Noah Smith’s big day helps Lincoln County past the Meadows

The Lincoln County football team’s bus is equipped with an Xbox and a first-class stereo system.

Lynx running back Noah Smith expected to make good use of both on what should be a enjoyable four-hour ride home after a decisive victory on Friday night.

“(We’ll listen to) rap,” Smith said with a smile. “Probably Lil Uzi Vert.”

Lincoln County cruised to a 54-0 road win over The Meadows behind Smith’s 160 rushing yards and two rushing scores. The shifty junior was too fast and strong for Mustangs defenders, and did most of his damage in the first half on two long scoring runs.

“We’ve been starting a little slow in our past games. The goal for this was to come out, right off the bat … go as hard as we could,” Smith said. “After we got those first couple touchdowns, you could tell that (The Meadows) was starting to wear out.”

Fellow running back Landen Smith tacked on 61 rushing yards and three scores on just six carries, and Lincoln County averaged more than 10 yards per run and rushed for six touchdowns.

“Our main goal was to get a quick start. No points on defense. Get a couple turnovers. Things like that,” Lincoln County coach Raymond Wadsworth said. “The kids, they did everything we asked.”

The Lynx (3-2, 2-0 Class 2A Southern League) scored on each of their first seven offensive possessions and ignited running time with their fifth score of the game late in the second quarter.

Both Smiths gained gobs of yards every time they touched the ball, and quarterback Mason Thornock managed the offense and threw a touchdown to Elijah Harr on his first pass of the game.

The defense did it’s part, too, by overwhelming The Meadows’ (1-3, 1-1) smaller offensive line and negating its double-wing offense. Wadsworth said the Lynx have ran the double-wing in the past and were well equipped to stop it.

“They run it a little bit differently than we do, but we knew exactly how to defend it,” he said. “(Our defense) just worked really well for us.”

Noah Smith said Friday night’s game was a statement victory and added that “the teams are going to have to start looking at us as a real opponent now” despite the Lynx’s 1-2 start.

“The first couple games, the scores were real close,” he said. “Not this one.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.