Lincoln football's Christian Borhi, Francisco Ortiz and Mekhi Negron key big win over Kennedy

The questions asked of Lincoln High School football coach Shawn O’Connor were simple and straightforward.

Was his Railsplitters’ 35-8 win over the John F. Kennedy Campus Knights Friday night at Lincoln High School Friday night in Brooklyn the cleanest performances of the still-young season? Did he view it as a complete, 40-minute performance?

His response was equally simple and straightforward.

“Yes, absolutely,” O’Connor said.

It would be hard to argue with him.

Quarterback Christian Borhi completed 12-of-19 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns, both to Francisco Ortiz. Mekhi Negron rushed for two scores and senior running back Christian Young added another on the ground.

“This was a finishing game,” O’Connor said. “We finished the game.”

They also started it, too. As six plays into the game at the Coney Island school, the Railsplitters (1-1) had a 7-0 lead.

Three plays after Amyr Ivory Jr. picked off Kennedey’s (0-2) Jeremiah Senat, Borhi connected with Ortiz on a wide receiver screen on third-and-seven for a 41-yard touchdown catch-and-run.

“Right from the jump I knew it was game over,” Borhi said.

Both Lincoln and Kennedy came into the game with 0-1 marks in PSAL Conference 4A play. That is where the similarities began and ended for the city programs. The Railsplitters dropped a 14-6 decision to Curtis (Staten Island) while the Knights absorbed a 35-0 blowout loss to Erasmus Hall (Brooklyn) last week.

Which should not be surprising. Lincoln is among the city powers in football while Kennedy is a young team trying to find itself.

“We make a lot of mistakes,” Knights coach Alex Vega told Newsday after the game. “Characteristic of a young team (without) football experience and that is the problem that we’re having. We’re playing in the championship division. We’re playing against teams with kids that have played before and we’re learning as we go. So we’re going to go through a lot of growing pains.”

Lincoln proved it could strike quickly. The Railsplitters’ second scoring drive showed it could be reasonably methodical as they

marched 35 yards on seven plays and took a 14-0 lead when Negron sprinted off left tackle on third-and-goal. Lincoln had been gifted terrific field position when Senat, who also punts for the Knights, had to scramble to recover a bad snap before rushing a kick that went out of bounds at the Lincoln 35.

Kennedy, the Bronx school, cut Lincoln’s lead to 14-8 on Amadou Samake’s 30-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter. Borhi and Ortiz responded by hooking up on a 35-yard post pattern which extended Lincoln’s advantage to 21-8 at halftime.

The Knights potentially had an opportunity to close to within 21-11 at halftime, but eschewed kicking a 32-yard field goal because, as Vega said, the team has not had time to work with its new kicker, who came over last week from Kennedy’s soccer team. Instead, Derik Betances sprinted for four yards on a draw on the last play of the half.

Lincoln opened the second half with an eight-play drive which culminated with Negron’s second touchdown run of the contest, a one-yard sprint off right tackle which extended the lead to 28-8.

On the ensuing possession, Kennedy drove to the Knights’ red zone before the drive stalled. Much like at the end of the first half, Kennedy did not opt to kick a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 15-yard line. Rather, on fourth-and-15, Betances ran up-the-middle for five yards.

Following the turnover on downs, Lincoln put the game away by marching 90 yards in 10 plays, culminated by Young’s five-yard dash off the left side and into the end zone.