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Lincoln skates by Gratz

Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News

| September 28, 2024

When the Railsplitters needed him, David Akpuru delivered. The speedy back had not one but two long td runs to help Lincoln slip by Simon Gratz 21-20 on a damp day. “My teammates put faith in me, my coaches put faith in me so I just produced” said Adpuru of his long runs.

The score wasn’t exactly indicative of the entire game. Most of the first have was spent with mistakes, turnovers and teams trading possessions on downs. Lincoln did put together a drive at the end of the first half, getting to the Gratz 2 but a sack and a pass play that came up just short ended any hopes of seeing either team score in the first half.

The second half, now, THAT was a different game from the onset. The Bulldogs received the kick and it did not take long for the fireworks to start. Hyneef Thomas hit De’Shawn Terrell in stride for a 48 yard td strike. The two pointer made it an 8-0 lead for Gratz. On the very next play Akpuru got his first td. Taking the handoff, it looked like he was going to go down. That didn’t happen. With shirt stretched behind him he broke free and was off to the races down the sideline for a 65 yard jaunt to the endzone. Lincoln didn’t get the point after and trailed 8-6.


Right back came the Dawgs. Starting at their own 35, Gratz moved the ball in chunks. Thomas busted off a 35 yard run before handing the ball to Tray Parson for the 7 yard scoring run. The point after didn’t work but the Dogs were up 14-6 with 5:29 left in the third quarter. Gratz struck again on their next series thanks to a mistake by the Lincoln qb on fourth down. He was supposed to punt the ball away but misunderstood a coaches instructions and threw an incomplete pass deep in Railsplitter territory. Parson got his second td from 7 yards out to put Gratz up 20-6 and it looked like they were on their way to a win.

But on the very next series Akpuru did it again. He busted through the middle of the line and dashed 53 yards to make it a 20-14 game. Then it was the Railsplitters turn to capitalize on a mistake. Gratz fumbled the ball away on their 17 yard line and with 9:08 left in the game Brian Scott hit Nymir Marable for the game tying score. The kick after was the game winning point.

Gratz had one more chance but mistakes and penalties plagued a 2 minute drill drive. “Coach Hakeem Cooper said of his team overcoming adversity and holding on “having a young team this year expectations don’t change. Lot of these guys expect things to be handed to them and we gotta keep that mentality that nobody is gonna just give us anything. It’s easy to give up, it’s harder to fight”. Lincoln will face Bartram next week while Gratz gets MLK.

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