Tokay's upset bid falls short against explosive Lincoln offense

Oct. 15—When Tokay and Lincoln gathered to shake hands following Friday's game at Hubbard Field, the players and coaches lingered together for a while, talking and patting each other on the back in mutual respect.

It was hard to have any other reaction to the battle that had just taken place on the football field, a see-saw donnybrook full of hard hits, unexpected turns, and gut-check gambles that saw Lincoln come out on top with a 49-44 victory.

For Tokay, the loss left players emotional after having the biggest program win in years yanked out from under them in the final minute.

"Yeah, that' just speaks volumes about this group. They never quit, they never give up, and they showed that. I think we just ran out of time, really," said Tokay coach Collin Rhoads. "I dunno, I'm just at a loss for words. A minute left, I'm thinking, hey, just get a stop, and we can get out of here and re-write some history books, but... I don't know what to say."

After Tokay's methodical offense stayed within one or two scores of Lincoln's explosive scoring machine for the duration of the game, an opportunity presented itself with about 2 minutes to go when Lincoln running back Mason Diguillo took a hit at the 1-yard line and fumbled the ball through the end zone for a Tokay touchback.

Tokay marched 80 yards in eight plays and just over a minute, with a 20-yard Zack Filippini touchdown pass to Marcelino Ruiz on a streak to the end zone putting the Tigers on the verge of tying the game.

But the Tigers weren't content with a tie.

"I just left it up to the guys, like what are we going to do down there, are we going to kick the field goal, or are we going to go win this? And they were like, let's win this. We called one of our better plays and Crosby walked in. We bet on our guys, and we just ran out of time."

Barrett Crosby took the pitch from Filippini, cut inside a defender who was blocked by teammate Jeremiah Rodriguez, and waltzed into the end zone untouched, setting off a raucous celebration.

A minute late, the air was taken out of the stadium. With the kickoff out of bounds, Lincoln started its possession at the 40-yard line, and quarterback Kenyon Nelson found receiver Jathyn Long streaking behind the defense for a 60-yard touchdown, Nelson's fourth touchdown pass of the night.

Lincoln's 2-point attempt went awry, with Nelson throwing away under pressure, but the damage was done. Tokay's offense wasn't able to repeat its previous march down the field, and a final Filippini pass was picked off by Lincoln's Andre Griffin at midfield to seal the game for the Trojans.

Nelson finished with 20-of-26 passing for 384 yards, and ran for 70 yards and another two scores on 10 carries. Long finished with 6 catches for 185 yards and one touchdowns, and Damien Boozer caught 11 passes for 159 yards and the other three touchdown receptions.

Despite those numbers, Lincoln was frustrated on the ground for most of the game.

"We were getting to the quarterback, we were stopping their running game, we would get them in bad situations, and then they would just beat us over the top. I think everyone here saw that," Rhoads said. "We just didn't help ourselves out in the secondary. D-line was battling, linebackers were flying, going sideline to sideline, and they found one little part of our defense that's not our strength, and they exploited that.

"But I think we should be proud of our effort, and our energy tonight. That's something that these kids can control, and they brought it tonight. Listen, they should not be ashamed, they should not hang their heads, we really showed that we belong to the best of the them."

It's been a while since Tokay could stake that claim in the TCAL, but that may be changing, with the Tigers (4-4, 1-2 TCAL) taking Lincoln and Tracy down to the wire, and beating up on West in the league opener.

"From the frosh-soph team to the JV team to these guys, we're trying to just preach hard work and grit, and a no-quit attitude, and it's starting to show in our play," Rhoads said. "I think we're getting stronger each and every week."

Filippini's passing game came on strong in the second half after Tokay relied more on the run in the first half. He finished with 128 passing yards and two touchdowns on 9-of-15 passing, and ran the ball 13 times for 100 yards and another score. He also ran in a 2-point conversion earlier in the game that cut Lincoln's lead to 43-36 after a Crosby touchdown.

"Everybody's starting to play together," said Crosby, who finished with 19 carries for 77 yards and the aforementioned touchdown. "I think everybody realizes we're a lot better than we have been, it just took a little bit too long for us to put it together."

There were signs from the start that these two teams were in for a wild ride. Lincoln's coughed up a fumble on its first drive, and when Lincoln scored first on a Nelson pass to Boozer, Tokay responded with a relentless drive to tie the game on a Filippini shovel pass to Andru Melgoza, who took it three yards for the score around the end.

Lincoln looked to put things away early on, with a demoralizing Nelson scramble for a 28-yard touchdown after he appeared to be caught in the backfield, then a Tokay score called back for a penalty and an interception a few plays later, resulting in another Nelson touchdown pass to Boozer to make it 21-7.

But where a lot of teams may have folded, Tokay fought back, marching down the field for a 5-yard Marcus Castro touchdown run.

After another Nelson touchdown to Boozer off a Tokay turnover, the Trojans held a 29-14 halftime lead.

The second half was back and forth like a pendulum — Tokay led off with a 9-yard Filippini run, Lincoln responded with a 2-yard Nelson run, Tokay's Ruiz picked off a Nelson pass to set up a 34-yard Isaac Lopez touchdown run, Mason Diguillo scored for Lincoln on a 21-yard run, and Crosby scored his 9-yard touchdown run, with Filippini running in the 2-point conversion to bring Tokay within a score at 43-36.

"I think everything really worked," Crosby said. "I think we executed really well in the second half, it's just in the first half we were a little bit sloppy."

It doesn't get any easier for Tokay — an emotional hangover will do no good when undefeated St. Mary's comes to town next week, fresh off a 63-33 win over Tracy to take sole possession of first place in the league at 8-0, 3-0 TCAL. After that, the Tigers finish the regular season with a rivalry game against Lodi at the Grape Bowl.

Lincoln (5-3, 2-1) gets a home game against West next week before finishing up at St. Mary's.