One game into the district football playoffs, Lindbergh’s chances of getting back to the Show-Me-Bowl took a major hit Friday when the Flyers suffered a 23-13 defeat at the hands of the Parkway South Patriots.
Now 6-2 overall and 0-1 in the district, the Flyers face elimination from the playoffs if they suffer a loss in their next two games against Northwest or Oakville. Even if Lindbergh wins its final two games, it will need help from one of the other teams in the district to advance. In other words, Lindbergh is no longer in control of its own destiny.
Flyers Coach Tom Beauchamp does not like Lindbergh’s position.
“We’ve got to hope for Oakville to knock off South — we need someone to raise their level to help us,” he said. “We could still finish 8-2, which is a good season, but our goals were higher than that. We just have to realize that it’s not over.”
Against Parkway South, the Flyers were down 9-0 going into the half, but a 10-yard touchdown run by Noah Hollenkamp cut the deficit to 9-7 and Lindbergh had life.
Early in the fourth quarter, though, the Patriots’ Phillip Schwartz connected with Ryan Evers for a 25-yard touchdown pass that put the game out of reach at 16-7. Evers added a one-yard touchdown run to make the score 23-7 before Dan Gabris ran five yards for a touchdown late in the game.
Parkway South kept quarterback Brock Bond in check as he ran for 26 yards and threw for 65. Beauchamp knows that Lind-bergh must get things going offensively.
“We’re not going on all cylinders,” Beauchamp told the Call. “We’re dropping balls that we haven’t dropped in the past. We have some talented kids and just have to raise our level of play.”
Parkway South, which improved to 5-3 with the win, next will go up against the 5-3 Oakville Tigers. The Tigers also are 1-0 in the district and have won five of six games.
For Lindbergh to get to the playoffs, Oakville must defeat Parkway South and then Lindbergh must defeat Oakville. This hinges on Lindbergh snapping a two-game losing streak this Friday against Northwest. Beauchamp knows his team has to focus on the Northwest game and hope for the best.
“Northwest has got some talent, but they just haven’t been very deep,” Beauchamp said. “This is going to be a character check for us. Our job is to come out and play football and win games. That’s what we have to do.”
The Flyers’ second district game is at 7 p.m. Friday at home, 4900 S. Lindbergh, against Northwest, which comes into the game 1-7 overall and 0-1 in district play.
