The Lincoln Golden Bears haven’t lost a home game all season.So it’s understandable they’d want to play there in the first round of the 3A playoffs.
Lincoln (6-2, 4-2) can lock homefield advantage for itself tonight with a road victory against Hokes Bluff (6-2, 4-2) in the 3A Region 5 finale for both teams.
“That’d be awesome,” head coach Keith Howard said Thursday. “If we can win, it would be the first playoff game in the new stadium, not having lost a regular-season game there. That would be really great.”
Both teams come into Friday on a down note. Lincoln turned the ball over five times a week ago in a 31-7 loss to second-ranked Clay County.
“After going back over the film, I thought the kids played better than I thought they had,” said Howard. “But the five turnovers, it seemed like every one of them led to a score. We actually played better than I thought. We’ve built on that this week.”
The visiting Eagles, meanwhile, suddenly find themselves in danger of missing the postseason altogether, after a 14-7 loss to Munford last week at Holcombe Field.
In addition, Hokes Bluff may be without the services of starting quarterback Tyler Stovall, who left last week’s loss to Munford with an injury. His status for this week is unknown.
Howard described Hokes Bluff as “very, very sound in what they do.”
“They’re a little mad,” he said. “We beat them last year. I think they’ve got to win to get in the playoffs, so you know they’ll go out and play hard.”
In Howard’s fourth season at Lincoln, with what he called the school’s first true football class before the season started, he’s been pleased with the team’s progress.
Lincoln’s offense presents its usual array of challenges for opposing defenses, from quarterback T.J. Hoyt to tailbacks D.J. Howard and Tiger Williams.
“We’ve gotten better,” he said. “This thing started like last year – our kids fought hard last year and lost some tough games.
“We’ve done a better job coaching this year. All our coaches have done a better job this year. They’ve grown up, gotten better – we’re just real proud of how far they’ve come.”
Howard is also keenly aware that a win for his team tonight would also be a win for archrival Munford, who needs help to qualify for the postseason from either the Bears or the Panthers of Wellborn.
He’s more than happy to oblige.
“That Lincoln-Munford thing lasts about 2 hours on that night we play them,” he said. “They’re good folks over there. We want to win to host, obviously — if we can help Munford while we’re doing it, that’s a good thing, too.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
