Cardinals junior quarterback Riley Sanders put on a show in front of a nice post-season home crowd with school records of 476 yards passing and completions going 26 for 33 in a wild 56-34 Class 1 District 3 victory over (10) Skyline. He also tied former Cardinals Jackson Beaman for a school record with 7 passing touchdowns for Lincoln.
The No. 7 district ranked host school led 28-14 at the half.
Sanders had a lot of help as his receivers, Chase Young, Braeden Benham and Dawson Parrott added to the passing totals with great runs after catches. Young reached the milestone of 1,000 yards in nine games with 288 yards on 10 catches with 4 touchdowns. He missed a game earlier in the season with an injury.
Lincoln scored at the 3:24 mark on a Sanders pass to Young and the two pointer also found Young for the 8-0 lead.
The quarter change moved the ball from the 1 yard line to the other end of the field. Skyline sophomore quarterback Carter King plowed in for the score. The 2-point pass attempt was no good and it 8-6 at 11:58.
Another Sanders pass play to Benham ended in the endzone after a 52-yard romp and made it 14-6 at the 7:06 mark following a failed point-after-try.
King would not be denied as he raced 24 yards for another TD at the 4:09 mark and with the two pointer it was tied at 14-14.
A 10-yard pass in the flat to Young turned into a 45-yard TD, the duo's second of the night. The PAT pass was incomplete making the score 20-14.
At the 1:17 tick, Cam Everhart romped in from 6 yards out to make it 26-14. Sanders found Benham in the endzone for the 2-point conversion and it was 28-14 at the half.
It didn't take long for Lincoln to put Skyline on notice as they scored on a 35-yard pass to Young at the 10 minute mark to make it 34-14. The two pointer failed.
Skyline answered as King scored from the 1 and then swept across the field for the two pointer to make it 34-22 at the 3:20 mark.
A healthy Dawson Parrott raced down the left sidelines from the 37 on a nice toss from Sanders to make it 40-22 at 2:44 point. The 2-point pass attempt failed.
In the fourth, King scored again at the 11:22 tick. It was a tough night for PAT's but it was now 40-28 and the fat lady was tuning up.
On a beautiful 10-yard pass from Sanders to tight end Ben Eckhoff over the middle in the end zone, the score made it 46-28 and Everhart tacked on the 2-point conversion to lead 48-28.
Skyline scored again at 7:49.
Sanders threw a bomb to Young for the final TD from the 30. He would leave the game with cramps but appeared okay after the game. Parrott came in and hit Benham for the two pointer for the 56-34 final score.
Parrott also had a 45-yard return and a 44-yard punt.
Lincoln, now 5-5, will need him at 100 percent as they travel to face 8-1 Adrian this Friday. An old fashioned shoot out would give Lincoln a chance at the upset.
Coach Brad Drehle commented on the win.
"It was a big win, good win for us," the coach said. "We needed it. We struggled last week but we bounced back tonight. Next week will be a big challenge against Adrian. No one stops their run."
Statistically, Ashton Wolfe led the defense with 9 tackles. Everhart ran 16 times for 39 rushing yards and Sanders finished with 6 rushes for 30 yards.
Benham hauled in 6 passes for 94 yards with a TD and was also good for 2 PAT's.
As mentioned, Lincoln will travel to (2) Adrian this Friday for district action. The Blackhawks received a first round by after their 8-1 record landed them one of the top two seeds in the district. The winner of that contest will face the winner of Ash Grove/Midway on November 15.
