Knights rushing attack buries Lincoln High

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BY KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star

Fans who used to call the Lincoln Southeast offense “Ground Chuck” for the power-running game made famous under former coach Chuck Mizerski will have to come up with a new moniker for the Knights’ running game under second-year coach John Larsen.

Southeast rolled to a 38-12 victory against Lincoln High on Friday before 3,550 fans at Seacrest Field with an impressive ground game and a stingy defense.

The Knights, who didn’t win a game last year until the season finale, rushed for almost 300 yards behind the efforts of a strong offensive line and the breakaway speed of Travis Vensky, Taylor Price and quarterback Darrius Vick.

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Travis Vensky (13) of Lincoln Southeast runs the ball as Matt Robertson (93) of Lincoln High gives chase Friday night in the Knights' win. (Michael Paulsen)

“We had our moments and we were in the game for a long time, but that running game sets the tempo and they did enough things to keep us away,” said Lincoln High coach Mike Fultz.

Defensively, the Knights were just as formidable, holding Lincoln High to minus 12 yards rushing in the second quarter and contributing to four Lincoln High turnovers that led to three Southeast scores in the first half. Southeast scored its first touchdown after Tyler Youngquist blocked a punt and the Knights took over at the Links’ 30-yard line.

Vick hit Cornell Leffler on a 17-yard pass and connected with Connor Smith on an 11-yard toss to set up a short touchdown run by Price.

“Vick did a lot of good things for us tonight,” Larsen said. As an example, Vick changed the play at the line of scrimmage to set up the pass to Leffler on the first scoring drive.

Lincoln High countered with an impressive 11-play, 66-yard drive that ended when Dylan Flinn hit Vincent Small on a 9-yard touchdown pass. Flinn completed three passes for 42 yards on the march.

Jake Cotton recovered a Lincoln High fumble at the end of the first quarter and, 10 plays later,  Price scored from the 3-yard line to pad the lead to 14-6.

An interception by Ben Gantz started an 11-play scoring drive for the Knights late in the second quarter. Vensky carried eight times for 63 yards on the 66-yard drive.

“Vensky doesn’t have great speed, but he has the quickness and he’s small enough (5-foot-8, 162 pounds) to get lost in the shuffle of our offensive line,” Larsen said.

Lincoln High scored in the third quarter when R.J. Richardson picked up a wild pitch from Vick and sped 65-yards to cut the Southeast lead to 24-12. But the Knights scored on a 12-yard pass from Vick to Cotton and tallied on a 39-yard touchdown run by Zach Taylor early in the fourth quarter.

“Our offensive line made us feel we could do a lot offensively,” Larsen said. “If we don’t make the mistake on the pitch play, we did a great job almost all night long. I think the young kids stepped up and our veterans played well.”

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.