Lisbon stays patient on the turf to beat East Buchanan

MOUNT VERNON - Patience. Coaches preach it and players are likely sick of hearing it.

But it paid off for the Lisbon Lions in their 28-10 win over East Buchanan Friday night at soggy Ash Field at Cornell College.

'Every time I ran the ball, the coach preached patience and to let that hole clear,” said Lisbon running back Jack Butteris, who finished with 98 yards.

Early on, it looked like the Lions offense would be left out in the rain. Lisbon had just two offensive plays in the first quarter. Jake Jennett hit Hunter Robinson on a 27-yard touchdown strike just 34 seconds into the game. Their next offense play turned into an East Buchanan safety to make the score 7-2.

At the end of the first quarter, the Buccaneers' Griffin Cabalka plunged in from 1-yard out and a two-point conversion gave East Buchanan a 10-7 lead.

The Lisbon defense kept it close, stopping East Buchanan twice on fourth down inside their own 10-yard line.

'We talk about patience in the running game, patience in the blocking scheme, patience in the quarterback reads,” Lisbon Coach Kent Allison said. 'I thought we had a lot of rhythm once we got our offense established.”

Robinson returned a punt 68 yards to put the Lions ahead 13-7 with just 44 seconds left in the half.

'The blockers just did what they needed to do and I found the hole,” said Robinson. 'The momentum changed a lot as the game went on. We noticed how big that was and we kept building off that.”

'Going into halftime, our coaches looked at what they were doing on defense and changed out blocking,” Butteris said. 'They told us to come out and own that second half, and we did.”

Jennett scored on a 1-yard run, and Butteris splashed his way to a 51-yard touchdown to seal the win.

'This was a lot of fun,” Robinson said. 'Playing at Cornell, in the rain, on the turf is fantastic. ”