WEST GROVE, Pa.  — Despite a strong second half, the Lincoln University football team couldn't rally from a big first-half deficit as the Lions fell just short in their comeback attempt Saturday as West Virginia Wesleyan remained unbeaten with a 37-26 victory at Avon Grove High School.
 
“We started slow, but played hard in the second half,” Lincoln head coach O.J. Abanishe said. “We just have to put four quarters of football together.”
 
After both teams had slow starts in the opening quarter, the Bobcats (5-0) struck first with an 11-play, 51-yard drive as Adam Neugebauer, who was 32-of-45 passing for 345 yards and four touchdowns, connected with Brandon Hoffman for a 3-yard touchdown to give West Virginia Wesleyan a 7-0 lead with 1:09 left in the first quarter.
 
On the ensuing kickoff, Philip Jean-Juste (Miami, Fla. /North Miami Beach HS), who finished with 82 yards on seven catches and two returns for 50 yards, returned the ball 36 yards to the 50 yard line and a penalty by West Virginia Wesleyan advanced the ball five more yards. After picking up four yards on first down, Doug Cook (Dania Beach, FL/University School of Nova SE University), who was 28 of 58 through the air for 350 yards and three touchdowns, connected with Jean-Juste down the left sideline for 40 yards, setting up the Lions at first-and-goal at the Bobcats' 1. Mason Colton (Red Oak, Ga./Westlake HS) punched it in from a yard out to cut the deficit to 7-6 as the extra point was blocked with four seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
 
The second quarter belonged to West Virginia Wesleyan as the Bobcats scored 20 unanswered points to take a 27-6 lead into the break.
 
West Virginia Wesleyan went 71 yards in six plays and capped the drive when Aaron Lewis caught a 20-yard pass from Neugebauer with 12:38 left in the first half to push the margin to 13-6.
 
On the next Lincoln drive, Cook was picked off at his own 33 by John Maddox. Maddox weaved in and out of traffic to find the endzone to extend the Bobcats advantage to 20-6 with 11:03 remaining.
 
The Bobcats completed the scoring just before halftime by starting their drive at their own 40 and going 60 yards in seven plays as Jon Meadows caught a 2-yard pass for the score to give West Virginia Wesleyan a 27-6 lead with four seasons remaining in the second quarter.
 
Despite the big deficit, the Lions battled back and refused to go quietly as Lincoln got the ball to start the second half.
 
The Lions (1-4) benefited from a pass interference penalty and capitalized on the very next play as Matthew Coston (Queens, N.Y./Dover HS) broke free from his defender and Cook threw a perfectly thrown ball over the top of the defense for a 58-yard touchdown to trim the margin to 27-13 with 14:42 left in the third quarter.
 
The Lions defense stopped the Bobcats and forced a 20-yard field goal by Phillip Warner as West Virginia Wesleyan extended the lead to 30-13 with 6:29 remaining.
 
However, Coston, who caught five passes for a game-high 138 yards, couldn't be stopped as Cook connected with the senior wide receiver down the right sideline to cap a 7-play, 99-yard drive with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.
 
But back came the Bobcats as Meadows, who finished with 12 catches for 111 yards, caught a 9-yard pass from Neugebauer with 12:33 remaining in the fourth quarter to give West Virginia Wesleyan a 37-20 lead.
 
Lincoln tried to rally in the final 12 minutes as Ivan Mitchell (Baltimore, Md./Milford Mill Academy) caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Cook with 9:04 left, cutting the deficit to 37-26 as the point after attempt failed.
 
The Lions tried to get a 37-yard field goal by Kyle Jaski (Escondido, Calif./Kenwood HS) with 3:20 left, but the kick went wide left and the Bobcats held off one late charge in the final two minutes to get the win.
 
Defensively, Brandon McElwee (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester City Junior and Senior HS) led Lincoln with 13 total tackles, including two sacks for a loss of eight yards. Daron Jones (Baltimore, Md./Cardinal Gibbons HS) had eight tackles and Lance Rutledge (Waldorf, Md./Westlake HS) finished with six tackles.
 
Ottis Scott paced the Bobcat defense with 10 total tacks and a pair of pass breakups. Jesse Robertson had eight tackles and Maddox added six tackles and three sacks for a loss of 17 yards.
 
West Virginia Wesleyan finished with 451 total yards of offense, while Lincoln had 392 yards. There were 29 total penalties for 275 yards.
 
The Lions continue their four-game homestand 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 8 with their Homecoming game against Chowan in a CIAA Northern Division game at Avon Grove High School.