Lincoln Stunned by Late Little River Touchdown

LINCOLN-Jaren Garrison's 71-yard touchdown pass to Logan Renken with 18 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter gave Little River a shocking 42-40 victory over Lincoln Thursday evening in the first round of the 8-Man Division l Football Playoffs. 

Lincoln, hosting its first postseason contest since 2010 stopped Little River on its first possession and then drove 48 yards in six plays as Quarterback Jeremiah Miller found Ben Bell wide open for a 36-yard touchdown pass for an early 8-0 lead after the successful two-point conversion.  The Redskins however responded with a four-play 35-yard drive of their own which culminated in a one-yard run by Logan Schubert, tying the score 8-8 after the two-point conversion was good.

The Leopards were back in the lead 16-8 at the end of the first period when Jeremiah Miller connected with Xavier Miller for a 37-yard touchdown pass and the successful two-point try.  Another score between the Miller brothers, this time from 34 yards out early in the second stanza swelled Lincoln's lead to 24-8 and for a while it looked like Lincoln was going to run the perennial state title contender out of the stadium.

Little River however clawed back to within 24-22 by halftime on a pair of touchdowns that included a 15-yard run by Renken and a five-yard scamper by Garrison.

Lincoln found the end zone again on its first drive of the second half when Jeremiah Miller found Bell for a score from 10 yards out to make the score 32-22.  The Redskins responded one more time when Renken ran in from one yard out and after three quarters, the Leopards held a slim four point margin at 32-28.

Lincoln once again looked poised to put the game away early in the fourth quarter when Jeremiah Miller threw his fifth touchdown pass of the night, the third one to Bell for 27 yards and the two-point conversion made the score 40-28.  After stopping Little River on downs on its next possession, the Leopards were set up on the Little River 21-yard line and ready to close in on their first-ever playoff win when disaster struck. Miller's pass on the first play of the drive was intercepted by Kal El Robinson and returned to midfield.

Eight plays and 42 yards later, Renken scored his third rushing touchdown of the evening from one yard out and the two-point try pulled Little River to within 40-36 with 5:24 remaining.  Lincoln then put together another long drive but Miller was intercepted again, this time by Schubert on the 12-yard line with under two minutes remaining.  

After a penalty and a sack pushed Little River back to its own nine-yard line, the Redskins took a time out and on the next play, Garrison who alternated Quarterback duties with Renken, found Renken in stride for what proved to be the winning touchdown with 18 seconds remaining.  The two-point conversion failed, but Little River had its first lead of the game before a shell shocked Lincoln crowd.

Still, the Leopards were gifted one more chance when Little River was hit with a facemask penalty on the ensuing kickoff.  Miller found Bell for seven yards and Bell got out of bounds with 5.5 seconds left but Miller was sacked on the very next play trying to set up for one last pass and the game came to an end.

Lincoln (6-3) outgained Little River 348-320 and Jeremiah Miller had a monster night passing, completing 19 of 30 pass attempts for 271 yards and five touchdowns along with the two late interceptions.  Bell caught 10 passes for 149 yards and three scores while Xavier Miller had eight receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns.  Garrison led Little River (7-2) with 80 yards on 17 carries and a rushing touchdown while going two for two passing for 105 yards and the winning touchdown pass while Renken rushed for 62 yards and three touchdowns and added the fourth touchdown on the winning pass.

With the victory, Little River will travel to Howard, Kansas to take on West Elk in the second round on Friday, November 8.  West Elk defeated Northern Heights 48- Thursday evening to improve to 9-0 on the season.  Lincoln's season concludes in the first round of the playoffs for the third time in the last five years.