Pats can’t stop Sloan, Cards as Wayne rolls
Published 1:17 pm Thursday, October 17, 2019
Photos by Nancy Leedy LINCOLN’s Clayton Davis and Rafe Shelton, on ground, keep Wayne’s Braedon Sloan out of the end zone on this second-quarter play. The junior running back proved to be an almost unstoppable force rushing for 362 yards on 23 carries and scoring six touchdowns to lead the Cardinals past Lincoln.
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STANFORD — Wayne County’s Braedon Sloan showed Lincoln County why he is a Division I recruit Friday night.
The junior running back ran for 362 yards on 23 carries and scored six times as the Cardinals rolled the host Patriots 55-21 in Death Valley Stadium in the district opener for both teams.
“He’s really good,” Lincoln coach Spencer Crutchfield said of Sloan. “That’s why he’s getting recruited by Louisville. They just don’t recruit anybody. We were right there some times to make plays but he’s a couple steps faster than anybody we’ve got and he’s just able to slither through and pull through and that’s just part of playing against a Division I player.”
Sloan, who had been averaging 216 yards and 3.8 scores a game, did most of his damage on the ground, but he kicked off Wayne’s scoring with a 27-yard touchdown reception from Brody Weaver to cap off the game’s first drive. The drive covered 80 yards in 11 plays and included a fake punt on 4th-and-6 where Sloan took the ball 15 yards for a first down.
Wayne (5-0) would score every time it touched the ball Friday night. The second score came just before the end of the first quarter when Weaver, who was 8-for-12 for 109 yards, connected with Thomas Spencer for a 23-yard TD pass. Patrick Radilla booted the extra point kick to extend the Cardinal lead to 14-0.
Lincoln (3-4) answered the Weaver-to-Spencer TD quickly as Clayton Davis returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards to the goal line. The Loren Melton point after kick made it 14-7 with 1:21 left in the first.
That would be as close as the Patriots would get. Lincoln would score two more times in the game, but Wayne would tally three straight times before each touchdown to distance itself from the Patriots.
It was back-to-back-to-back Sloan in the second quarter as the junior running back scored on runs of 30, 80 and 5 yards as the Wayne lead grew to 35-7 at the half. The short TD was set up by a Riley Hancock interception.
Lincoln quarterback Nick Harris, who was 8-for-16 for 109 yards, got the Patriots back in the end zone in the third quarter, capping off the opening drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to make it 35-14.
Sloan struck twice in the third quarter for Wayne, using his zig-zag running style and speed to score on runs of 50 and 56 yards. The 50-yard touchdown came on the first play from the line of scrimmage following an onsides kick.
“They have a nice team. The whole team’s nice, but he’s a special player. That kid’s Division I all day long,” Crutchfield said of Sloan. “He’s a great kid and works hard and it shows that he puts in time. All credit to those guys. They’re very well coached. They get him in space and able to make some plays.”
Tito Ruiz closed out Wayne’s scoring at the 4:59 mark of the fourth quarter, carrying the ball in for a score from the 2-yard line for a 55-14 margin.
Undeterred by the deficit and a running clock, Lincoln made the most of its final possession by going 75 yards to the goal line in six plays. Harris hit Davis for a 29-yard first-down pass and Dylan Burchfield ran 33 yards to the 11 to help set up the final play, a 5-yard touchdown pass to Davis for the 55-21 final.
“We played hard. That’s one of the great things I can say about our kids, is they’re not going to lay down,” Crutchfield said. “Even if we’re down with a running clock and there’s two minutes to go. We come back down and stick one in with seconds to go. That’s the fight they’ve got in them and I’m proud of those guys for not laying down.”
Wayne amassed 532 total yards offense, with 423 on the ground. Spencer was the Cardinals’ leading receiver with 68 yards on five catches.
Lincoln had 258 total yards, with 149 rushing yards. Rodney Alcorn led the Patriots with 71 yards on nine carries. Burchfield had 56 yards on 11 carries. Davis had six receptions for 76 yards.
“We shot ourselves in the foot sometimes tonight and didn’t make some plays,” said Crutchfield. “We had a few key drops. They’re physical and they get after you on defense. We knew that going in and we felt like we game-planned pretty well, but players make plays and they were able to make more plays than we did.”
Darren Griffin, Cody Miracle and Mykah Turpin led the Lincoln defense with seven tackles each. Griffin had six solos, Miracle had five solo tackles and Turpin had three. Burchfield also had five solo tackles.
at Lincoln Co.
Wayne 14 21 13 7 – 55
Lincoln 7 0 7 7 – 21
Scoring
1st Qtr
Wayne: 7:33 – Braedon Sloan 27-yard pass from Brody Weaver (Patrick Radilla kick).
Wayne: 1:36 – Thomas Spencer 23-yard pass from Weaver (Radilla kick).
Lincoln: 1:21 – Clayton Davis 80-yard kickoff return (Loren Melton kick).
2nd Qtr
Wayne: 11:09 – Sloan 30-yard run. (Radilla kick).
Wayne: 6:15 – Sloan 80-yard run (Radilla kick).
Wayne: :36.1 – Sloan 5-yard run (Radilla kick).
3rd Qtr
Lincoln: 7:32 – Nick Harris 7-yard run (Melton kick).
Wayne: 7:20 – Sloan 50-yard run (Radilla kick).
Wayne: 05.2 – Sloan 56-yard run (Pass failed).
4th Qtr
Wayne: 4:59 – Tito Ruiz 2-yard run (Radilla kick).
Lincoln: :22.1 – Davis 5-yard pass from Harris (Melton kick).
Game Stats
WC LC
Rushing 36-423 29-149
Passing 8-12-0 8-16-1
Yards 109 109
Total Off./Yds 48-532 45-258
First Downs 15 12
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 0/0
Penalties 9/75 4/40
Individual Stats
Rushing
Wayne
Braedon Sloan: 23 carries, 362 yards, 5TDs.
Carson Simpson: 2 carries, 32 yards.
Tito Ruiz: 3 carries, 25 yards, TD.
Brody Weaver: 7 carries, 4 yards.
Cody Vaughn: 1 carry, 0 yards.
Lincoln
Rodney Alcorn: 9 carries, 71 yards.
Dylan Burchfield: 11 carries, 56 yards.
Nick Harris: 6 carries, 17 yards, TD.
Levi Daugherty: 3 carries, 5 yards.
Passing/Receiving
Wayne
Brody Weaver – 8-12-0, 109 yards, 2TDs.
Receiving
Thomas Spencer – 5-68 yards, TD; Braedon Sloan – 2-35, TD; Tito Ruiz – 1-6.
Lincoln
Nick Harris – 8-16-1, 109 yards, TD.
Receiving
Clayton Davis – 6-76 yards, TD; Zack Hazlett – 2-33.
