Class 5A No. 8 Lincoln High brings stingy defense to town
Ware County has had to wait two weeks to rid itself of a bad taste from a 43-42 overtime loss to visiting Class 6A sixth-ranked Bartram Trail of Florida.
The loss dropped the Gators (2-2) to ninth in the Class 4A poll. The road doesn’t get any easier for head coach Jason Strickland’s squad with unbeaten Florida Class 5A Lincoln of Tallahassee (3-0), ranked eighth in both the FHSA Top 10 and Max-Preps poll, coming to town Friday night for homecoming.
“We’re facing a really good team,” said Strickland. “They’ve (Trojans) got a lot of players with offers from all over. We’re going to have our hands full.”
The meeting is the first-ever between the two schools. Lincoln has played several south Georgia teams over the years taking on Valdosta, Lowndes and Colquitt. The Trojans are 58-1 against the trio.
Lincoln enters the contest off a bye like the Gators. The Trojans posted a 49-0 victory in their last outing that followed 35-7 and 29-7 victories.
Offensively, Lincoln has an explosive unit (37.7 points per game) with a dual-threat quarterback and explosive, but diminutive running back operating behind a huge offensive line in the spread scheme.
“We’re going to see four-wide with some tight end formations,” said Strickland. “They (Trojans) are going to throw quick screens on the perimeter and take occasional shots down the field with an elite quarterback (senior Christian Sims, 6-0, 180 lbs.).
“The running back (junior Tadarius Huggins, 5-7, 180) is pretty electric. He’s small in stature, but really thick. They have a couple of gigantic tackles (junior Jelani Wilmer-Cotton, 6-5, 330 and sophomore Perry Sam, 6-foot, 330).”
Senior lineman Christopher Chamale-Roberts (6-1, 310) is a third member of the 300-lb.
club.
Sims has passed for 344 yards and six touchdowns while rushing for 142 yards and two scores. Huggins has a team-high 203 yards averaging 9.2 yards per carry and three touchdowns.
Senior Mekhi Maddox (6foot, 165) leads the team with 11 receptions. His 136 yards and two touchdowns are second to junior Kabran Paul (5-9, 155), who 166 yards (27.7 per catch) and three touchdowns.
“They’re (Trojans) are not RPO (run/pass option) as much as Bartram Trail,” Strickland said. “The big thing for us is to keep their quarterback cont ained. We’ve got to limit the damage with their quick passing game and make tackles in space. We’ve also got to create turnovers.”
Lincoln’s stingy defense is allowing just 4.7 points per game having surrendered only two scores. Five players have registered double-digit tackles while 12 have recorded tackles for loss.
“They (Trojans) run everything,” said Strickland. “They are a pressure defense who likes to blitz and attack. It’s going to be tough to ID who is coming and from where.”
Senior middle linebacker Chauncey Warren (6-foot, 210) leads the team with 16 tackles including three TFLs. Classmate and fellow linebacker Gavin James (6-foot, 200) has 15 tackles, two quarterback sacks and a team-high six TFLs.
Senior defensive end Quinn Gray, Jr. (6-3, 215) and defensive tackle Ashton Chaney (5-10, 220) anchor the front. Gray has 11 tackles, two quarterback sacks and two tackles for loss. Chaney has eight tackles and three tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
“One of our big keys is trying to handle the volume of things they do,” said Strickland. “They create a lot of negative plays, but we have to put a bad play behind us and focus on the next play. We’ve got to try and limit those exotic alignments with what we can do based on formations.
“We’ve got to be efficient. The guys have to understand a four-yard play is good. We’ve also got to protect the ball, which we’ve done a pretty good job of thus far, and not give them (Trojans) extra possessions.”
