Football Preview: Lincoln Prep Lightning vs. Superior Panthers
The Lincoln Prep Lightning are taking a road trip to challenge the Superior Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Lincoln Prep's defense has only allowed 16.6 points per game this season, so Superior's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Lincoln Prep is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: Hayden, who was ranked first in their home state at the time (Lincoln Prep was ranked eighth). Lincoln Prep was outmatched by Hayden on the road and fell 57-14. The loss continues a trend for the Lightning in their matchups with the Lobos: they've now lost four in a row.
Despite the defeat, Lincoln Prep saw an underclassman step up: Connor Mewhinney picked up 124 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Mewhinney showed off some serious burst, cutting upfield on a catch for 55 yards.
Lincoln Prep wouldn't let Hayden keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. Lincoln Prep can thank Tanner Finlinson and Lincoln Carlson for forcing all of them.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Superior). They claimed a resounding 50-22 win over Fort Thomas on the road. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-6.
Antonio Lopez went supernova for Superior, rushing for 104 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries, while also throwing for 257 yards and three touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his passes. The dominant performance gave Lopez a new career-high in rushing yards. Andrew Blair was another key player, rushing for 111 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Superior was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 228 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Superior's defense and their five sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Adam Sandoval and Ryland Duarte, who racked up four sacks between them.
Lincoln Prep's loss ended a five-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 4-1. As for Superior, their victory bumped their record up to 2-3.
Lincoln Prep took a serious blow against Superior when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 66-24. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Blair, who rushed for 225 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries. Now that Lincoln Prep knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
