By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports writer

LINCOLN – Five different plays.
In his squad’s crucial Division II-B contest with Cumberland High on Friday night, that’s about all Lincoln coach Dave Waycott pulled out of his playbook.
That’s all he needed.
Relying almost entirely on their running game, the Lions pounded the gridiron for more than 300 yards. With its effective ground attack and a two-touchdown effort from running back Brandon Jutras, Lincoln defeated Cumberland with a 28-14 Homecoming win at Ferguson Field.
Besides defeating their neighboring rival for the first time in four years, the triumph also assured the Lions (3-4) a slot in the upcoming playoffs. That was made official just five minutes before the final whistle when it was learned that South Kingstown rolled past Toll Gate, 37-7, in its game on Friday night.
Cumberland (3-4), Toll Gate (3-4) and the Lions were all fighting for the fourth and final playoff spot. Lincoln earned its ticket based on head-to-head meetings. For the Lions, it’s their first trip to the postseason since 2003.
“We’re in,” said Waycott.”That’s what we set out to do. I remember in the second week in August I mentioned how it’s been so long and we got to get to the playoffs. That was out goal this year. And we achieved our goal.”
Jutras was definitely nuisance to the Clippers. In addition to his two scores, he was the top ground-gainer on the field with 135 yards on just 21 handles.
It was far from a one-man show, though.
Junior quarterback Ryan O’Dell gave his arm a rest, passing just twice for the night, and rushed for 87 yards and a score. Senior Anthony Saracina also found the end zone and ran for 83 yards. Lincoln mostly utilized a spread offense with O’Dell in the shotgun formation.
“We thinned our playbook out a lot,” Waycott said. “They have a very dangerous offense with their runs, their sweeps, their passing. Basically, I said let’s do what we do well. That’s all we did.”
“At the time,” he added. I thought the running game would eventually open up our passing game. Once it was so successful, I just changed everything up.”
“They lined up, good for them, they got off the ball and took it to us,” said CHS head coach Chris Skurka. “We had a hard time stopping them.”
Things certainly started off well for the Clippers. After successfully recovering an onside kick on the opening kickoff, the Clippers manufactured an eight-play, 52-yard drive that ended with running back Dave Elkas scoring on a three-yard run.
The Lions, however, answered that drive with an impressive one of their own. Introducing their spread offense right from the start, Lincoln responded with a 68-yard drive with Jutras finding the end zone of a three-yard run. O’Dell ignited the drive with a 27-yard run on just the second play. Saracina set up Jutras’s score with a 27-yarder on a third-and-two situation.
“That was huge,” Waycott said. “You could see the momentum starting to change. You could see some life coming back.”
Lincoln would double its advantage at the start of the second half with Jutras scoring his second TD of the night on another three-yard run, capping off a lengthy, 12-play drive that started at the end of the first quarter and finished with 8:56 remaining until halftime.
Lincoln’s defense was up for the task on the cold Friday night. In the second half, the Lions dominated in terms of possession, and twice stopped Cumberland from doing any damage inside the 20-yard line.
O’Dell would give his teammates a 21-7 lead with a five-yard keeper early in the third quarter.
Canavan, who was sacked four times by the Lions, did manage to get Cumberland within a touchdown. After the Clippers were flagged for a 15-yard penalty on a personal foul, he needed just two plays from midfield before unleashing a perfect spiral to receiver Joe Vecchio on a 49-yard TD pass play.
That would be the closest the Clippers would get. Saracina put the exclamation on the ‘W’ with a one-yard run in the fourth quarter. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak by the Lions, including three Division II-B contests.
“It’s a credit to these kids,”Waycott said. “A lot of team would fold up their tents after that. These kids came in on Monday morning and wanted to get better and we worked hard. It’s more a credit to them.”

***
Cumberland    7 7 0 0 - 14
Lincoln 6 8 6 8 – 28
C – Dave Elkas 3 run (Michael Hayes kick)
L – Brandon Jutras 3 run (kick blocked)
L – Jutras 3 run (Ryan O’Dell run)
L – O’Dell 5 run (run failed).
C – Dan Canavan  49 pass to Joe Vecchio (Chad Bacon kick)
L – Anthony Saracina 1 run (O’Dell pass to Osel-lie Saine)

                                L        C
First downs                 17        7                            
Rushes-yards  .                55-310        20-63                   
Passing                     0-2-1        7-15-1
Net passing                  0        192                 
Penalties-yards                 2-10        4-60           
Fumbles-lost                0-0        1-1           
Punts-average                1-33        2-30                  
***
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: L –Brandon Jutras 21-135, Ryan O’Dell 14-87, Anthony Saracina 18-83, Asjed Hussain 1-2, Jevonne Dube 1-3. C  - Keith Gaumond 6-13, Dave Elkas 8-38, Justin Gaudette 4-29, Dan canavan 8 (-17)
PASSING: L – Ryan O’Dell 0-2-1 0. Dan Canavan 7-15-1 192.
RECEIVING: C – Keith Gaumond 4-50, Dave Elkas 1-9, Joe Vecchio  3-65.