Tragedy struck the Lincoln community in the Golden Bears’ season opener last season as then head coach Keith Howard died from a heart attack on his way to the hospital at halftime.

The Golden Bears return to Etowah tonight reflecting on the positives that came from last season’s tragedy.

“We talked about that to our kids (Wednesday),” Lincoln head coach Chad Martin said. “Of course we had some tragic circumstances last year. We are taking this as a time for us to reflect upon all the great things that have come from it, the things that we have learned about us as men, and how the community has come together and the support that we saw. We are looking at it as a positive of the good things that came from a tragic circumstance.”

Martin believes the kids’ mindset has been pretty good leading up to tonight game.

“I think it is definitely going to be a little emotional,” Martin said. “It seems like they (the players) are excited because it is the first game and last year of course what happened. They sort of want to show everybody we are resilient and we can come back and fight. Their mindset seems pretty good this week.”

Last week the Golden Bears fell to Leeds 5-0 in their jamboree. Martin believes the miscues they had at Leeds were worked out this week at practice.

“We played well defensively,” Martin said. “We had a couple of miscues. Offensively, being the first game and having to break in all new lineman but one and new skill guys. It is actually about getting in the flow of actual speed game, so we had some trouble moving the ball. We hope this week we got a lot of it straightened out, and it is good to play a jamboree so you can see what you need to work on to see where you are.”

The Golden Bears also broke in their new spread offense against Leeds. Execution was the main thing that the Golden Bears’ staff stressed to the offensive unit this week.

“It is a learning process,” Martin said. “The kids like the system and they are comfortable with it. It is just about being able to execute on every play. It really doesn’t matter what offense and defense you run; execution is what it comes down to.”

The Blue Devils of Etowah present some concerns for Lincoln on both sides of the football.

“They are big up front on the defensive line,” Martin said. “Their safeties play very well. Offensively, they run a lot of formations. They have a tailback with a lot of speed. They go four-wide to the Maryland I (formation), so they are very multiple in what they do. They play assignment football and run some option. They have a veteran team coming back and we have a young team coming back, so that is always a little concerning.”

Martin believes the Golden Bears don’t give up the big play and control the line of scrimmage they will leave there with a victory.

“We are going to have to control the line of scrimmage offensively,” Martin said. “We are going to have to hold our blocks and create some holes for our backs to have a chance. Defensively, we are going to have to play assignment football. We are going to have to make sure we don’t give up a big play on the option and don’t get beat deep.

“I feel like if we play good football, we will have the opportunity to win the ballgame. We just have to play smart football and our young kids have to grow up quick.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. from Jim Glover Field in Attalla.