September 27, 2009
Lions ride Stevens to victory
Tyron Stevens rushed for 241 yards in Lincoln's 22-15 victory over St. Anthony.
Click Here for more photos from St. Anthony at Lincoln.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
JERSEY CITY – With his team trailing by one at the half, Lincoln running back Tyron Stevens knew he had to take over if his team was going to escape with a victory.
The junior shouldered that responsibility and then some, rushing for 181 yards in the second half as the Lions held on for a 22-15 win over St. Anthony last night at Caven Point.
“I just needed to get ball in my hands for my team,” Stevens said. “I told them in the locker room I wasn’t going to lose this game. I just had to take the ball and take the game over.”
With Lincoln’s high-powered passing game virtually non-existent on this night, all eyes were on the 5-foot-10, 190 pound runner. Stevens rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown in the first half, but took his game to another level after the intermission.
He set the tone on the first drive of the second half with carries of 7, 14 and 6 yards to help set up a Lamar McKnight touchdown. The next drive was capped off with a 5-yard score from Stevens to make it 22-7. Stevens rushed for five or more yards on all 10 of his carries in the third quarter, racking up 92 yards in the process.
“He’s very patient,” St. Anthony coach Sean Fallon said. “He’s a good running back and he deserved it tonight.”
Stevens would 89 yards in the fourth quarter, to finish with 241 yards on 32 carries.
“He really wants to be a great football player,” Lincoln coach Robert Hampton said. “Without him as a leader and as an inspiration for our team, we would have lost.”
Lincoln (3-0) would need each and every one of those carries along with an interception by Marcus Hobbs with 59 seconds left in order to survive a performance that they described as disappointing.
“I don’t think we took them as seriously as we should have,” Hampton said.
“I’m not happy with this win, but I’ll take it,” Stevens said. “We’re going to go back to practice on Monday and work harder.”
While the Lions were getting it done on the ground with Stevens, the Friars worked their way back into the game with the arm of Slyvester Wright. He hit Craig Davilla, who made a leaping catch in the end zone with just 34.8 seconds left in the first half.
Wright and Davilla would provide more fireworks in the fourth quarter. On a 3rd-and-30, Davilla pulled down a Wright pass that deflected off a Lincoln defender and raced 38 yards for the touchdown to make it a one-score game.
Wright completed 7-of-9 passes for 184 yards and the two touchdowns.
With Wright in a groove, the defense kept it a seven-point game when they stuffed Lincoln inside the 10-yard line on consecutive drives in the fourth quarter.
Even though, it didn’t result in a victory, Fallon believes “the sky’s the limit with this team,” andthat they proved they can play with anyone in their division.
“This team’s not a joke anymore,” Fallon said. “The joke is over. My kids come to play every week, they come to practice every day. They’ve done everything that I’ve asked them to do. If they continue to do that, we’re going to be a handful every week no matter who we play.”
Slyvester Wright threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns in defeat.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Anthony (2-1) | 0 |
7 |
0 |
8 |
15
|
| Lincoln (3-0) | 0 |
6 |
16 |
0 |
22
|
| L: Tyron Stevens, 6 run (pass failed) | |||||
| SA: Craig Davilla, 14 pass from Slyvester Wright (Davilla kick) | |||||
| L: Lamar McKnight, 9 run (Stevens run) | |||||
| L: Stevens, 5 run (Deshawn Goodwin run) | |||||
| SA: Davilla, 38 pass from Wright (Josh Ford pass from Wright) | |||||