Lincoln rolls over Clay Co. 42-6 in DVB opener
Published 4:07 pm Friday, August 25, 2017
LINCOLN KICKER Emma Kaiser was crowned the 2017 Death Valley Bowl Queen. Representatives from Lincoln, Clay County, Bourbon County and Somerset vied for the title. Escorting Kaiser was Bryson Yaden, who was also the Offensive Player of the Game.
SAWYER CARRIER, Patriot receiver, is on the run on this first-half pass reception from Bryson Yaden.
LINCOLN RECEIVER Josh Coddington manages to pull in this tipped pass from Bryson Yaden
LINCOLN'S Tra Carey (32) gets the block on Clay County's Dakota Anderson to give Patriot quarterback Bryson Yaden time to get off a pass to Sawyer Carrer. Yaden completed 16 of 22 pass for 265 yards and three touchdowns in the Patriots' 42-5 win Friday in the Death Valley Bowl.
David Brock (6) forces this fumble by Clay County's Kyle Pennington
ETHAN CARMAN (40 celebrates his 38-yard scoop and score.
STANFORD — For Lincoln County’s football team, the opening of the season hasn’t always had pleasing results. After all, the Patriots have struggled in their annual PBK Bank/WPBK-FM Death Valley Bowl opener, going 4-15 over the past 19 years.
Lincoln had plenty to celebrate in Friday’s 20th anniversary of the DVB, however, delivering a decisive 42-6 win over the Clay County Tigers at Death Valley Stadium.
“It’s awesome,” Lincoln coach Travis Leffew said of the first Patriot DVB win since 2012. “These guys worked really hard in the offseason and have done a great job to really prepare for this game. They knew we had to come out with confidence and start out strong and that’s what we did.”
Junior quarterback Bryson Yaden led the Patriot offense completing 16 of 22 passes for three touchdowns and 272 of the team’s 352 yards total offense. Sawyer Carrier was on the receiving end of five of Yaden’s passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns and Josh Salyers had five catches for 90 yards and a touchdown.
It was a 20-yard touchdown reception by Carrier with 4:50 left in the first half that got Lincoln started in establishing itself as the dominant team against Clay. The pace continued throughout the remainder of the second quarter as the Patriots added two more scores to make it 21-0 at the half.
A Clay County fumble, one of six Tiger turnovers for the game, set up Lincoln’s second score. Three plays later, Yaden hit Carrier for a 31-yard scoring pass. Lincoln got one more possession before the break and Tra Carey, who led the Lincoln rush with 52 yards on eight carries, capped off the 45-yard drive with a six-yard scoring run.
“We should have started off quicker, but we played well,” Leffew said. “There’s still some offensive line stuff that we know we’ve got to correct, but we were able to regroup, get it together and show a good performance in the second half.”
And Lincoln (1-0) did have a good second half. The Patriots continued to do in the third quarter just what they did in the second – racking up 21 points – to put the game away.
The Patriots and Tigers traded scores early in the third quarter, with Darius Napier racing 12 yards to the goal line to cap off Lincoln’s first second-half possession, a 41-yard drive, and Clay’s first drive, a 66-yard march, culminating in a 5-yard touchdown by Tanner Revis for a 28-6 margin.
Revis’ score would be Clay’s lone touchdown of the night.
Yaden connected for his longest throw of the night late in the third quarter, hitting Salyers for a 58-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-6.
The Tigers’ fifth fumble of the night resulted in the Patriots’ final score. Revis had possession of the ball when the Lincoln defense forced the fumble. Patriot linebacker Ethan Carman was on top of the fumble and he got the scoop and the 38-yard score to invoke the running clock on the game.
The Patriots got possession on four of the six Clay County fumbles in the game.
“One thing we really focused on was being to the ball,” Leffew said. “We did a good job tonight of getting around the ball and getting to the ball and that’s where those fumbles were created. We were around the ball to pick them up.”
Carman led the Lincoln defense with 12 tackles, including eight solos. David Brock had 11 tackles and Josh Salyers, nine.
Emma Kaiser, who was later crowned Death Valley Bowl queen, added the point after kick on all six Lincoln scores.
“An all-round team win tonight,” said Leffew. “We know we’ve got to correct our inside run game. But being able to hit the edges, throw the ball and defensively coming up big was big tonight.”
Death Valley Bowl
at Lincoln Co.
1 2 3 4 F
Clay 0 0 6 0 – 6
Lincoln 0 21 21 0 – 42
Scoring
2nd Qtr
Lincoln: 4:50 – Sawyer Carrier 20-yard pass from Bryson Yaden (Emma Kaiser kick).
Lincoln: 2:22 – Carrier 31-yard pass from Yaden (Kaiser kick).
Lincoln: :15.2 – Tra Carey 6-yard run (Kaiser kick).
3rd Qtr
Lincoln: 8:34 – Darius Napier 12-yard run (Kaiser kick).
Clay: 4:24 – Tanner Revis 5-yard run (run failed).
Lincoln: 2:56 – Josh Salyers 58-yard pass from Yaden (Kaiser kick).
Lincoln: :07.5 – Ethan Carman 38-yard fumble return (Kaiser kick).
Game Stats
CC LC
First Downs 12 9
Rushing Plays 44 24
Yards 244 80
Passing Plays 3-11-0 16-22-1
Yards 43 272
Touchdowns 0 3
Total Offense 287 352
Fumbles 5/4 2/0
Penalties 10/81 7/65
Rushing
Clay Co.
Chandler Hibbard: 14 carries, 90 yds.
Tanner Revis: 13 carries, 75 yds, TD.
Kyle Pennington: 10 carries, 64 yds.
Ben Meadows: 2 carries, 12 yds.
John Gilbert: 4 carries, 7 yds.
Team: 1 carry, (-4) yds.
Lincoln Co.
Tra Carey: 8 carries, 52 yds, TD.
Darius Napier: 4 carries, 25 yds, TD.
Lane Slone: 7 carries, 17 yds.
Nick Harris: 2 carries, 0 yds.
Zack Hazlett: 1 carry, (-2) yds.
Dyan Burchfield: 1 carry, (-2) yds.
Bryson Yaden: 1 carry, (-10) yds.
Passing
Clay Co.
Passing: John Gilbert: 3-11-0, 43 yds.
Receiving: Ben Meadows – 1-25; Nathan Bishop – 1-9; Chance Smith – 1-9.
Lincoln Co.
Passing: Bryson Yaden: 16-22-1, 272 yds, 3 TDs.
Receiving: Sawyer Carrier – 5-118, 2TDs; Josh Salyers – 5-90, TD; David Brock – 4-39; Zack Hazlett – 1-17; Josh Coddington – 1-8.
