Chabot)), Elijah Smith (Elmont, N.Y./Sewanhaka (Monroe College)) and Dashawn Brice (Brooklyn, N.Y./Boys and Girls (Virginia State)); running backs Rameses Owens (Warrensville Hgts., Ohio/Shaker Heights Robert Morris)) and DeAarius Bland (Hammond, La./Hammond (Globe Tech)); center Izaiah Wright ( Brooklyn, N.Y./Boys and Girls (Virginia State)); defensive linemen Oscar Brown (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup (Rochester CC)), Stephen Lloyd (Bowie, Md./Meade Sr. HS) and Maso Dodd (Philadelphia, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh (Globe Tech)) and defensive backs Jefari Davis (Syracuse, N.Y./Nottingham (Monroe College)); Jabari Thomas (Washington, D.C./Carroll (Hampton)) and Rhamir Thomas (Washington, Pa./Washington (Youngstown St.)).  The 12 seniors were presented framed jerseys, a signed football and other tokens of appreciation at the pre-game ceremony.
 
Back to game action, the Lions racked up 472 yards of total offense, their highest total since 2012 and the third highest total in modern program history behind games vs. Livingstone (9/22/12 – 547 yards) and Johnson C. Smith (9/29/12 – 479 yards).  Part of this total was a season-high 206 yards rushing along with 264 yards passing.
 
Lions quarterback Vincent Espinoza (Madera, Calif./Madera (West Hills)) connected on 20 of 35 passes for 264 yards and two touchdown tosses.  Owens led the team with 122 yards on the ground and – a season high. Owens also had one rushing touchdown as did Justin Johnson (Etters, Pa./Red Land). Price and Smith had seven catches and one touchdown apiece.
 
Chowan racked up 479 yards of offense, 351 of those on the ground.  Tyrell Freeman ran for 308 yards and three touchdowns while quarterback Bryce Witt threw three touchdown passes and had 11 completions for 128 yards.
 
A fumble recovery by the Hawks that was returned for a touchdown in the opening minute set the tone for the game as Chowan scored four times in the opening period to take a 28-0 lead. (Lincoln opponents outscored the Lions 192-10 in the first quarter this season).
 
The Lions got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter as Owens capped off a 13-play, 76-yard drive with a one yard run for a touchdown.  CU's Witt ran for a touchdown ad the Hawks added a field goal to go up 38-7 before the Lions 15 straight points to close the gap to 38-22.
 
Espinoza hooked up with Price for a 37 yard touchdown with 1:28 left in the quarter with McCollum completing a pass to Xavier hare for the two-point conversion to make the score 38-15.  Chowan fumbled and lost the ball on the ensuing kickoff and Lincoln took advantage, as Espinoza connected with Smith from 14 yards out with 7 seconds left tho make the score 38-22.
 
The Lions then pulled off a successful onside kic, recovering the ball at midfield with 5.9 seconds left.  Espinoza was the intercepted on the "hail-mary" toss as time expired.
The momentum swung the other way around as the Hawks scored five straight times in the second half to lead 73-22 with Freeman's 60-yard run on the first play from scrimmage in the second half setting the tone. Freeman added touchdown runs of one and two yards. Witt added two touchdown tosses.
 
The Lions tacked on their final score with just 18 seconds left in the game on a Johnson two yard run.  McCollum's 33 yard run to the CU five-yard line helped set up the score.  McCollum also caught Espinoza's two point conversion pass to make the final score 73-30.