Roundup : Lincoln for Real? 51-0 Over Morse

The remarkable margin between a couple of scores told the story of Friday night’s nonleague high school football game between No. 2-ranked Lincoln and No. 4 Morse.

The first score was Lincoln 0, Morse 0. This was with nine seconds remaining in the first half.

The final score? Lincoln 51, Morse 0.

The Hornets (5-0) used a pair of touchdown passes apiece by Keith Mitchell and Freddie Stokes and a defense that limited Morse (3-2) to four first downs to turn a close game into a rout.

“I was hearing that some people were wondering whether or not we were for real,” Lincoln Coach Vic Player said. “Well . . . “

Well . . . Lincoln scored on a 16-yard screen pass from Mitchell to Kevin Key on the last play of the first half and on a 74-yard option pass from Mitchell to Patrick Rowe on the first play of the second half.

Then, it got worse for Morse.

The Tigers, after getting just one first down in the first half, were unable to move the ball out of their territory in the third quarter. The result was 32 points by Lincoln and a 39-0 lead for the Hornets.

In the fourth quarter, Lincoln added to its lead on a 1-yard run by Mitchell and a 39-yard run by Marcus Hopkins.

Morse, meanwhile, was limited to 39 yards rushing and 16 yards passing by the Lincoln defense, which has three shutouts this season. The game also marked the third time this year Lincoln has scored more than 50 points.