Houston rides big performance from Lincoln Pare to victory over ECS

It only took Houston's Lincoln Pare two snaps to find his way into the end zone Friday night. He was stonewalled for no gain on his first attempt. On the next play, he found a crease in the ECS defense and raced 95 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. 

"We're really working on getting to the hole fast. I think a lot of it is speed, getting to the hole and hitting people before they hit us," said Pare. 

He carried the ball 33 times Friday night and finished  with 255 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-20 victory. The Mustangs rushed the ball more than twice as much as they passed it. 

"We rode him again. Like I told him before, he’s built for that. He’s built for those 30- and 40-carry games," said Houston coach James Thomas. "He doesn’t play the other side of the ball so we ask him to take a heavy load and he welcomes it." 

Pare's success in the run game opened things up for the Mustang passing attack. Ethan Burns was an efficient 9-of-14 for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Grayson Hitt caught seven of the nine completions for 161 yards and both touchdowns. 

"We do run a lot. Everyone knows us for our run game, but getting those passes in drops the defense back so they can’t just stack the offensive line," Burns said. 

"We always want to set the line of scrimmage. We want to shorten the game here and there but we want to go fast when we need to," said Thomas. "And when we’ve got a guy like Grayson Hitt on the outside, you can stretch the field, too. We’re a tough team to match up with when you’ve got those two guys going." 

Pare was a first-team all-state selection and a finalist for Commercial Appeal football player of the year last year. He rushed for 2,131 yards and 31 touchdowns.

He has 819 yards and 10 touchdowns through four games this season, putting him on pace for a similar level of production as last year. He has FCS offers including Austin Peay, UT-Martin, Dartmouth and Eastern Kentucky. 

ECS' running game was also effective as Jaylen Greenwood and Matthew McMeans combined for 207 yards rushing and a touchdown. But Houston was able to limit the Eagles to 69 yards passing. 

"They were able to run the ball on us. We knew they were tough up front and had a good outside zone. We just couldn’t get off blocks so we made some little adjustments at halftime," Thomas said. "We knew they were going to continue to run the ball. That's a good football team and they’re going to continue to do a lot of good things."

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