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One season ago, Lincoln College Prep didn’t lose its first game until Week 12 of a record-setting 11-1 campaign last season.

Two weeks into the new year, the Blue Tigers are smarting after a rescheduled game on the road at Lansing provided a wake-up call head coach William Lowe described as much needed.

The Blue Tigers’ 26-7 defeat dashed any hopes of back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. Injuries and turnovers befell Lincoln Prep, now 1-1 on the young season.

“We lost our starting QB (Howard Brown) to injury in the first quarter and then proceeded to turn the ball over three times,” Lowe said. “You can’t win games turning the ball over. It was a good lesson for us. Players and coaches.”

The Blue Tigers are off until Sept. 18, plenty of time to right the ship, Lowe said.

“We have focused on the details and fundamentals this week and are trying to get back to hating to lose more than just wanting to win,” he said. “We had become complacent a bit.”

Early-season struggles continue for KC Central
DJ Pittel and the Kansas City Central Blue Eagles seemingly can’t catch a break. Already short on numbers, KC Central lost players due to the preseason uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic.

Once the games began, the Blue Eagles were on the short end of a tightly contested Interscholastic League matchup with Southeast. A shutout loss followed in Week 2. On Friday, a matchup with IL counterpart Northeast (0-2) awaits.

KC Central quarterback Walter Taylor IV ran back the opening kick-off 89 yards for a score and then ran in the two-point conversion 17 seconds into the Week 1 contest against the Knights. There was no such magic one week later against Lexington.

“The message we have stressed this week is focus and be at practice,” Pittel said. “With our small numbers we have had issues getting kids to practice which happens in areas like ours. Now that school has started our attendance has solidified. We have made some adjustments in personnel and we are trying to get our playmakers the ball in space.

“We have stressed that the Vikings have the same record as us and it is time to get our first win.”

In other IL action, Southeast (1-2 overall, 1-0 in IL) was throttled 55-13 by Van Horn on Thursday.  East (0-2) was slated to travel to Ruskin on Friday.