3 observations: Lincoln East does just enough to get past Southwest in city matchup
Lincoln East kept Lincoln Southwest winless Thursday night, scoring on a fourth-and-goal with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left to seal a 21-10 win over the Silver Hawks at Seacrest Field.
East did just enough
There will not be any offensive instructional videos made from Thursday's game, but the Spartans were able to do enough to win for the third straight week.
East (3-1) was penalized eight times for 88 yards, had three errant snaps in the first quarter, and missed a pair of field goals. But the Spartans also got three touchdown passes from Ryan Manning and 111 rushing yards from Kyle Campbell, the son of East boys basketball coach Jeff Campbell.
The Spartans forced three turnovers and held a struggling Southwest offense to 275 total yards.
"Too many mistakes. We can get better. We were down in the red zone a ton, and we couldn't put points on the board with a lot of plays. We can't have that, especially with some of the people we're playing coming up. We have to put points on the board," East coach John Gingery said. "Fortunately we did what we had to do and made some big plays on defense, and got the ball at the end."
Sweet victory
The win was surely sweet for Manning, who transferred from Southwest to East in the offseason and has found himself as East's starting quarterback.
The junior, after throwing for 305 yards last week, wasn't as sharp Thursday. But he still finished 12-for-24 for 143 yards and three scores.
His first touchdown, an 18-yarder to Raheem Popoola, gave East a 7-3 lead with 5:13 left in the second quarter.
Manning's third touchdown, a 7-yarder to Mikhale Ford on a 4th-and-goal with 2:26 left, proved to be the final margin and shut the door on any potential Southwest comeback.
Campbell helped ice the game too, carrying the ball nine times for 39 yards in the final quarter to help East burn clock.
Southwest still searching
Thursday's loss dropped Southwest to 0-4 for just the third time since the school opened in 2002, and the first since the COVID season of 2020.
A sputtering offense is largely to blame. The Silver Hawks on Thursday scored their first offensive touchdown of the season when sophomore quarterback Brockston Teply connected with senior Jackson Crawford for an 81-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter.
A 51-yard fly sweep from Luke Mitchell set Southwest up inside the East 20 on the opening drive of the game, but the Silver Hawks could manage only a field goal.
Of Southwest's 275 total yards, 132 came on two plays. The Silver Hawks had four first downs before picking up six in the fourth quarter, and three on their desperation final drive.
Teply finished 12-for-25 for 222 yards, one touchdown and an interception. The Silver Hawks also lost a fumble inside the East 20 and threw another interception that set East up inside the Southwest 20 and eventually led to Manning's touchdown pass to Colton Tucker that made it 14-3.
Help could be on the way.
Nebraska receiver commit Jackson Carpenter saw his first action Thursday since the first game of the season.
The 6-foot-2 senior has been limited by a leg injury suffered earlier in the year. And Thursday, he didn't see the field until Southwest's final drive. Carpenter caught a 15-yard pass to open the drive for his first reception of the season, and later drew a pass interference penalty.
"We've had trouble sustaining drives. We'll get a couple first downs, then we'll stall out," Southwest coach Grant Traynowicz said. "So getting more big plays, but also being more consistent — not getting into second and long, third and long, because it's really tough to function that way."
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Assistant sports editor/high schools
