It took 41 minutes for the Lincoln Blue Tiger offense to find momentum. By then, it was too late.
Lincoln's offense finally moved the chains with about 3:30 to play in the third quarter - and moved into positive yardage of total offense - but the Quincy Hawks had already done the damage. Quincy improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1993 with a 40-14 win against Lincoln on Saturday afternoon at Dwight T. Reed Stadium to open Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
"We came out a little too emotional," Lincoln coach Mike Jones said. "We had a couple third-down opportunities in the very beginning of the game and we just didn't stop them.
Then they teed off on us."
Quincy received the opening kickoff and proceeded to give the ball to Jaylan James, the Hawks' 253-pound redshirt-freshman tailback. The Lincoln defense held the big back to minus-1 yard through his first four carries.
But the Blue Tigers couldn't quiet quarterback Robbie Kelley along with him. On back-to-back third downs, Kelley had a 14-yard run and completed a 12-yard pass to move the chains. Kelley completed the opening drive with a 16-yard pass to Brendan Saak. Ben Nord added the extra point to give Quincy a 7-0 lead six minutes into the game.
For the next 30 minutes of the game, it was all Quincy. Owen Schoenenberger caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Kelley on the Hawks' next drive.
Frustration set in on Lincoln's next possession. After unintentionally running out of bounds on its own 1-yard line during the kickoff return, Lincoln then had a pass intercepted by Shane Barrett returned 24 yards for a score. Quincy extended the lead to 21-0 with 20 seconds to play in the opening quarter.
"We were very frustrated," Jones said. "I tell them all the time we have to play in ebbs and flows. You're going to have some good things, you're going to have some bad things.
"You're going to have some things that are not going to go your way. You got to figure out how to deal with them."
Failing to get one of those third-down stops on the opening drive quickly snowballed on the Blue Tigers.
"Those opportunities are confidence-builders or confidence-breakers," Jones said. "They did a great job of getting first downs on third-and-long. That's been our Achilles' heel all season. We have not been able to get off the field on third-and-long, which is crazy."
The Blue Tiger defense slowed the Hawks' momentum in the second quarter, but the Hawks were still able to add to their lead. Nord kicked a 35-yard field goal and then hit a 50-yard field goal - breaking a school record - to give Quincy a 27-0 halftime lead.
In the first half, Quincy outgained Lincoln 217 yards to minus-14.
The time-of-possession battle also swayed heavily in Quincy's favor. Lincoln's offense only had the ball for 19:16, leaving the defense on the field for more than 40 minutes of the game.
"That's what it came down to," Jones said. "We have got to do a better job of getting off the field on third down."
Quincy added a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter on a 34-yard run by Kelley and a 15-yard pass to Eric Poindexter to take a commanding 40-0 lead.
Dennis Vinson took Andrew McIntyre's spot at quarterback on Lincoln's second drive of the second half. After throwing an interception, Vinson completed a 43-yard pass to Justin Kelly to spark the Blue Tigers late in the third quarter. In the opening minute of the fourth, he found Bryson Winfrey for a 29-yard strike to get the Blue Tigers on the board.
On Lincoln's next possession, Anthony Townsend won a battle with his defender for a jump ball in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown catch. Townsend's third receiving touchdown of the season made the score 40-14 with 11:31 to play.
"Anthony Townsend is extremely competitive. He wants to go up and get every ball," Jones said.
James led Quincy with 24 rushes for 133 yards, finding plenty of momentum after struggling on his first four carries. Kelley also had seven carries for 70 yards and completed 18-of-29 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns.
After being held to negative yards in the first half, Lincoln finished with 184 yards of total offense. Vinson completed 8-of-18 passes for 202 yards and Kelly caught two passes for 59 yards. Winfrey also had three receptions for 49 yards.
The Blue Tigers were held to minus-38 yards rushing on 18 carries.
"We hate the way we played, but we can't dwell on what we did bad," Jones said. "If you dwell on what you did bad, you're going to continue to have the same problems.
"We have to learn from our mistakes, and we haven't learned from our mistakes yet."
Lincoln, 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the GLVC, will play against Truman State next Saturday at Kirksville.