Lincoln wins battle for city title

The Lincoln and Godby High football teams already earned playoff berths entering Friday night's game at Gene Cox Stadium, but it was the Trojans that ended their regular season on a high note.

After falling behind 10-0, Lincoln came back — scoring 21 unanswered points in the second and third quarters — en route to a 24-17 victory.

"It's getting to the point where I don't really have to do too much at all," Lincoln coach Yusuf Shakir said. "And that's good because the kids just run the show. They're just taking control of the team and they know what they want and they're just going to go with it."

Godby led 10-0 on a first-quarter field goal by Billy Mueller, and a rushing touchdown from quarterback Dennis Andrews from one yard out early in the second quarter.

And then Lincoln took over.

An 11-yard rushing touchdown by Tony Moore and Ryan White's 37-yard touchdown pass to Raphael Andrades gave Lincoln a 14-10 halftime lead.

"We just needed to settle down," White said. "We've got a lot of young guys playing."

Lincoln junior Keondrick Daniels found a hole and subsequently the end zone on a 67-yard punt return touchdown in the third quarter.

Daniels finished with 183 all-purpose yards after returning three kickoffs for 116 yards.

"We didn't let up," Daniels said. "We've got fight in us and that's what we work on in practice every day."

The Cougars answered back with Khalid Thomas' 4-yard touchdown run. Thomas was filling in for a banged up Lavorrie Johnson.

A third-quarter field goal by Lincoln's Carlos Gaston accounted for the final points of the game.

White completed 7 of 14 passes for 108 yards for the Trojans, while Andrews completed 20 of 29 passes for 220 yards and two interceptions.

Godby receiver Chris St. Hilaire had 13 catches for 164 yards in the Cougars' loss.

"We need to quit making mistakes," Godby coach Shelton Crews said. "All the mistakes we're making are correctable and we'll correct them this week."

Lincoln will host Jacksonville White at Chiles in the Region 1-4A quarterfinals next Friday at Chiles, while Crews' Cougars will host Jacksonville Ribault at Cox Stadium in the Region 1-2A quarterfinals.