Visit from W. Yellowstone marks football season home opener

After a tiring six-hour bus ride from West Yellowstone, the visiting Wolverines opened the 2018 football season for Lincoln Lynx fans with an impressive pair of gridiron games.

First up for West was the junior high squad who swarmed out on the field for warm-ups 25 players strong and intimidating in size. The six young men of the Lincoln junior high team, which included one sixth grader and only one eighth grader, looked with big eyes at the invading army in red and white uniforms.

The overwhelming imbalance of the sides was enough to intimidate the most seasoned players and it was almost half-time until the Lynx finally got over the shock and got on the scoreboard, 7-42.

Once the ice was broken, Lincoln began to rock and roll. Final score: 34 - 54, a win for West Yellowstone, but a tally that was "All heart from the junior high Lynx" according to Coach Kara Dempster.

The successful combo of passes and handoffs between Hayden Dempster and his brother Wesson resulted in many of the Lynx scores. When the Wolverine coverage of the Dempster brothers got too intense, Coach Pete Dempster tapped Logan Joyce for ball carrying duties and he sneaked across the goal once or twice.

Big center Trevor Tolan had a great game and showed good ball handling skills for a player fairly new to the game. Noah Barnett and Jeremiah Rios had several solid tackles and crucial goal-line stops that prevented Wolverine scores.

Logan Joyce, who suffered a bloody nose in the first quarter that christened his uniform with battle scars, said "I'm proud to be the one who shed the first blood of the season!"

Joyce also had the only sack of the game, living up to his nickname: Rhino.

The ranks of the junior high team will increase for the next game, away against the Sheridan combine on Sept. 8th, when two more Lynx players become eligible.