Lincoln, Capital combine for 117 points, but Abes come out winners

Lincoln and Capital combined for 117 points Friday in each team’s 3A Narrows opener.

Call it offensive onslaughts or porous defenses, but when the final horn sounded the Cougars couldn’t keep up as the fourth-ranked Abes pulled away for a 71-46 victory, handing Capital its third consecutive loss to start the season.

Lincoln (3-0, 1-0 3A Narrows League) pulled away late, but Capital kept the game within striking distance until late in the fourth quarter.

The first touchdown of the game was for 67 yards, followed by touchdowns of 85, 67, 64, 30, 43, 43, 50, and 66 yards, with some mild-mannered seven, five, two, nine, 14, 16, 16 and 11-yard touchdowns mixed in.

Lincoln junior quarterback Joey Sinclair was 22 of 32 passing for 423 yards and six touchdowns and receiver Alvin Johnson had seven catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

Cougars running back Willie Broxton Jr. had 21 carries for 194 yards and three touchdowns, while freshman quarterback Grant Erickson, filling in for the injured Cody Jenkins, was 19 of 27 passing for 258 yards and three touchdowns.

Broxton’s 64-yard touchdown run on Capital’s opening possession of the second half cut Lincoln’s lead to 28-26, but the Abes responded with four unanswered touchdowns, including Sinclair’s 30-yard TD pass to Tony Archie on fourth down.

After the Cougars punted after their first drive, Sinclair started what would be an offensive onslaught.

On Lincoln’s first drive, Sinclair rolled to his right and launched the football just before reaching the line of scrimmage to Johnson, who caught it and strolled into the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown.

The Cougars (0-3, 0-1) answered on the ensuing kickoff, with Zach Smith returning it 85 yards for a score.

Smith had seven catches for 98 yards and two scores to go with the kick return touchdown.

Sinclair’s 43-yard pass to Troy Petersohn set up Dionte Simon’s seven-yard touchdown run for Lincoln the next series. But Capital again answered, with Broxton taking the second play of the next drive 67 yards for a touchdown run.

Lincoln led 28-20 at halftime of what already seemed like a high-scoring game. Only that was just the beginning.

Capital scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone, including Erickson’s 50-yard touchdown pass to Christopher Schnellman to end a streak of four consecutive Lincoln touchdowns. Erickson then found Smith for a 16-yard score the next drive to cut the lead to 56-40 with 7 minutes, 32 seconds remaining to play.

And with the way these offenses were working, that was plenty of time.

Sinclair hit Marcus Wiley on Lincoln’s ensuing drive for a 43-yard pass followed by a 16-yard touchdown throw to Wiley, putting Lincoln ahead 64-40 and putting Capital away for good.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Lincoln, Capital combine for 117 points, but Abes come out winners."