13 straight playoff appearances for the Lisbon Lions

LISBON — Kent Allison has never been about himself.

He was reluctant to accept The Gazette's Coach of the Year honor in 2011, when his Lisbon Lions won the Class A state championship. He initially didn't even want to do an interview for the story.

It was the kids that won it, not him.

So you tend to give him the benefit of the doubt when he claimed the other day he was not aware this was the 13th consecutive season his school has been in the state football playoffs. Sixth-ranked Lisbon (9-1) plays Friday night at No. 1 Saint Ansgar (10-0) in an A quarterfinal.

'To be honest with you, I didn't know it was 13. Thirteen straight years in the playoffs, huh?' he said. 'Not much (meaning). Each year is different. I am really driven this way. I am driven (for us) to be as best as we can be for that year. I just want our kids to keep scratching and climbing and everything else. I am really happy that we are practicing as best we have and are playing as best as we have right now. That's what I'm happy about. Now if that means one year to the playoffs and the next year not, I'd take that all the time. Having kids that play hard and practice hard and try to keep getting better, that's what's important to me.'

Lisbon got better after a loss to East Buchanan the fifth week of the season, 44-20. The Lions won their final four games to qualify for the postseason as a wildcard, then avenged their only loss last Friday night in the first round, 31-20.

East Buchanan led with four minutes left in the third quarter, 20-6.

'That game turned around rather rapidly,' said senior lineman Justin Clarke. 'We were needing some momentum, and we got it through defense and a little bit of offense. We drove the ball pretty well on them at the end of the game. We picked up that momentum and just ran with it.'

Sounds like the season as a whole. Lisbon posted shutouts in its first three games, overcame North Linn in Week 4, took a loss and then regrouped.

Junior quarterback Jake Jennett has thrown for 1,551 yards and 15 touchdowns and run for 436 yards and 11 more scores. Ten of receiver Blake Langhurst's 33 catches have gone for TDs.

Backs Austin Krob and Jack Butteris have 14 touchdown rushes between them.

'We have great coaching here at Lisbon,' said junior linebacker Tyson Williams, Lisbon's leading tackler. 'The tradition shows that. We know what's at stake this week. We looked up to the kids in 2011, going to the Dome. We want that, so we're going to play hard on Friday and try to be like those guys.'

Lisbon has won its first-round playoff game the past five years but is looking to get to the semifinals and the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls for the first time since 2011. It won't be easy, as Saint Ansgar has been dominant.

The Saints have two 1,000-yard rushers in Parker Hendrickson and Dayton Smith and are very big upfront. Then there's that 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the upper reaches of Iowa.

'Saint Ansgar is a very diverse team with a lot of talent,' said Clarke, who is playing despite a broken left hand. 'But I feel like if we can continue to prepare well for them, we have a good chance of going up there and at least playing as well as we can.'

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