After making a winning start to the season against Chester, the Leicester Longhorns played their first home game versus the Lincoln Colonials. On an overcast day with grey clouds looming over each team, it was the Longhorns who got off to a fast start. Powered by a dominant rushing attack Leicester made it inside the Lincoln 40-yard line on just three plays. Then on just the fifth play of the game, a great play design and fake saw QB Ted Watts slice through the Lincoln defense on his way to a 37-yard touchdown run. With a successful two- point conversion, the Longhorns were up 8-0.
Lincoln’s attack was well dealt with on the first series with freshers and seniors containing their passing and rushing threats. Lincoln punted the ball away to Leicester who proceeded to drive down to inside Lincoln’s 30-yard line but a failed forth down attempt returned possession to the Colonials. Lincoln tried to get their passing attack going but just missed on a few throws.
In a tight back and forth game it was defense that was prevailing, with a great defensive stand by the Colonials as they forced and recovered a fumble by the Longhorns despite being backed up to their own 5-yard line. This stop instilled a new confidence in the Colonials, who drove 30 yards with good downhill running but were stopped by a stout Leicester defense. Penalties and drops were the symptoms of another failed Leicester drive in the redzone to end the half. But they started the second still with the lead.
Lincoln were stopped to start the second half whilst on the Longhorns first drive ended in another short touchdown run from Ted Watts. This put the Longhorns up 14-0 midway through the third quarter. The Colonials did respond with their best series of the game so far, driving down the field to Leicester’s 10-yard line. But they couldn’t punch it in and turned it over on downs. However, the momentum of the game changed after Leicester fumbled the ball giving Lincoln great field position. They capitalized on this with a touchdown of their own as their QB found the endzone. A failed two-point conversion left the score at 14-6.
The Longhorns again were penalized on offence as they tried to run the clock out eventually giving the ball back to the Colonials with under 2 minutes to play. Lincoln tried all they could making it to halfway. But Kieron Murphy at safety made a great play jumping the route to intercept the ball and sealing the win for the Longhorns. It capped off a great game for him as well as the Longhorns who move to 2-0 on the season.