Lisbon rallies for 26-21 win over Montezuma

LISBON — Momentum can be a funny thing.

When you have it, and all is going well, nothing can be better. But when you lose it, not a lot can done to get it back.

That was the story last night in a Class A state football playoff game at Lisbon. In the game of two very different halves, the Lions held on for a 26-21 victory over Montezuma.

In the first half, nothing went right for Lisbon. Offensively, the Lions punted four times, had a pass intercepted, scored a touchdown on a short Logan Rickard run and turned the ball over on downs.

Defensively, Lisbon gave up 21 points thanks to three touchdown runs by Braves running back Kane Barker, who scored seven rushing touchdowns and eight receiving touchdowns in the regular season.

But in the second half, the Lions' fortunes changed behind the efforts of quarterback Logan Rickard.

'In the second half we came out and went back to our original game plan,' Rickard said. 'We refocused ourselves and started getting on our assignments.'

On their first possession of the second half, the Lions drove 75 yards on 16 plays for a score. In that drive, they converted on four fourth-down opportunities. The touchdown came on a play that saw Rickard get hit, bounce off and release the ball to Tyler Svatosch, just as he was falling down. Svatosch caught the pass, and fell into the end zone, all while getting his face mask held by a Braves defender.

It didn't stop there.In the fourth quarter, Lisbon drove again, this time converting on two fourth-down plays. The drive ended when Rickard hit Brock Givens on a 23-yard touchdown pass.

The PAT missed, however, leaving the Braves in front, 21-20, with just over eight minutes left.

With over just over two-and-half minutes left, Rickard again went to the air, this time hitting Tanner Sackett-Hopkins on a 50-yard scoring play.

Rickard finished the game 10 of 24 for 169 yards and three touchdowns. He also led the Lions in rushing with 82 yards, on 22 carries and one scored.

UPDATE: This article has been corrected to reflect the number of touchdowns during the season by Montezuma's Kane Barker.