Lisbon football is going through it this fall. On Friday, Oct. 3, the Lions lost their Homecoming game to Northeast, 34-21, at Walmer Field.

The game featured 30 penalties for 318 yards, disrupting both teams.

“You do the best you can in that situation,” Lisbon coach Alex Dean said.

And that applies to, well … everything.

Lisbon (0-6, 0-3) promoted freshman Tyler Kubovec to QB1 this week. Junior Ryder Meeks moved from QB1 to RB1 to help the team after senior Chase McFarlane was lost to injury.

“I didn’t mind at all,” Meeks said after rushing for 175 yards against Northeast (2-4, 1-2). “It is more going downhill, more north-south for me.”

Meeks said he tried to mentor the young QB all week.

“Every play, I get to tell him something new,” Meeks said. “I’m there for him every day.”

Dean said it was a necessary adjustment.

“In small-school football, we’re not 3-deep at every position,” Dean said. “Tyler had done a nice job on the scout team and we did what is probably best for the team. How can we fit the puzzle pieces together?

“And Ryder is a dynamic kid. He had a mature and classy approach to it. A team-first approach.”

Kubovec finished with 83 yards on 6-of-14 passing with two interceptions in his varsity debut. He also had two rushing touchdowns.

And the Lions continued to battle injuries.

“We’re almost out of linemen,” senior Henry Reiling said. “But we keep pushing forward. We really fought for this game. We had players go down, and still got better. We took it to another level.”

There were even some moments for the Homecoming crowd to get excited.

Lisbon overcame two holding penalties — including one that wiped out a 44-yard TD run by Meeks — on their final drive of the first half to score. On third-and-goal from the eight, Kubovec ran it in to make it 20-7 at halftime.

“Oh man. I told some of my teammates that felt like the longest first half of my life,” Reiling said. “The clock stops every time there’s a flag. And man, it sucked.

“The refs tried to control the game too much to be honest. I didn’t think it was that bad. Let’s play football.”

On the first drive of the second half, Lisbon put together a 5-play, 65-yard drive with another 8-yard TD run by Kubovec to close within one score, 20-14.

“At halftime our coaches were on our tails about everything,” Meeks said. “We wanted to go-go-go.”

After forcing another Rebel punt, the Lion offense got moving again. Despite having a 51-yard TD run by Kubovec wiped out with a holding call, Lisbon continued to drive and had a first-and-10 at the Rebel 21.

But a fumble killed the drive. And Northeast took that turnover and put together a 14-play scoring drive. On fourth-and-21, Rebel quarterback Jade Mielk connected with Sam Ugarph on a 30-yard TD heave to make it 28-14.

Lisbon finally had a long TD run not get called back for holding, with Meeks going 49 yards to make it 28-21 with 8:06 left in the game.

But on the next Northeast drive, on fourth-and-5, Mielk spun out of the pocket — and what seemed like a tackle for loss — and gained enough yardage for a first down. A personal foul penalty added 15 more yards.

Three plays later, Northeast senior running back Carson DeBo added a 32-yard rushing TD to make it 34-21 with 5:49 left.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a lot,” Reiling said.

The next Lisbon drive went three-and-out, hurt by a motion penalty and a sack.

The Lions had one final chance with 1:26 to play, down two scores, but couldn’t get past their own 39.

Mielk finished with 124 yards rushing and 3 rush TDs and 163 yards on 14-of-18 passing. DeBo added 151 rushing yards.

Lisbon is on the road this week at Camanche (4-2, 2-1) on Friday, Oct. 10. Despite their winless record, the Lions are trying to stay positive.

“Most of the team is sticking together,” Meeks said. “We’re like brothers.”

“We work hard every week, but can’t put it together on Fridays,” Reiling said. “We’re working on it.”

“I think it is all about putting our best foot forward and improving every week,” Dean said. “This is unfamiliar territory for them. They could turn sour, get negative, but they don’t. They are still hungry, and they want to keep fighting.”