4 takeaways from Lincoln’s 36-34 league-title clinching win over Lakes
Lincoln High School is back on top of the 3A Pierce County League, wrapping up the league title with an 36-34 win over Lakes at Harry Lang Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Here’s what we learned from Lincoln’s win.
AFTER RUNNER-UP FINISH IN SPRING, LINCOLN BACK ON TOP OF 3A PCL
Lincoln High School’s players were motivated after the covid-shortened 2021 spring season. Coming off an appearance in the semifinal round of the 3A state tournament in 2019, Lincoln was humbled, losing to eventual league champion Spanaway Lake in week one, 34-7. Spanaway Lake went on to win the league title in the spring.
Lincoln’s players used that disappointment as motivation this fall, flipping the script and beating Spanaway Lake 41-14 on Sept. 23. Then on Saturday, Lincoln wrapped up the league title with its win over Lakes.
“It feels good,” said Lincoln quarterback Gabarri Johnson. “It’s just all that work that our team has put in. Now it’s back where it’s supposed to be.”
Lincoln coach Masaki Matsumoto prides his program on being a year-round program. Except for a break during Christmas, Lincoln’s players are working out in the weight room or the practice field all year.
It made the covid-shortened spring season even more challenging. The players hadn’t been able to work as a team like in normal years and were thrust quickly into games with limited practices.
Covid isn’t yet gone and is still impacting schedules for teams across the state, but high school sports are at least back to a regular calendar. That’s been a boon to Lincoln’s program.
“It’s helped a lot,” Matsumoto said. “Now, I feel like it’s slowly coming back to where we left off.”
GABARRI JOHNSON’S BEST TRAIT? ELUSIVENESS
Plenty of high school football players are fast, but the top-tier playmakers make defenders miss. That’s a trait that’s obvious to anyone who watches Lincoln’s junior quarterback play. There’s a reason current USC Trojans linebacker Julien Simon, a Lincoln grad, compared Johnson to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson: the elusiveness factor.
He rushed 29 times for 164 yards and four touchdowns in the win, juking his way past defenders, spinning out of tackles, running all over the place for the Abes.
“I feel like that’s where the dual-threat comes from,” Johnson said. “Just being able to do both on the ground and throwing the ball — just being super deadly at both. What is the defense really going to do with it?”
He also completed 13-of-20 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. Matsumoto has grown used to seeing these types of performances from his quarterback. When Johnson puts his head down and looks to scramble out of trouble, sometimes Matsumoto thinks to himself, “No!”
That no quickly turns into a “Yes!” as Johnson shakes defenders and picks up a positive gain on the ground. It comes down again to his elusiveness, both in the pocket and in the open field.
“If he was just fast, he doesn’t get out of those things,” Matsumoto said. “It’s that elusiveness, that shiftyness, that little hop that he does. He’s a special kid.”
Lakes coach Dave Miller said it’s difficult to gameplan for Johnson’s creativity.
“He’s just so hard to tackle,” Miller said. “He’s not the fastest guy in the world, but he’s super shifty, super quick. You saw him make a lot of guys miss. He was a difference maker out there.”
LINCOLN OPTS FOR AGGRESSIVENESS TO ICE THE GAME
Faced with a 3rd and 7 from the Lakes 33-yard line with four minutes to play in the game, Lincoln could have opted for a running play to keep milking the clock with a 28-27 lead, maybe setting up a manageable fourth down opportunity.
Instead, Lincoln went for the win: Junior receiver Jayden Wayne sold the Lakes corner on a double move and Johnson hit Wayne in stride down the left sideline for a 33-yard touchdown. Then Lincoln converted a two-point conversion, with Johnson once again scoring on a QB keeper. It gave Lincoln a 36-27 lead and made it a two-score game late in the fourth, effectively shutting the door.
“Me and Gabarri came up with it,” Wayne said. “We seen (the Lakes corner) cheating on it, so I hit him with the double move.”
Johnson said he had faith in the offense to score in that situation.
“Our mindset was let’s score,” he said. “Between me, jayden and the team it was like, ‘Why not?’ We know we can make it happen between us two, so just go score.”
AT FULL STRENGTH, LAKES CAN MAKE A RUN IN POSTSEASON
Lakes was missing eight of its starters against Lincoln, several of whom were linemen. Despite that, the Lancers played well and showed a lot of fight, climbing back into the game to draw Lakes within a point in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Justin Brennan completed 10-of-14 passes for 200 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. David Wells caught three passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. And long-striding running back Leo Pulalasi continued his impressive play this season, rushing nine times for 69 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“Our kids played their butts off,” Miller said. “That’s how they’ve been all year. They’ve handled so much adversity, they don’t break and they keep battling. They’re a tight-knit group. We’re under-manned today a little bit but it didn’t show. We were physical, we kept battling. A couple of mistakes, other than a couple turnovers — could not be prouder of our football team. They played tough, tough football.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2021 at 6:05 PM.
