Rickards’ win spoils Trojans homecoming

By St. Clair Murraine

Outlook staff writer

        Win or lose, Rickards’ head football coach Quintin Lewis always has plenty to say in his post-game talk with his players.

     Not this past Friday night, though. Rickards’ 39-37 victory over Lincoln High School was that entrancing.

     “I’m lost for words right now,” Lewis said to his players after they pulled off the homecoming spoiler for the Trojans. “We always tell them to fight; keep believing what we are trying to instill in them and trying to teach. They had all of the resilience in the world.”

   Indeed.

   A series of mistakes early cost the Raiders 14 points. On the ensuring kickoff after a second straight fumble by the Raiders, Devon Brockman touched the ball while trying to leap over it. But fortunately for Rickards, the Trojans could only get to the 25-yard line where they turned it over on downs.

    The Raiders began to gather themselves shortly after a Marcus Riley interception put them at Lincoln’s 32 yard line. Two plays later, Destin Coates scores on a 27-yard run and with the PAT the Raiders cut the deficit to two, 21-19.

  “We knew we had a team that can battle back,” Lewis said. “They were playing lights out early. We kept battling but we turned it over. We stopped shooting ourselves in our foot and we played great.”

  But for the last two quarters, the Raiders had to engage with a shootout with plenty of dramatics along the way.

      Lincoln managed to cling to a 30-27 lead. The Trojans also tested the Raiders defense on their final possession before the end of the third quarter, taking more than six minutes off the clock and wearing down Rickards’ defensive front.

      The line survived the test, though, forcing a fumble that the Raiders converted for a touchdown. A 13-yard run by Coates put Rickard ahead for good, 33-30.

     Coates finished his night with 146 yards on 22 carries.