The Lincoln Park fans did not rush the field Friday night, but coach Jamie Grignon did see a few players grab the water cooler before he stopped them dead in their tracks.
“We’re beyond that right now,” he told them. “Put it down. It was a huge win, but we’ve got a long ways to go.”
The Lincoln Park players wanted to give their coach a victory shower because they had just knocked off Wyandotte, consistently the top program in the Downriver League, 18-15, to improve to 3-1.
The Railsplitters do have a long way to go before they become a serious state playoff contender, but that journey is nowhere near as long or as treacherous as the one they were on when they halted a state-record 66-game losing streak in Week 6 two seasons ago.
This win ends a nine-game losing streak to Wyandotte, which outscored L.P., 392-34, in those games.
Yet Grignon was surprisingly optimistic entering the game.
“Last year we saw the cracks,” he said. “We played with them for a half, and that was when everybody had to return the next day. It was one of those lighting/thunderstorm days. We were basically controlling the game that first half.
“We got it in the kids’ heads that we can compete with the upper-echelon teams in our league, but we have to play a complete game.”
The impressive aspect of the Railsplitters is their resiliency. After winning their first two games this fall, they were beaten by Trenton in Week 3 and could have figured that this was the same old, same old.
Even in Friday’s game, L.P. trailed twice, but rallied each time. The final score capped a 62-yard drive engineered by quarterback Steve Glenn and finished by Pierre Williams, who scored on a 19-yard jet sweep with 1:10 left.
“We had good blocking at the point of attack, and he made a great cut and got it in,” Grignon said. “We made some great play calls, Steve made some great decisions passing the ball and the rest is history.”
Making the calls was offensive coordinator Alex Grignon, who had been the water boy when his father was previously L.P.’s coach in 1994-99. The water boy on this team is Alex’s son, Quincy.
This week, Lincoln Park plays at Melvindale in a Jug Trophy game that has been going on for years.
“I remember as a little kid when my dad (Ted) was the head coach here in the ’60s and we had that jug in our basement,” Grignon said. “Then they had it for a while, and we got it back last year. We’d like to keep it.”
The thing Grignon wants most is a program like the one Ron Adams has built at Wyandotte, a yearly state playoff contender.
“Ron and his staff were very humble and congratulated us and told us what a great win it was for us,” Grignon said. “Wyandotte is really a class act. I admire them a lot.”
Grignon understands that with a 3-1 record, Lincoln Park is only three wins away from making the state playoffs for the first time since 2002.
In the 13 seasons since, the Railsplitters have lost 96 games.
And while this is a different Lincoln Park program than the one that had the 66-game losing streak, Grignon isn’t looking past this week.
“What’s that clip you see with the former Colts coach saying?” Grignon said.
That would be an exasperated Jim Mora shouting: “What’s that? Ah —playoffs? Don’t talk about — playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game! Another game.”
Grignon just hopes Lincoln Park can hold on to the Jug.
Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.