STANFORD—They call the stadium at Lincoln Co. High School “Death Valley.”

And for good reason. Over the years, many visiting teams have been laid to rest at the hands of the Patriots.

Friday night, it was the South Laurel Cardinals who played undertaker, scoring on their first four possession en route to a 58-20 victory over the winless Patriots.

The win not only snapped South Laurel’s three-game losing streak, but also gave them a much-needed district win.

“Hopefully this puts us in the play-offs,” coach Jason Chappell said. “I was pleased with the way we played tonight. Any time you get a win is good, but this one was especially good, because it snapped our losing streak.”

Steven Quillen had a big night for South Laurel (3-3, 1-2), as he rushed for three touchdowns, including a 90-yard kick-off return that opened the game.

Before the Patriots could recover, South struck again, this time on a 28-yard run by Quillen to give the Cardinals a 14-0 lead.

Ricky Bowling had another productive night for the Cardinals, as he was 13-of-18 for 219 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 122 for his career. Bowling left the game with 5:51 remaining, and was replaced by Ty Cobb.

“We needed to give some other players some much-needed playing time,” Chappell said. Cobb, seeing his first varsity action, did lead the Cardinals on two scoring drives, a 30 yard field goal by Justin Lewis, and a four-yard TD run by Tyler Vaughn.

Special teams played a huge role in this win, as the Cards recovered two fumbled punts (both leading to scores), had one interception and two fumble recoveries.

“We stressed special teams play all week,” Chappell said. “I was very pleased with their performance tonight.”

Leading 14-0, South Laurel’s Vaughn recovered a Lincoln Co. fumble on the Patriots’ 45. Two plays later, Vaughn took the hand-off from Bowling, cut right, and raced 45 yards to the end zone. Justin Lewis’ point after upped the lead to 21-0.

The Cards would score on their next possession when Quillen capped off a 7-play, 68-yard drive with a nine yard scamper. The point after failed, leaving South with a 27-0 lead.

Lincoln Co. (0-6, 0-3) got on the scoreboard with 7:56 remaining in the half when Julian Calhoun broke a couple of tackles on his way to a 26 yard score. Michael Huffman’s point after was good to make the score 27-7.

South Laurel answered right back, though they went about it the hard way, having a 52-yard pass to Jake Cobb for a score called back due to the penalty. The Cards were flagged three times during this drive, yet still were able to score when Bowling scrambled, then fouled Cobb for a 56-yard score. Lewis’ PAT made it 34-7 with 6:29 left in the half.

Another Lincoln Co. fumble, this time recovered by Cody Shepherd, gave the Cards the ball on the Patriot 34 with 6:07 left. Four plays later, Bowling found Blake Fields, who bulled his way into the end zone from 24 yards out to give his team a 41-7 lead. That’s how the half would end.

Bowling and Fields hooked up again with 6:55 left in the third quarter, this time for 19 yards, to give South Laurel a 48-7 lead.

Ty Cobb, taking over for Bowling, moved the Cards to the 19 before he was sacked by Sklyer Gilbert and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Rob Conatser on the Patriots’ 37.

The Patriots then scored when Trey Edwards ran it in from seven yards out to cut the lead to 48-14 with 2:27 left in the third.

South’s next drive stalled, and Bowling punted the ball away with .21 seconds left. But the Lincoln Co. player fumbled the ball, and Fields was there to recover it. This led to a 30-yard field goal by Lewis to make it 51-14.

Lincoln’s next drive was stopped by a Jake Cobb interception with 6:29 remaining, but South’s drive also stalled. Bowling again punted, and again it was fumbled, giving the Cards the ball on the 25. Eight plays later, Vaughn raced in from four yards out to make it 58-14.

Lincoln would add an Edwards five yard run with .02 seconds remaining to make the final 58-20.

The Cards step out of district play this Friday night when they host Knox Central.



South Laurel 58, Lincoln Co. 20

South Laurel 27 14 7 10—58

Lincoln Co. 0 7 7 6—20

SL—Quillen, 90 kick-off return (Lewis kick); SL—Quillen, 28 run (Lewis kick); SL—Vaughn, 45 run (Lewis kick); SL—Quillen, 9 run (pass failed); LC—Calhoun, 26 run (Huffman kick)); SL—Bowling, 56 pass to Cobb (Lewis kick); SL—Bowling, 24 pass to Fields (Lewis kick)); SL—Bowling, 19 pass to Fields (Lewis kick); LC—Edwards, seven run (Huffman kick); SL—Lewis, 30 FG; SL—Vaughn, four run (Lewis kick); LC—Edwards, five run.