Say my name
- Updated: September 30, 2022
Smith goes for 281 total yards, 5 TDs as ‘the red team’ Munford scores biggest win over rival in 50 years
By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today
MUNFORD – It’s probably safe to say the rival from the other side of the county probably knows the name of that red team now.
LINCOLN 9
Lincoln rarely calls Munford by its name, usually referring to the Lions by colorful if somewhat disparaging moniker, but the Lions made sure the Golden Bears knew it by the end of Thursday night.
They put on red pants to exaggerate the all-red point and then put a 42-9 beatdown on the Golden Bears that was their biggest win in the heated rivalry in nearly 50 years.
It was their biggest win in the series since 1973 (42-2) and represented an 89-point swing from the beat down Lincoln put on them last year. The Lions have won eight of the last 10 in the series and now lead it 41-36-1.
“The kids just played so hard and they were so locked in,” Munford coach Michael Easley said. “We talked about it all week long: They don’t say our name over there, they call us ‘the red teams.’ The seniors wanted to wear the red pants so we’d be in all red. They told me they wanted to make sure they knew who the red team was after tonight, that the red team had a name.”
The big story of the game was Munford quarterback Sylvester Smith, who rushed for 209 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 72 yards and another two scores. He also made a dazzling one-handed interception.
“He showed out tonight,” Easley said.
It was Smith’s third straight game of rushing for over 200 yards. He has gained a total of 677 yards in those games.
Munford brought out red pants for its arch-rivals and the Golden Bears were rocked early and often, as the Lions just seemed to be everywhere. The only Lincoln score would come when quarterback Montavious Weed found Camare Hampton for a 61-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter and that was a big chunk of their 187 yards of total offense.
Leading 21-0 at the half, the Lions got touchdown runs of 53 and 12 yards from Smith and Riley Brown from 7 yards. They were sitting on one more score late in the game but took a knee to pick up their fourth win of the season.
Once again it was a great first half for the Lions as they completely dominated the Golden Bears. After being stopped on their first drive, they scored on their next three possessions and completely frustrating the Lincoln defense.
First, Smith broke loose on a 63-yard run to set up his own 11-yard touchdown run for the game’s first score.
Lincoln began to key its defense on Smith and the Tennessee commitment would hand it off to Amari Edmundson on the read-option and he gained yardage. Edmondson rushed for 87 yards on 13 carries.
Smith slowed down the Lincoln defensive attack against the run by going to the air . He fired touchdown strikes of 38 yards to Brown and 30 yards to Javion White. The Lions had one more shot to score before the half, but ran out of time.
The stunned Golden Bears only had 69 first-half yards, while Munford had 204 yards. Smith had 111 yards rushing on eight carries in the half.
“I told the kids in the locker room that’s the best defensive game I’ve seen played in my (four-year) tenure as head coach,” Easley said. “They had some really good skill players over there, but our kids played so hard and so physical and flew to the ball. Man, our kids played so hard tonight.”
The Lions will be on the road to face Jacksonville next week with playoff hopes on their mind. They are 2-1 in Class 4A Region 4 and a key game with White Plains looms ahead as a battle for the fourth play-off spot in the region. Of course, they’re not discounting a shot at the third seed, which is what games like Thursday’s are all about for them.
“I know the community enjoys this game and the kids do, too, but we look at this as a game to get us ready for a hopeful playoff game,” Easley said. “That’s a very quality team we beat, that’s a good win against a bigger school, but games like this are supposed to prepare you for the playoffs. We’ve still got our goal in front of us.”
| LINC (9) | MUNF (42) | |
| 8 | 1st Downs | 16 |
| 28-90 | Rushes-yds | 40-303 |
| 5-7-1 | Comp-Att-Int | 3-5-0 |
| 97 | Passing yds | 72 |
| 3-26.0 | Punts-avg | 1-45.0 |
| 15-130 | Penalties-yds | 6-35 |
| Lincoln (2-4) | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 – | 9 |
| Munford (4-2) | 14 | 7 | 7 | 14 – | 42 |
M – Sylvester Smith 13 run (Dakota Frank kick), 2:34 1Q
M – Riley Brown 38 pass from Sylvester Smith (Dakota Frank kick), 9:36 2Q
M – Javon White 30 pass from Sylvester Smith (Dakota Frank kick), 2:45 2Q
L – Mason Hill 36 FG, 7:44 3Q
M – Sylvester Smith 53 run (Dakota Frank kick), 6:30 3Q
L – Camare Hampton 61 pass from Montavious Weed (pass failed), 4:34 3Q
M – Sylvester Smith 12 run (Dakota Frank kick), 11:04 4Q
M – Riley Brown 7 run (Dakota Frank kick), 8:17 4Q
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