ROUNDUP: Lincoln County pulls away from Agassi Prep

With 14 players taking their ACT exams at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by nearly a three-hour bus ride, Lincoln County football coach Rich Ottley wasn’t sure how his team would react Saturday night.

The Lynx came out sluggish, leading only 14-12 midway through the second quarter against Agassi Prep.

But Lincoln County stuck with its ground game, scored 46 unanswered points and wound up winning 60-12 in a Class 2A Southern League game at Faith Lutheran.

“I think we were a little frazzled because of that,” Ottley said of the early-morning tests.

The Lynx (6-3, 5-1) had six ball carriers combine for 369 yards rushing on only 28 carries.

Lincoln County got big ground games from Travis Sonnenberg (112 yards, one touchdown), Tyler Center (90 yards, one TD), Trent Tibbitts (81 yards, one TD) and Kade Lee (46 yards, three TDs).

Eric Rippetoe had 151 yards passing — including a 34-yard scoring strike to Logan Reifsnyder — and 35 rushing for Lincoln County.

“All the backs made good caries,” Ottley said. “And Rippetoe was exceptional on his accuracy.”

The win meant the Lynx stayed in the race for the South’s No. 1 seed for the 2A state playoffs. The Meadows and Needles are also 5-1 in league heading into the final week.

“That’ll be a big advantage,” Ottley said of possibly earning the top seed. “As spread out as this league is, it’d be a big advantage to play at home.”

Aerontay Shepherd carried six times for 56 yards, caught two passes for 14 yards and scored on a 90-yard kickoff return to lead Agassi Prep (1-6, 1-5).

The Stars began the game with only 16 active players, and suffered late injuries to starting running back DeVonn Porter and receiver Dimitri Amos, coach Colt Goodman said.

“It’s almost impossible,” Goodman said of playing with his team’s shortened depth. “The only reason we’ve played these last couple games is so we could hang on to our status as a 2A (team).”

Agassi Prep quarterback DeShawn Battle was 9 of 17 passing for 105 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. Amos caught three balls for 54 yards and a score.

Mountain View 28, Calvary Chapel 6 — At Mountain View, Raymond Velarde threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns Saturday to lead the Saints past Calvary Chapel.

The win moves Mountain View into sole possession of fourth place in the Class 2A Southern League and put a serious dent in Calvary Chapel’s playoff hopes. The Saints (3-6, 3-3) would automatically qualify for the postseason with a win over White Pine (2-6, 2-4) on Thursday.

Mountain View’s Cortland LeBoeuf rushed for 103 yards on eight carries, including a 69-yard touchdown run that made it 6-0 just 3 minutes, 19 seconds into the game. Teammate Tanner Peterson finished with seven receptions for 125 yards.

The Saints took a 12-0 lead when tight end Nathan Swingle ran over two Calvary Chapel defenders on the way to a 70-yard touchdown reception with 8:40 to go in the second quarter. Mountain View then went ahead 20-0 midway through the second when Peterson’s 46-yard reception set up a 10-yard scoring strike from Velarde to Karl Benjamin. Velarde ran in the two-point conversion.

Mountain View overcame two second-half fumbles before finally putting together an eight-play, 89-yard drive in the fourth quarter.

Velarde was 5 for 5 on the march, including completions of 25 yards to Justyn Anderson and 21 yards to Swingle, before Alex Watson capped it off with a 21-yard touchdown run with 4:21 remaining. Velarde hit Anderson for the two-point conversion and a 28-0 advantage.

The Lions (3-5, 2-4) struggled to generate much offense, gaining 60 total yards until they scored on a 72-yard hook-and-lateral play near the end of the game. Quarterback Cody Taylor hit Juliene Mejia for a 6-yard gain and Mejia pitched it back to Luke Bilbao, who ran the remaining 66 yards down the left sideline to make it 28-6 with 2:19 to play.

Justin Cox ended with 27 yards on six carries for Calvary Chapel. Taylor was 5 of 13 for 24 yards.