SAN JOSE — The Lincoln ground game was pretty much unstoppable Thursday night in a 35-25 win over Branham.
The Lions ran the ball at will. Star running back Kyan Phillips had another in a string of standout games with 112 yards on 20 carries and one touchdown. And with Branham’s defensive attention often focused on Phillips, Jonathan Medina had a career game with 17 carries for 179 yards and two touchdowns.
“They were really concentrating on stopping Phillips,” Lincoln coach Kevin Collins said. “He’s our guy. Medina’s good, too. He ran really hard.”
Add in the 26 yards on six carries and a TD by Lucas Martiinez and Lincoln’s three running backs combined for 317 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
Lincoln is now 6-0 after winning its Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division opener against a Branham team also considered a contender for the division title. The Lions are averaging 42 points per game.
“It’s guys who have played together the last three years,” Collins said. “Most of the kids who start for us are three-year starters. They’re kids who took it on the chin as freshmen, and sophomores and juniors. We didn’t win a league game the last two years but we stayed up because I thought we could be competitive.”
Lincoln took the opening kickoff and went 82 yards in 14 plays, all on the ground, with Phillips scoring his 11th touchdown of the season on a 2-yard run.
Branham went three-and-out and shanked a short punt which Michael Whitelaw caught on the dead run and returned 28 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead just minutes into the game.
Branham settled down by getting the ball to running back Michael Murphy who had a terrific game. Murphy finished with 126 yards rushing on 17 carries, caught eight passes for 81 yards and returned the second-half kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown, putting the Bruins ahead 17-14.
“He’s a game-changer,” Branham coach Tommy McMahon said. “We try to find ways to get the ball in his hands in space. He’s got that fiery attitude that he’ll run somebody over or run right past you. He’s a do-it-all back, one of the most complete backs I’ve ever coached.”
After Murphy’s kick-return touchdown, Phillips duplicated that feat on the ensuing kickoff, taking it back all the way, but a penalty brought the ball back to the Lincoln 36, where the Lions proceeded to embark on a 64-yard, 10-ply drive that concluded on a 6-yard scoring run by Martinez.
Backed up on the 10 on first-and-20, Branham quarterback Andrew Ho’s shovel pass was tipped and intercepted by Lincoln defensive lineman Omri Phillips (no relation to Kyan). Two plays later Medina’s 4-yard TD run put Lincoln up 28-17.
Branham (4-2, 0-1) then went on a 91-yard, 16-play drive with Murphy scoring on a 4-yard run. Ho ran for a two-point conversion, cutting Lincoln’s lead to 28-25.
But there was no stopping the Lincoln ground attack. Medina’s 67-yard run up the middle put the game away for the Lions.
Ho finished 20 of 34 passing for 241 yards.
“He’s really starting to get the playbook,” McMahon said. “He’s got things to work on, for sure, but as a sophomore, people forget that. He’s able to shoulder the load and put the ball in the right people’s hands.”