Lincoln Dominates Muldrow In Another Statement Win
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Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! 3A’s top-ranked Lincoln Christian sent a message to the rest of Class 3A with their dominant 49-7 win on the road over #8 Muldrow. In a…
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3A’s top-ranked Lincoln Christian sent a message to the rest of Class 3A with their dominant 49-7 win on the road over #8 Muldrow. In a battle of the Bulldogs, it was Lincoln who came out victorious, remaining unbeaten this season against Oklahoma teams. Leading the way was senior running back John Washington John Washington 5'9" | 175 lbs | ATH Lincoln Christian | 2023 State OK and a complete performance from the Lincoln Christian defense. The Bulldogs held Muldrow to under 50 yards of total offense against Lincoln’s first team defense throughout the game.
Muldrow was limited, especially in the running game as they were down three offensive linemen, but Lincoln Christian was dominant from start to finish. They held Muldrow’s star running back Trenden Collins Trenden Collins 6'2" | ATH Muldrow | 2023 State OK to 43 yards on the ground, the first time he’s been under 100 yards this season. But with the 43 yards, Collins eclipsed the 2,000 yard mark for the season. He needed just 31 coming into Friday night and had to earn every yard.
Lincoln Christian would get the scoring going on their first possession, driving right down the field and scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run from Washington, the first of three touchdowns from Washington on the night. Muldrow would immediately respond with a 90+ yard kick return for a touchdown to tie the game at 7 just 15 seconds later. But that would be the only positive note for the home team in the first half.
After both teams exchanged punts following penalty-infested drives, Lincoln Christian struck again. Washington and the Bulldogs marched right down and scored again from a yard out. Muldrow’s offense then hit a wall as they punted on three straight possessions in the second quarter. Washington added another touchdown run. Quarterback Luke Milligan Luke Milligan 6'2" | 185 lbs | QB Lincoln Christian | 2024 State OK also tossed two touchdowns in the first half, the first to Dylan Baldridge Dylan Baldridge 6'1" | 170 lbs | WR Union | 2024 OK and the second to Seth Kruse Seth Kruse 6'3" | 175 lbs | WR Lincoln Christian | 2023 OK . The touchdown to Kruse put Lincoln up 35-7 at halftime and it came following a beautifully executed two-minute drive where Lincoln marched 71 yards in the blink of an eye and scored right before halftime.
The second half featured a running clock for the majority of the half and the Bulldogs would add a few more touchdowns with a pick six from Kruse and then Cam Dooley Cam Dooley 6'1" | 185 lbs | WR Lincoln Christian | 2023 State OK became the third different Lincoln Christian receiver to catch a touchdown from Milligan on a 46-yard strike. Lincoln improves to 8-1 and will face Locust Grove next week while Muldrow falls to 8-2 and this was actually the regular season finale for Muldrow as they are off next week and will next be on the field in the first round of the playoffs.
Below, we take a deeper look at some of Lincoln Christian’s top performers from Friday night’s win.
LINCOLN CHRISTIAN TOP PERFORMERS
With Easton Rogers Easton Rogers 6’3″ | 210 lbs | ATH Lincoln Christian | 2023 State OK missing most of this season, senior standout John Washington John Washington 5’9″ | 175 lbs | ATH Lincoln Christian | 2023 State OK has stepped into a new role as a running back and has excelled in a big way. Washington was the top offensive performer for Lincoln Christian on Friday night and showed why he’s one of the more versatile offensive weapons in the Lincoln offense, that can strike in a hurry. Washington finished with 18 carries for 134 yards and three touchdowns. He also led the team in receiving with seven catches for 104 yards. Washington did almost all of his damage in the first half. He only touched the ball two times after halftime. Washington has had an outstanding senior season and this was our first time to see him in person this fall. And in a game where there was a lot of attention on Muldrow’s running game, Washington could not be stopped.
Highlights
We wrote about Lincoln Christian quarterback Luke Milligan Luke Milligan 6’2″ | 185 lbs | QB Lincoln Christian | 2024 State OK earlier this week when we updated the 2024 rankings. Milligan has ascended to one of the top quarterbacks in the state’s 2024 class. We wrote about how impressive the accuracy from Milligan has been this season. Well, it wasn’t the cleanest performance from Milligan on Friday night as he went 16-29 for 249 yards and three touchdowns and one interception. But you could tell that Milligan was not feeling the pressure and was trying to push it a little and get some big plays to his wide receivers. In the first half, Milligan was outstanding throwing the ball and you could see that efficiency in his game. All three of Milligan’s touchdowns went to three different wide receivers and that’s not including throwing to Washington out of the backfield.
Highlights
Lincoln Christian senior wide receiver Seth Kruse Seth Kruse 6’3″ | 175 lbs | WR Lincoln Christian | 2023 OK would provide not one, but two daggers to Muldrow’s hopes on Friday night. Kruse was one of three different Lincoln receivers to catch touchdown passes on Friday night. His touchdown reception was right before halftime and put Lincoln up 35-7. And on the second play of the second half, Kruse would jump a route and intercept Muldrow and walk into the end zone to put the Bulldogs up 42-7. Kruse finished off the game with five catches for 55 yards and the second quarter touchdown. Kruse is one of three outstanding wide receivers that Lincoln Christian has at their disposal and that’s again, not even including Washington coming out of the backfield. Kruse is a wide receiver prospect we’re going to keep an eye on over the next month to see how he finishes this season.
Highlights
Prior to the game, we had a spotlight on Lincoln Christian senior linebacker Tyler Johnson Tyler Johnson 5’11” | 210 lbs | LB Lincoln Christian | 2023 State OK as one of our players to watch coming into week nine. That was going to be the match-up to watch as we wanted to see Johnson, who leads the team in tackles and tackles for loss go up against Collins, who has been unstoppable in every game. We found out pretty quickly that Johnson and the rest of the Lincoln front seven was going to take the W there. Johnson is one of the better middle linebackers in the state and the production speaks for itself. He has decent size for his position and will need to play in the MLB spot at the next level, but he should play at the next level. The 2023 class at the linebacker position is absolutely loaded but Johnson has to be included among the best at that position.
Highlights
While Johnson was the player to watch coming into Friday’s game, Lincoln Christian defensive lineman Zane Thrasher Zane Thrasher 6’0″ | LB Lincoln Christian | 2023 State OK came away incredibly impressive as well. Look, whenever you have a defense that completely shuts down an opponent, you could pick several different players to put the spotlight on. But Thrasher stood out, especially early on in the game on Friday night. Thrasher seemed to always be around the ball, especially early on. Lincoln Christian’s entire defense did a fantastic job flying around the field and swarming any Muldrow ball carrier, doing a great job of limiting the big plays. Thrasher lined up as a defensive lineman but breaking him down as a prospect, he would be more of a linebacker at the next level. We want to see more from him in the playoffs against other top teams.