By Matt Overing

DANVILLE — Lincoln County has advanced to the 45th District championship game for the first time since 2015.

The soccer Patriots won at Boyle County 4-0 for the second time this season, with goals from Hawk Randall and Trey Cummins securing the victory.

“It seemed like a repeat of the first game,” Boyle head coach Cris McMann said. “That was 4-0, too. I don’t know, I thought we did OK in the first half. But the intensity wasn’t there.”

Lincoln’s intensity was there from the start, as Randall scored just three minutes into the game after Boyle misplayed a ball in the midfield. Randall sprinted past the Boyle defense to score past Boyle keeper Ethan James.

That was the only thing separating the two teams at halftime, and the Rebels had reason to believe the second half would be different. Boyle owned possession in the first half but the soccer Patriots’ counterattack was the difference.

“They held their composure, as much as Boyle County had possession of the ball,” Lincoln head coach Lewis Cummins said. “The defense, they held it together very well. We knew they were going to throw numbers forward so we wanted to make sure we were never outnumbered.”

Lincoln scored its second goal after a free kick from midfield was mis-judged by a Boyle defender and kicked into the Rebels’ net for an own goal.
The Patriots would score another when Trey Cummins found Hawk Randall behind the Boyle defense again for the third goal of the game.

“We’ve been working him, wanting him to get that all year and it finally happened for him,” coach Cummins said of Randall. “What better time than in the district tournament.”

James was sent off after the goal after a confrontation with a Lincoln player near midfield, the second time in two games that a Boyle player was sent off against the soccer Patriots this season.

Trey Cummins put the game away, scoring his first goal of the game with 16:30 remaining.

McMann said he thought his team had rebounded after the regular-season loss to the Patriots — Boyle went 8-1 to end the season — and practices were strong.

“Practices were good, things have been going well the last few games,” he said. “I think the last time they played like this was the last time they played Lincoln County. Every game after that, there’s been a whole lot of intensity and fire and that wasn’t there tonight.”
The soccer Patriots certainly had that fire, and coach Cummins said it’s down to his upperclassmen. Most of the juniors and seniors on the team have started since they were freshmen.

“Really the juniors and seniors, it’s a combination of all that,” the coach said. “This team has had to play as freshmen and sophomores two years ago. They’ve grown up a lot in these games. They were thrown into it two years ago, maybe not physically ready for it. They’re finally getting more physical and a little more soccer smarts along the way, too.”

Lincoln will face Danville in the 45th District championship at Boyle County on Wednesday.

“It was a goal we set back when we started practicing in the summer,” coach Cummins said. “It was a goal to get back here, and we didn’t want to be satisfied getting here. Now we want to be competitive with Danville. We know they’re going to send people at you. We’re very excited, this was a huge goal to win this district game and get back to region.”