When he hit the game-winning field goal against Lincoln Southeast in overtime Friday at Seacrest Field, Lincoln Southwest kicker Ryan Lindahl could have celebrated like a soccer player.
You know, running across the field and sliding on his knees or something. Soccer was Lindahl’s sport before this season.
Instead, he jogged coolly off the field while his teammates and fans did the celebrating. Lindahl’s 22-yard field goal and a ferocious defensive effort resulted in a 13-10 victory, the Silver Hawks' first win against their city rivals since 2008.
Lindahl’s field goal came just moments after Southwest's Mitchell Johnson recovered a Southeast fumble to open the overtime period. Lindahl's kick was moved up 5 yards after an offside penalty on Southeast. It was Lindahl’s second game-winning field goal of the season: His 30-yarder in the closing moments gave Southwest a 15-13 win against Lincoln North Star in Week 1.
“You can’t freeze the kid,” Silver Hawk coach Mark King said. “He’s all right.”
Later, his teammates had to chase Lindahl off the bus for his postgame interview.
“I was nervous, but I just took a couple of kicks into the net on the sideline with my holder and tried to stay calm," Lindahl said. "It was really nice, definitely very exciting. It’s my first year playing football and it’s a new experience for me and I loved it.”
Southwest (2-3) trailed 10-3 late in the second half when Corey Williams picked off a Luke Gifford pass and returned it to the LSE 15-yard line. Noah Lazaro’s second effort on third-and-5 resulted in a first down, and on the next play, Lazaro (22 carries, 86 yards) scored from 3 yards. Lindahl’s extra-point kick tied the game at 10 with 4:48 to play.
Neither team could mount an offensive drive as the clock wound down, setting up the overtime period.
“It’s a big win for our kids,” King said. “We had six starters out with injury, so I think we showed a lot of fortitude. The kids battled this week as much as they have in the past 12 years.”
Lindahl’s kick may have put the winning points on the board, but the Southwest defense deserves much of the credit. Southeast (2-3) took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in 13 plays. Gifford sneaked in from the 1 for an early 7-0 lead.
Other than that drive, the Southwest defense shut down the Knights by forcing turnovers and limiting Gifford’s big plays. The Silver Hawks had four takeaways — interceptions by Williams and Austin Rowlett and fumble recoveries by Johnson and Mike Siewart — and allowed just 58 yards after halftime.
"We changed our defense a little bit,” King said. “Coach (Scott) Vampola and Coach (Kevin) Schrad and I put the game plan together this week. The kids really just stuck to the plan and did it right. This was a ballgame that was going to be decided by turnovers and penalties. The first-half story was our penalties, and the second-half story was their turnovers.”
Gifford finished 8-of-16 for 105 yards passing and two interceptions. He also rushed 10 times for 24 yards. On the Knights' first offensive play of overtime, Gifford moved to tailback but fumbled. LSE was down to its fourth-string tailback because of injuries to regular starter Hunter Johnson, Alex Agostine and Javier Fa’ali’i.
“We didn’t do anything on offense in the second half,” LSE coach Ryan Gottula said. “I didn’t do a good enough job with the offense this week. Obviously, we lost some I-backs, but that’s no excuse. We just didn’t execute, and that’s on me. In a city game like this, we knew it was going be a battle. We knew they (the Silver Hawks) would come to play a great football game, and they certainly did; give them a lot of credit.”
Source: southwest - Yahoo News Search Results http://journalstar.com/sports/high-school/football/6a9a6b76-660b-58fc-b0ca-25c1446a8fdc.html
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar