Lisbon gets the job done against Alburnett

ALBURNETT — Lisbon's Phillip Whitman and his staff had a long talk with their players after Friday night's game.

The fifth-ranked Lions came away with an 18-6 win over a spirited Alburnett team in the Class A, District 5 opener for both teams at Jim Carver Field. However the team meeting centered on one thing.

"I didn't think our focus was completely there," Whitman said. "We need to learn to respect our opponents a little better. Sometimes I think we think we're better than we are. Our focus has to get better, plain and simple."

Lisbon (2-1, 1-0) was hurt by over 100 yards in penalties. Some ended promising drives while others gave the host Pirates new life.

"We have to clean up our mistakes," Whitman said. "If we want to be a team that can contend for a district championship, we have to play with more discipline."

One area not in need of being cleaned up is the Lions defense. They held Alburnett to just 8 yards on the ground and made things rough for Pirate quarterback Connor Rock when he dropped back to pass.

"Our kids play hard on defense," Whitman said. "That is something we take a lot of pride in. We like to fly to the ball and put pressure on the opponent anytime we can."

Lisbon did all its scoring in the second quarter. Senior Gavin Wollum scored on runs of 1 and 6 yards. The Lions’ biggest play of the half was their last one with three second remaining as Cohen Kamaus connected with Kaden Caspers for a 45-yard score to put the Lions up 18-0 at the break.

Alburnett (1-2, 0-1) hung tough in the second half as Rock began to find some receivers. He completed 13 of 24 passes for 153 yards. He also scored the lone Alburnett touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter. The Pirates had a chance to cut into the lead further, but officials ruled that Rock fumbled the ball on a play that appeared to be a pass batted down by a Lisbon lineman.

Whitman was impressed by the play of the Pirates on their Homecoming night.

"Give Alburnett credit," he said. "They played hard from start to finish. We continued to put pressure on them, but they were able to make some plays."

Lisbon rushed for 280 yards on 45 carries. Jamien Moore led the way with 87 yards on 10 carries.

Whitman said his team still has things to learn.

"We have really good kids, but we have to learn to respect every team we play,“ he said. ”We can't take time off. We need to continue to push ourselves and get better."

Lisbon 18, Alburnett 6

L A

First downs 17 11

Rushes-yards 45-280 27-8

Passing yards 93 153

Comp-Att-Int 6-13-1 13-24-0

Punts-Avg. 1-40.0 3-30.3

Fumbles-lost 0-0 4-1

Penalties-Yards 11-107 3-22

Lisbon 0 18 0 0 — 18

Alburnett 0 0 0 6 — 6

L — Gavin Wollum 1 run (pass failed)

L — Wollum 6 run (run failed)

L — Kaden Caspers 45 pass from Cohen Kamaus (run failed)

A — Connor Rock 1 run (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Lisbon: Max Kohl 12-80, Jamien Moore 10-87, Kaden Caspers 7-56, Gavin Wollum 6-58, Cohen Kamaus 9-30. Team 1-(minus1). Alburnett: Carson Klostermann 18-27, Gavin Soukup 1-0, Connor Rock 6-(minus 17)

PASSING - Lisbon: Cohen Kamaus 5-10-0-80, Gavin Wollum 1-3-1-13. Alburnett: Connor Rock 13-24-0-153.

RECEIVING - Lisbon: Will Bennett 5-48, Kaden Caspers 1-45. Alburnett: Mason Neighbor 2-42, Grayson Carolan 4-19, Carson Klostermann 4-16, Braydon Osborn 3-76.