The most unimpressive 42-7 win in all of high school football Friday night may have happened at Lindbergh High School in the Flyers’ win over Northwest High School.
The homecoming win satisfied alumni, but did not showcase the 6-1 Flyers’ entertaining ability.
Just in the first half, the Flyers fumbled twice and turned the ball over on downs in Northwest territory.
They could manage only a 14-7 lead over the winless Lions until 18 seconds were left to play in the half.
“We didn’t play too well in the first half,” Lindbergh senior Will Spitzfaden told the Call. “We were executing our plays, but we couldn’t get off the line.
“We finally stepped it up in the second half and scored some points.”
On Lindbergh’s first possession, Spitzfaden watched the ball fall out of his grip as he was being tackled at Northwest’s five-yard line.
“Sometimes high school kids are thinking about corsages and where they’re going to dinner before the homecoming dance,” Lindbergh head coach Tom Beauchamp said.
The Flyers scored on a 33-yard run by senior Adam Schremp and on a 10-yard run by senior Tim Hamm-Bey on their next two possessions, but the Lions awoke to cut the lead to 14-7 with 5:16 remaining in the first half. It was the only time Lindbergh’s defense allowed the Lions past the 50-yard line until the middle of the third quarter.
“Our defense sucked it up to get the job done and our offense did what it needed to win when it had to do it. We just need to be a little more effective,” Beauchamp said.
Lindbergh junior quarterback Peter Simpson completed 12 of 27 passes for 173 yards. After getting the ball back at Northwest’s 38-yard line with 1:59 left in the first half, senior Sam Smith fumbled on the Flyers’ first play.
The Flyers made up for it, though, when the defense forced a punt one minute later and the offense drove to set up an eight-yard touchdown catch by Spitzfaden to give Lindbergh a 21-7 lead.
“It kind of took the edge off when we went down and scored right before halftime. But I wasn’t real happy with the first half at all,” Beauchamp said. “We didn’t play to the level we are capable of.”
Senior Chris Collins registered two sacks for a loss of 12 yards, both in the last two minutes of the first half. Spitzfaden caught a four-yard touchdown pass from Simpson on Lindbergh’s first possession of the second half to open up a 28-7 lead.
“It was pretty exciting coming out in the second half when they tried the onside kick and we ended up getting the ball. We drove down the field and scored a touchdown and pretty much put them away,” Spitzfaden said.
Spitzfaden finished as the game’s leading receiver with nine catches for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
“They were playing pretty far back, and we had good underneath routes and Pete threw the ball well,” Spitzfaden said.
With much help from their defense, the Flyers outgained the Lions in offensive yardage, 352-117. After Beauchamp put Lindbergh’s starters on the sideline early in the fourth quarter, junior Jordan Goodman scored on a three-yard run and junior Matt Doll plunged in for a one-yard touchdown run with 1:03 left.
Lindbergh now has won each of the last seven matchups with the Lions by more than 14 points.
The Flyers’ schedule stiffens up at 7 p.m. Friday when they travel to DeSmet Jesuit High School for its first Class 6 District 2 game.
“DeSmet’s going to be a tough team, and we have to step up and play a lot better,” Spitzfaden said. “I thought we went from Eureka to Northwest playing to the level of our competition. I think when we play DeSmet, we’ll step up our game and we’ll play well.”
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