LINCOLN — The last time Handley and Lincoln met on the gridiron, it was as big of a game as one could have asked for. Handley was ranked third. Lincoln fourth.
And in the final five minutes of the game, the Golden Bears got a special teams touchdown and an interception (with less than a minute remaining) to seal the 38-34 win.
Tonight the two will meet again, and Lincoln coach Keith Howard expects the same kind of nailbiter.
Actually, he’s hoping for it.
“I hope they don’t run off and leave us,” he said, “And I know we can run off and leave them.”
While the first meeting had that playoff-atmosphere style, this time around it’s real. The winner will claim a spot in the Class 4A semifinals against the UMS-Wright-Jackson winner. For the loser, the season will end.
At the time of the game, many called it just an appetizer, expecting the two to meet again. However, the metaphor held true in more than one sense. Tonight, fans will get the full five courses full of both teams’ talent.
In the first meeting between the two teams, both were without key players. The biggest — literally — of which was Handley running back Ladarrious Phillips. Lincoln outgained Handley on the ground 341 yards to 212.
“He’s got to be 260, 270 pounds,” Howard said of the bruising fullback. “We don’t even have anybody to simulate that kind of size. We’ve had the kids trying to tackle a van all week.”
Phillips spent most of the season sidelined by a foot injury, only making his 2008 debut near the end of the regular season. He returned in Week 7 in limited action, and has added to his playing time every week since. Last week, he proved he was up to snuff with a 22-carry, 156-yard, two-touchdown performance.
With the return of their power-running game, Howard says he expects to see less of the Week 3 Handley team that spread the field out and more of a power style of football.
He noted, though, that plays like the zone-read, where the quarterback puts the ball in the fullback’s belly and then reads the defensive reaction, would keep Lincoln on its toes.
But while Phillips has the ability to change the landscape of a game, Lincoln wasn’t completely full speed in the last meeting, either.
T.J. Hoyt moved out from under center in the first meeting because of a Grade 2 stinger in his shoulder. The game also marked the point where D.J. Howard aggravated the bone spur that sidelined him for a good chunk of Lincoln’s season.
All the players are back in their respective positions, with Hoyt back under center and Howard coming off a 161-yard, 10-carry performance last week in a 41-21 win over Bibb County.
“We have lost John Talley for the season,” Howard said. “But other than that, we’re as healthy as we’ve been since the (season opener).”
