Lincoln East coach John Gingery calls Justin Burns “a jack of all trades.’’

He certainly wouldn’t trade the 5-foot-9 senior, especially after Burns played a critical role in the Spartans’ 14-7 victory against Class A No. 10 North Platte before an estimated 2,000 spectators at Beechner Complex on Friday. Both teams are now 2-1.

Burns helped break a 7-7 tie in the third quarter by throwing a 40-yard I-back pass to junior wide receiver Drew Sankey. Three plays later, senior I-back Harry Meginnis capped the 88-yard, seven-play drive with a 14-yard touchdown run around left end with 6:37 left in the period.

Meginnis finished with a game-high 109 yards on 17 carries. He also contributed a huge hustle play with just more than two minutes left in the game, scrambling to recover a mishandled shotgun snap to Spartan quarterback Scott Sunderman on the East 1-yard line.

Burns also helped protect the touchdown margin with a one-handed, finger-tip interception off a tipped pass at the Spartan 8 with 2:22 remaining. That was one of four interceptions by the Spartans, who forced five North Platte turnovers.

“We try to have him do as much as he can because he’s so athletic,” Gingery said of Burns, who also kicked both East extra points and handles punting duties. “The thing you worry about is wearing him out since he’s on the field so much.’’

Burns’ I-back pass was set up by Meginnis’ success running around the end. Meginnis rushed for 32 yards in the third-quarter scoring drive.

“That sucked in all of their (North Platte’s) players, we had Sankey deep and it‘s easy to find him  because he’s such a big target,” Burns said of Sankey, a 6-5 junior. Sankey later caught an 11-yard pass in the drive to set up Meginnis’ TD run.

“That play (the I-back pass to Sankey) gave us a lot of momentum.’’

And Burns’ interception stifled momentum for North Platte. “Their receiver tipped it up and I was able to get control of it on my fingertips,’’ Burns said. “I’ve never had one like that before.”

East and North Platte exchanged fumbles leading up to the Spartans’ first TD — a 35-yard scoring pass from Sunderman to Sam Witherby with two seconds left in the first quarter.

The Spartans had a first-and-goal at the North Platte 2 when the Bulldogs’ Cody Haney recovered a fumbled East handoff at the 5. On the next play, North Platte’s Joel Woodhead broke two tackles, but had a 19-yard gain erased when the ball came loose while he was fighting for yardage and East’s Michael Lau smothered it.

Sunderman and Witherby hooked up on the next play.

North Platte answered, however, midway through the second quarter. North Platte’s Corey Serrano raced 74 yards with a punt return, getting knocked out of bounds at the 1 by Burns, the punter. Quarterback Andrew Nielsen then sneaked it into the end zone to tie the game.

East stopped a potential Bulldog scoring threat in the first quarter with an interception by Meginnis after North Platte had gotten to the Spartan 20.

Tyson Clark and Zachary Smith came up with the other interceptions for East.

“You won’t win many games like this with five turnovers,’’ said North Platte coach Todd Rice, whose team rushed for 160 yards, well below its average of nearly 300 in the first two games.

“Their defense was tough to run against. Their interior linemen are aggressive and their linebackers really pursue well.”

Even after Burns’ fourth-quarter interception, North Platte had one more scoring opportunity after a 15-yard punt return by Serrano put the Bulldogs at the East 23 with 1:47 left. Two North Platte penalties, however, kept the Bulldogs at bay,  with the threat finally thwarted with an incomplete pass on fourth down from the 24 with 20.6 seconds left.

“We came up big on defense when we had to,’’ Gingery said. “We had some nice picks (interceptions) and nice stops when we needed them. The kids showed a lot of heart on defense.”

Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.