Bartram Trail snaps Lincoln's winning streak; Trojans taking in loss before bye week
Following the Lincoln's Thursday night loss to the Bartram Trail Bears, inside the postgame huddle, Trojans coach Jimmie Tyson had a unique way of collecting his thoughts.
He talked about what he was going to do when he got home and how he was going to have no issue going to sleep that night. Why? Because he believed that Lincoln got what it deserved.
Facing its first major challenge of the season, Bartram Trail's defense stalled the Lincoln offense and took advantage of big plays on offense. The dual-threat was too much for the Trojans to keep up with as they fell to the Bears, 24-7.
The loss snaps Lincoln's three-game win streak and is the worst loss since falling to Mosley, 42-17, nearly a year ago.
"I'm happy we lost," Tyson said. "We haven't been doing what champions do. We got what we deserved. Hopefully, this wakes us up. We as coaches, us as players, us as supporting staff, all of us. We started drinking the Kool-Aid and it turned bad on us tonight."
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Tyson expressed that the chatter around the team didn't have an impact on the result. Coming into Thursday's game, Lincoln had outscored its opposition 182-6 over three games, posting two 70+ point wins against Godby and Palm Beach Lakes. Bartram Trail was also 3-0, with wins over Ponte Vedra, Seabreeze, and Mainland.
The Bears took over the game quickly, seeing junior kicker Liam Padron split the uprights from 17-yards about and junior running back Laython Biddle run in short touchdown to build a quick 9-0 lead. Lincoln senior running back Demetric Stephens responded with a long rushing score to put the Trojans within a possession, 9-7.
However, after that scoring drive, things began to sputter for Lincoln. Penalties had set the team back, seeing senior quarterback Ayden Fryar picked off twice, one for a pick-six score from senior defensive Arion Stith. Bartram Trail's defensive line stopped any Lincoln ground progression, eventually holding Lincoln to one score.
"This is why we schedule our schedule like this," Tyson said. "I've been a part of undefeated teams that lost in the first round. It's just the way it is. That's human nature. When you start winning and start overlooking the little things, it comes back to bite you. It bit us early in the season, so we can come back and clean it up."
Lincoln's schedule doesn't get any easier from here on out. After a week off, they travel up to Norman Park, Georgia to take on Colquitt County, who has jumped out as the hottest team in southwest Georgia. The Packers are 4-0, allowing an average of only 10 points per game.
After the Colquitt game, Lincoln stays in Leon County until the end of the regular season but will face Dillard and Florida High before the playoffs. Dillard is 2-1, with its lone loss to state power, Chaminade-Madonna, and Florida High has yet to lose this season. In a critical BYE week, Lincoln is looking to use the Bartram Trail game as a learning lesson.
"The biggest thing is learning from our mistakes and cleaning them up," Tyson said. "We found some stuff out tonight and we have to fix that as coaches and players. We're going to get better and hopefully, we take this whole week to prepare for Colquitt. All we're doing is getting better with ourselves. We'll practice hard, compete against each other, and clean up our mistakes."
Bartram Trail: 9, 0, 7, 7 - 24
Lincoln: 7, 0, 0, 0 - 7
1Q - Liam Padron 17-yard FG GOOD, 3-0 BT
1Q - Laython Biddle 12-yard rushing TD, PAT NO, 9-0 BT
1Q - Demetric Stephens rushing TD, PAT GOOD, 9-7 BT
2Q - Jacob Kallner receiving TD from Riley Trujillo, PAT GOOD, 17-7 BT
4Q - Arion Stith interception returned for TD, PAT GOOD, 24-7 BT
Jack Williams covers prep sports for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Bartram Trail snaps Lincoln's winning streak in 17-point Week 4 loss
