GRAND ISLAND — After having to take the nail-biter route to capture its first two victories of the season, Grand Island unleashed a dominant performance on Lincoln High.
The Islanders raced to a 42-0 halftime lead and scored on all nine of their offensive possessions as backups played the entirety of the second half with a running clock during a 62-0 victory over the Links on Friday night at Memorial Stadium. It was quite a contrast from Grand Island’s earlier wins against North Platte (28-27) and Norfolk (21-19).
Coach Jeff Tomlin said he was glad to see the Islanders play a complete game.
“We haven’t been a great starting team,” Tomlin said. “We’ve been a pretty good finishing team, but we need to be a starting and a finishing team.
“We have a lot of guys who just work so hard in practice and in the weight room — day in and day out — that maybe don’t get as many reps on the varsity game field, so it was nice to get guys varsity snaps.”
Nelsyn Wheeler rushed six times for 114 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown sprint, as Grand Island finished with 298 yards on the ground. Ryker Booth added 73 yards and two TDs on nine carries, while Caleb Richardson, Bode Albers, Ryan Coslor and Matthew Hernandez also had rushing TDs.
Behind an offensive line anchored by senior center Reid Kelly, the Islanders averaged 9.3 yards per rush. They finished with 392 total yards on 40 offensive snaps.
“One of the things we wanted to emphasize this week was keeping a low pad-level and I think we executed that pretty well,” Kelly said. “We were moving guys all over the field. We’ve got Caleb Richardson and Nelsyn Wheeler in the backfield and they’re guys who can cut it up and make plays pretty easy.”
Islanders’ quarterback Bode Albers was 6 of 7 passing for 94 yards with two TDs. Justyce Hostetler had both of Grand Island’s scoring receptions, coming from 35 and 20 yards out of the backfield.
“Our goal of the week was to finish everything — finish drives, finish series on defense, finish on special teams, finish in practice — and I think they finished pretty well,” Tomlin said. “Our focus was good. We played a really clean game overall with not very many penalties and very few unforced errors.
“I’m proud of the effort. I think we got better in a lot of areas.”
Grand Island (3-1) smothered Lincoln High’s offense, allowing just 17 yards rushing on 33 attempts. The Links (1-3), who are transitioning to a flex-bone offense, have been shut out in three of their four games this season and managed just two first downs against the Islanders.
“I really think our defensive line set the tone early and, of course, Justyce Hostetler and Ryan Coslor in the middle are two of the better (linebacker) tandems that there is,” Tomlin said. “Our outside linebackers are getting better each week — really solid for us — and our young secondary is starting to figure it out a little bit.”
Having faced a similar offensive scheme in their season opener, Kelly said the Islanders were well-prepared on defense.
“We had North Platte the first week of the season and this was basically the same offense,” Kelly said. “I think we were just more ready to come down and make plays and our linebackers cleaned up everything that we didn’t get on the D-line.
“We had Roady (Mintken), Kaden (Roberson) and myself on the defensive line tonight and I felt we were pretty dominant. We were doing a great job of getting into their backfield, tearing things up and making plays.”
Tomlin said Kelly has had an excellent start to his senior season. Not only has the 6-foot-4, 245-pounder been a mainstay on both the offensive and defensive lines, but he blocked a point-after kick against North Platte and a field-goal attempt against Norfolk. Both plays proved to be critical to the final outcome.
“Reid is an exceptional player,” Tomlin said. “We knew last year that he had the potential to be really, really good. He’s super smart and, obviously, has a great work ethic.
“Reid stays really even-keel, too — not too high and not too low. He’s a super teammate and an excellent captain. He’s a team captain for a reason and he’s sure clutch because we won by one point in game one and it was his (PAT) block and he blocked a field goal last week at a crucial time. We have excellent captains and Reid is right there with them.”
Grand Island 62, Lincoln High 0
Lincoln High (1-3)
0
0
0
0—0
Grand Island (3-1)
21
21
7
13—62
First Quarter
GI—Justyce Hostetler 35 pass from Bode Albers (Thatcher Panowicz kick), 10:22.
GI—Caleb Richardson 8 run (Panowicz kick), 7:38.
GI—B.Albers 7 run (Panowicz kick), 4:25.
Second Quarter
GI—Hostetler 20 pass from B.Albers (Panowicz kick), 9:10.
GI—Ryan Coslor 1 run (Panowicz kick), 5:31.
GI—Nelsyn Wheeler 63 run (Panowicz kick), 3:15.
Third Quarter
GI—Ryker Booth 2 run (Panowicz kick), 4:50.
Fourth Quarter
GI—Booth 3 run (Panowicz kick), 10:28.
GI—Matthew Hernandez 3 run (kick failed), 3:45.
LH
GI
First downs
2
22
Rushes-Yards
33-17
32-298
Passing Yards
0
94
Att-Comp-Int
0-2-0
6-8-0
Return Yards
0
52
Fumbles-Lost
2-1
1-0
Punts-Avg.
8-32.6
0-0.0
Penalties-Yards
5-36
3-29
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing—LH, Mason 12-11, Chapman 7-7, Childs 2-3, Lee 1-2, Jenkins 3-1, Patterson 3-1, Welstead 3-minus 3, Jones 2-minus 5. GI, Wheeler 6-114, Booth 9-73, Richardson 3-40, Douglass 2-22, Hernandez 3-16, Haubold 2-13, Barrientos 1-10, Coslor 2-9, Hostetler 1-5, Albers 3-minus 4.
Passing—LH, Chapman 0-2-0 0. GI, B.Albers 6-7-0 94.
Receiving—GI, Hostetler 2-55, Holling 2-16, Bolton 2-16, J.Albers 1-11.
Islanders Hall of Fame
Grand Island’s 2023 Football Hall of Fame class was introduced during halftime of Friday night’s game against Lincoln High. New inductees include George Ayoub, Scott Fischer, Ryker Fyfe, Kalan Jones, Bryan Mabie, Chase Reis and Richard Simpson.
A Hall of Fame luncheon will take place at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Balz Banquet Hall in Grand Island. Tickets cost $25 apiece and doors open at 11 a.m.
