The Lindbergh High School football team kept its winning streak alive Friday night with a 30-15 victory at Ritenour in the second round of the Class 6, District 2 playoffs.
Despite the win, Flyers head coach Tom Beauchamp believes that his team has much room for improvement.
“At times, we looked pretty miserable out there,” Beauchamp said. “We were not as sharp as we should be, but a win on the road is what really counts.”
The Flyers (9-0, 6-0 Suburban West) found themselves down 7-0 when Ritenour’s A.J. Shipp scored on a 2-yard run with 6:58 left in the first quarter.
Lindbergh tied the score 7-7 with a 62-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Portell to Sam Smith with 3:46 left in the second quarter.
“Kyle had good protection and he threw the ball to Sam for the touchdown,” Beau-champ said. “It was a pretty good play call for us.”
Portell completed 5 of 15 passes for 111 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. He also carried the ball 10 times for 98 yards.
“The ball was slick, but Kyle threw the ball well and ran the ball really well when we needed him to,” Beauchamp said. “When we called his number, he didn’t disappoint us.”
The Flyers took a 14-7 lead with a 20-yard pass from Portell to Adam Schremp with 2:00 left in the half. Schremp recorded three receptions for 51 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“Adam had a great night,” Beauchamp said. “He had a couple of critical catches throughout the game for us.”
Ritenour took a 15-14 lead early in the third quarter when Derrion Quinn hit Dominic Carr for a 15-yard pass. Shipp then ran in the 2-point conversion,
But the fourth quarter was all Lindbergh as Austin Good scored on a 1-yard run with 9:59 remaining. Good carried the ball four times for 24 yards and one touchdown.
“Austin’s a tough, hard-nosed kind of kid,” Beauchamp said. “When we get near the goal line, he can smell the touchdown.”
Portell connected with Schremp for the second time with a 13-yard touchdown pass with 6:22 left.
Lindbergh’s final score came with 4:37 left when Eric Schwartz nailed a 28-yard field goal, his sixth of the season.
“Each week, Eric produces and just doesn’t disappoint,” Beauchamp said. “I was happy with how he played on both offense and defense.”
The Flyers return to action at 7 p.m. when they play host to St. Louis University High (5-4, 1-3 MCC), which is coming off a 21-20 win over Mehlville.
“Coach (Gary) Kornfeld is a good coach who has his kids playing hard right now,” Beauchamp said. “They were bitten by the injury bug, but they’ve had kids step up and fill those positions and they’ve been playing good football right now.”