The Lincoln Southwest football team picked up their third win of the season on Friday against the Papillion-LaVista Monarchs by a final score of 25-14.

The first quarter saw the Hawks play stellar defense, as the score was 0-0 at the end of the first quarter, despite Papillion-LaVista having the ball in Hawks territory for a majority of the first quarter.

The Hawks would score the first points of the game on a drive that saw a lot of passing action from sophomore quarterback Collin Fritton that was capped off by a three yard touchdown pass from Fritton to junior Matthew Rink, senior Braeden Bestmann would miss the extra point, making the score 6-0 in favor of the Hawks.

“It was great to see the offense do something first and not have our defense out on the field as long as they have been,” Fritton said. “Our defense has been great all year and we’re just getting things rolling on the offensive side of the ball, and when our defense plays like they always do and our offense keeps playing like it is right now, we could be a pretty tough team to beat.”

The Monarchs would respond a couple of drives later with a touchdown of their own, making the score 7-6 going into halftime.

Papillion-LaVista would take the lead on their first possession of the second half on a 63 yard fade route.

The Hawks would turn the ball over on downs on their next drive, but made an interception two plays later. From there, Fritton would find sophomore Jack Baptista on a 33 yard touchdown pass. The Hawks would attempt a two-point conversion, but come up short, making the score 14-12 in favor of the Monarchs.

The rest of the scoring would come mid-way through the fourth quarter, where Fritton would find senior Grant Miller on a slant route for a 59 yard touchdown to give the Hawks the lead. Southwest would go for two, but their attempt failed, making the score 18-14.

On the next possession for the Monarchs, the Hawks would get an interception and would run it back for a pick-six. This time, the Hawks would make the extra point, making the score 25-14 with 3:44 left in the game.

“After their last score, our offense put up its second touchdown of the night that kept our defense well rested,” senior Blake Baker said. “Once our offense started helping us out, we hit the ground running.”

Papillion-LaVista would have one last chance with the ball on offense. After three unsuccessful plays, the Monarchs faced a fourth and forty four, which they did not convert, resulting in a turnover on downs.

“We had a pretty solid performance,” Baker said. “Papillion’s offense was held to minimal rushing yards, and, besides a couple of plays, were held to minimal passing yards as well. Overall, a great day for the defense.”

Southwest’s final game of the season will be this Friday, where they will play Lincoln High, who has only won one game all season. The game will be at Seacrest Field and will start at 4:30 PM.

“It feels great,” Fritton said. “Papio was a big game for us and a big win. It was a great team effort, but we’re ready to go take on Lincoln High this Friday and finish with a 4-4 record so we can host in the playoffs.”