Injuries cripple Lynx football home opener

Coming off a convincing win against Gardner last Saturday, the young Lincoln Lynx football men felt confident going into their Thursday, Sept. 8 match up against the Great Falls Central High junior varsity.

Even though there were only six eligible Lincoln players for this game, our freshmen and sophomore gridiron squad (with one junior) was fired up for the contest.

The Lincoln Lynx are required by the MHSA to play a JV schedule this year because the Lynx had to cancel some games last fall when there was not enough players to regularly field a team. Head coach Rick Freeland and his assistant Shane Brown found some other schools in our region who would agree to field a JV team. The Great Falls Central Mustangs have been a perennial Class B strong contender for many years but declining attendance at their school had them recently fall down into Class C. Initially, the Mustangs agreed to field a JV squad of lower classmen for the Lincoln contest, but as nine beefy seniors and juniors piled off the bus, along with five other players, dark clouds appeared on the horizon.

It looked like a mis-match from the beginning. The six Great Falls seniors averaged five inches taller and 25 pounds heavier than the freshmen and sophomore Lynx players. But, despite the disparity, Andrew Brown's broken field running scored three times for Lincoln assisted by some nice yardage gained by Teegan Tybo.

Half way into the first quarter, Teegan's younger brother, Kayden, was injured when two heavy Mustang players piled on to bring him down and end that Lynx drive. The injury to Kayden resulted in his trip to the hospital and left only five Lynx men on the field. A few downs later, Andrew Brown suffered a broken collar bone right before half time. He had thought it was just a "stinger" and didn't want to let his team down so he played for seven more plays before he felt the collar bone separate. Now, with only four Lynx players eligible left to play, the game was called off.

The scoreboard lit up the final numbers: Lincoln 19; Great Falls 45.

A lot of questions remain and the future of the 2022 season for the Lynx remains in doubt. However, there is no doubt the Lincoln fans are proud of their athletes and coaches, their hard work, dedication and courage.