STOCKTON — What might’ve been remembered as an emotional, transcendent night for coach Brian Gray and the Lincoln football team ended in confusion following halftime hysterics.
Fifteen minutes before the game, the Stagg football hall of fame posthumously inducted Brian Gray’s younger brother Mical, and former Delta Kings running back, Marcellus Nabors III.
And Lincoln played inspired, opportunistic football in the first half of Friday night’s season opener, which eventually earned
them a win under strange circumstances.
The Trojans beat host Stagg 29-0 — the halftime score. At the break, all over Coaches Stadium, from the home stands, to the visitors’ bleachers and behind the end zone, people took off running in different directions.
Rumors ranged from nearby gunshots, to someone brandishing a gun to someone chasing people with a stick, but nothing was confirmed. Lincoln was given the choice to act, and decided to call it a night.
And “it was probably the right move,” Stagg principal Andre Phillips said.
“Initially, there were a couple of guys over (on the Stagg side) who looked like they were having an issue,” Phillips said. “Next thing I knew, I see people running this way and jumping fences, so I still don’t know what happened. Somebody said they were over here and they heard gunshots over in the alley or something.
“It wasn’t confirmed. Somebody said somebody was chasing someone with a stick.”
Safety comes first, Delta Kings coach Don Norton said, but giving into an uncertain situation or someone trying to make a scene isn’t palatable.
If it was undeniably a lethal weapon then “you know what, we’re done,” Norton said, but: “Nobody could confirm anything for sure. I don’t think you can give into people doing something like that.”
Mark Russell, part of the Lincoln team which beat Stagg last year at Spanos Stadium, was watching his former high school teammates from the stands.
“It kind of broke my heart, just seeing this environment, the rivalry that Stagg and Lincoln have. A night like this ends and it’s not even football-related,” Russell said. “I was really just feeling for the guys out there. I wasn’t nervous, I was actually sitting in the stands. I was like, ‘Hey, something’s going wrong, everybody’s running, stay calm.’ That’s the best thing you can do in this type of situation.”
Both teams stagnated on offense early on, but Lincoln grabbed a 6-0 lead after the first as senior quarterback Colby Dickson found junior wide receiver Izaiah Celestine with a 15-yard fade for a touchdown on 4th down.
After senior Cameron Crump intercepted Stagg senior quarterback Lavante Bushnell early in the second quarter, the Trojans’ junior quarterback Aaron Thomas battled his way into the end zone with a 1-yard keeper.
Senior running back Ronald “June” Walker, who set up Thomas’ touchdown with a dazzling 24-yard run, finished with nine carries for 124 yards and a 35-yard touchdown — which put the Trojans up 21-0. Walker was nearly brought down on the play, but sprung up and scampered to pay dirt.
The Trojans (1-0) finished the scoring as junior Isaiah Downes delivered a 10-yard pick-six interception for a touchdown.
For Stagg (0-1), Bushnell went 9 of 22 for 107 yards and two picks, while junior wide receiver Cutrell Haywood posted team-highs with four catches and 59 receiving yards. While Walker powered the Trojans’ ground game, Celestine had three receptions for 60 yards and the TD.
Dickson finished 6 of 11 for 61 yards and the TD to Celestine, while Thomas went 3 of 8 for 69 yards. The Lincoln players were quickly hurried to their bus after the game was called, while Stagg adjourned to its locker room.
“It’s horrible, horrible, horrible,” Delta Kings senior linebacker James Green said. “We worked so, so hard. To get to this game, to have it cut short – in the second half, you never know what could happen.”
Nortonsaid he respects Gray and the decision he and Lincoln’s administrators made. But the coaches, like the players and most of the fans, still were never sure what turned an opening night worth celebrating into an unpleasant finish.
“We were just trying to get our kids to a confined area, a safe area,” Gray said of the halftime situation. “I couldn’t see anything but bodies moving.”