The Lyons Lions made the two-hour trek North to face the Republic County Buffaloes in Belleville on Friday Night, in what turned out to be a perfect evening for high school football. The storms stayed well to the South, but the evening ended up belonging to the home team, coming away with a 30-8 victory over the visiting Lions.
Lyons won the coin flip, deferred and came out strong on defense with 3 negative plays all made by Xander Young of Lyons all on the opening possession defensively. A few plays later, Buffalo QB, Kash Henke, stepped up in the middle of coverage and found Aiden Morris for a 56 yard pass completion and the Buffaloes scored their first t.d. a few plays later. Republic County recovered the ensuing kickoff on a pooch kick, grabbing the momentum and never looking back.
Grady Siemsen led Republic County in rushing with 83 yards on 10 carries and had 1 TD.
Aiden Morris was the leading receiver for the Buffaloes with 5 receptions for 107 yards, and 1 TD. Republic County ended up with 3 rushing TD’s, 1 TD through the air and also sacked Lyons QB David Pando in the end-zone for a safety in the first quarter.
Lyons was led in rushing by sophomore Xander Young with 36 yards on 8 carries; and was led in receiving by junior Quanick Hamilton with 102 yards on 11 receptions and 1 TD. That TD was the lone scoring drive by Lyons, coming in the 4th quarter.
There was an approximate delay of 10 minutes early in the fourth quarter as a Lyons player suffered a severe injury on a defensive play during a punt return by Republic County. The Lyons player was transported to the hospital and treated for a concussion. According to Lyons Coach Carl Nolan, he was doing well when Coach visited the hospital at approximately. 10 p.m. last night.
