Spartans beat fatigue, Knights

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By BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln East vowed to not show it was tired.

Truth is, though, the Spartans kind of were.

Still, they came up with enough key defensive plays late to hold on for a 10-7 season-opening victory over rival Lincoln Southeast on Friday night before 4,606 fans at Seacrest Field.

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Lincoln Southeast senior Max Virus runs with the ball Friday at Seacrest Field. (Heidi Hoffman)

“You’ve got to keep showing up,” East senior lineman Graham Thurber said. “You can’t show ’em you’re tired. When you put pressure on them, good things turn up.”

Graham certainly put the pressure on Southeast on the Knights’ second-to-final drive.

After Southeast had driven to the East 19-yard line with under 4 minutes remaining, Thurber, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound defensive end, came up with three consecutive tackles for loss. Two were sacks, the second knocking Southeast back to its 35 after an intentional grounding penalty.

The Knights didn’t convert on fourth and long, but forced a three-and-out and got the ball back with 1:04 remaining … on its own 13-yard line with no timeouts.

Senior quarterback Griffin DePriest quickly got Southeast near midfield with completions of 19 and 16 yards.

With 32 seconds remaining, and Southeast at the East 41-yard line on third-and-10, DePriest hit Eric Jackson near the first-down marker. But East’s Justin Burns came up with a crucial stop — not only stuffing Jackson two yards short of a first down but also preventing him from getting out of bounds.

“Huge play,” East coach John Gingery said. “Huge play.”

The clock kept running, and Southeast scrambled to get one final snap off. DePriest’s desperation pass landed harmlessly in the end zone with no Southeast players in sight.

“We had some chances there at the end. We just didn’t make plays,” said John Larsen, who lost his head coaching debut at Southeast. “The game’s in our hands, and we don’t take advantage of it. That’s what’s disappointing.”

Neither team was impressive offensively. East scored on Harry Meginnis’ 8-yard touchdown run in the second quarter but had only 190 yards of total offense.

“We were on our heels the whole second half. We got tired,” Gingery said. “It was killing us. Our kids up front were playing both ways, and it showed.”

Southeast had just 166 total yards. DePriest’s fade pass to Max Virus from 15 yards on fourth-and-short was the Knights’ only touchdown, that in the third quarter after a 28-yard field goal by East’s Burns.

“I thought our kids really competed well,” Larsen said. “We didn’t do anything on offense the first half. Our defense played unbelievable, kept us in the game.”

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.