The Homecoming Dance

Of course they did that.

If for no other reason than to finish off Homecoming Week (and to post that picture up there), here are some pics of the boys all dressed up...

A Big Scare

That's a man who loves football.

The Rock gave us all a scare after his left hand was stepped on in the 3rd quarter.  It was bleeding from a puncture and the training staff feared it was broken.  After a few minutes, he just said said "screw it - tape it up, I'm going back in."  Big heart on this kid.

9/29 Sheboygan South 40 - Lincoln 54 - Homecoming

Was that the last home game for these fine young gentlemen?

Now THAT was a fun game!  I think everyone was a little jittery at the sight of Sheboygan South matching us TD for TD in the game's first 15 minutes.  But Hollywood and Co. never let us down, constantly driving down the field and punching it in.  Muscles ran for 158 yards and 2 TDs on Just 12 carries.  Hollywood passed for almost 300 yards and added another 43 on the ground.  He also accounted for 3 total TDs.  The defense got a score and also forced 4 turnovers.  And while big plays were once again the story for the Ships' defense, they got the stops when they needed to.  The fans certainly got their money's worth.  The perfect Fall day helped everyone enjoy a great game that lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes!  As always, enjoy the pictures below the jump.

Homecoming Parade

He always looks so presidential.

Yes, we normally just do football posts here.  But there's no Homecoming Week without football, and the Homecoming game isn't what it is without the buildup of Homecoming Week.  That school spirit makes the game that much more fun.  So there.  As always, click "read more" for the pretty pictures...

10/8 Pulaski 37 - Lincoln 40 - Homecoming

The new sign.

(Update - for the Parade, Click Here; for the Pommers, Click here).

I kinda feel like like David After Dentist.  Seriously?  Did that just happen?  Did I dream that game?  I mean, as a sports fan, you watch hundreds of games - baseball, football, basketball, hockey, cricket, whatever - just WAITING and HOPING you get to watch a game like this.  You want to share in that experience, that MOMENT.  Because when it happens... Wow.  This was a once-in-ten-years-game.  This was MJ in Salt Lake draining the 19 footer over Bryon Russell.  This was 4th and 26 for Eagles' fans.  This really was "The Catch."  But now it's the new Catch.  I can't believe that Mr. Vance had two interceptions, a huge tackle on 3rd down late in the 4th, and it's foolish to even consider him for player of the game honors.  That's how incredible Eli's game was.

The game started out a little funny: Pulaski's kicker, who had been kicking 50 yard FGs during warm-ups, ripped a line drive on the opening kickoff that bounced into, and out of, and into, and out of, the Hammer's hands.  Pulaski recovered the fumble and it cost us 3 points.   Pulaski's kicker tried the same kick again on the ensuing kickoff: he was trying to nail someone on our front line and have the ball bounce back to a Pulaski player - an unconventional onside kick.  On the second kick, Eli snagged the ball out of the air.  Now, try and understand how difficult that is - the ball was kicked 15 yards away, right at Eli, with the kind of velocity you get from a kid who can hit 50 yard FGs.  It was an athletic play, which is an understatement, and it gave us excellent field position.

(Interesting side-bar: Eli's game wasn't perfect - it only seemed that way - he dropped an easy interception on the opening drive that would have saved 3 points.  But, really, I couldn't care less - Eli played as good of a game as you'll ever see a high schooler play.).

As we all know, the Ships went down 0-10 but roared back, scoring the next 20 points - halftime score 20-10.  Our touchdowns were scored on a Suzuki sweep right, a blocked punt by Eli recovered by Bubba for a TD, and a 40 plus yard TD reception that Tanner put right on the money to Eli.

We all know how the game ended: after going up by three scores, Pulaski realized all they had to do was pass (away from Mr. Vance, of course).  They erased the deficit and took the lead with 2 minutes left in the game.  Tanner promptly threw an INT (trying to force it to Eli) but the defense held.  And I gotta say, I was pissed off when I saw people leaving the game after Tanner's interception.  They deserved to miss the big finish.

Lincoln got the ball back with about 70 seconds left and 79 yards to go.  They got two first downs on receptions by Nick (yeah buddy), another on a crazy scramble by Tanner, and the final one on a pass interference penalty.  With 4 seconds on the clock, Coach D called a play that had 4 WRs from the shotgun formation.  Pistol split wide left and Nick was in the slot.  Eli was split wide right and some (sorry - I forgot) was slot right.  Nick and Pistol crossed (I couldn't tell if they were running post/corner routes or modified if they were modified) on their way to the end zone.  I'm pretty sure the same happened on the other side, but the HTR makes it sound like Eli ran a drag route.  Anyway, Pistol was the primary receiver and Tanner drew back and fired it into the 25 MPH winds... but the ball landed at least 7 yards from its target - Pistol.  Thank God Eli was also 7 yards from that target.  (How did the HTR miss that part of the story?  And, Tanner, did you even see Eli?  I hope you didn't, because that makes an even better story!)

One other note before we get to the pretty pictures: Pulaski got absolutely hosed by the refs.  Hosed.  I'm not complaining, of course, and you take the victory any way you can, but there was a fumble that was never called (Big Cat), a phantom pass interference that was called on Pulaski and shouldn't have been called (D. Dixon), on the final drive, the refs took far too long getting the clock going, giving our players more time to figure out what the hell they were going to do in the hurry-up offense.  I mean, sometimes the refs have a bad day, too.  We got lucky this time.  Very lucky.  Celebrate.  Enjoy the Conference Championship.  But recognize that if you don't fix that pass defense, someone is going to surprise you in the playoffs.  And we don't want that.  Now, let's see some pretty pictures.