WINTHROP — Zack Splude felt special teams would be a factor when his Lisbon Greyhounds faced the Winthrop Ramblers on Friday night. They certainly did, but Splude played a big role in deciding the game himself.

Lisbon won the field position battle for much of the game, thanks to special teams. The Greyhounds recovered an onside kick and blocked a punt, while Winthrop had a punt cover just 13 yards, was drawn offsides on a Lisbon punt and failed on a fake punt deep in its own territory.

And Splude scored three touchdowns and threw for another.

With that, Lisbon beat Winthrop 27-7 in the Campbell Conference Class C finale for both teams. The loss drops Winthrop to 3-5 and out of the playoffs. Lisbon improves to 6-2.

“I think special teams wins games, and our special teams were completely on it today,” said Splude, who blocked a punt for the Greyhounds. He also rushed 10 times for 124 yards. “Our special teams were on it, and it won us the game.”

Trailing by six in the fourth quarter, Winthrop tried to make a play on special teams after struggling in that phase of the game all night. Facing a fourth and 4 from their own 31, the Ramblers tried a fake punt. Quarterback Jared Hanson was pressured and threw the ball away. He was called for intentional grounding, and Lisbon took over on its own 20. Splude scored on first down, and the Greyhounds led 19-6.

“Trying to make a play because it was late in the game,” Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton said. “We had practiced that late in the week and … it was a dumb play by me because I should have just called it from the sideline. When I called the timeout, everyone in the house knew I was calling it. It’s my fault, nothing wrong with what the kids did.”

Winthrop responded and drove to the Lisbon 14 on a 31-yard pass from Hanson to Zach Glazier but then fumbled the ball away. The Greyhounds took over at their own 12, and Splude took off on a spectacular 88-yard touchdown run. Splude broke away from multiple tacklers behind the line of scrimmage and another one along the sideline, giving Lisbon a 27-7 lead with 7:35 left in the game.

“That was a long run; I haven’t had a long run like that in my whole entire career,” Splude said.
Winthrop started the game strong, driving 73 yards on the game’s first possession and scoring on a 13-yard pass from Hanson to Tyler Stockford. Winthrop rushed for 56 yards on the drive, which lasted nearly seven minutes.

Lisbon tied it on a 4-yard run by Splude in the second quarter. The Greyhounds got the ball back when Chase Hunter recovered an onside kick and Aaron Boyington caught an 18-yard pass from Splude with 9:42 left.

“Our plan was to pound the ball and we should have stuck with it, but unfortunately we gave up some big plays and had to come back and try to score and they took the pass game away from us,” Stoneton said. “I’m really proud of my defense, this is the first game we really stepped up and played.”
 
Scott Martin — 621-5618
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