Much of Friday night’s game between Lincoln East and Grand Island was a draw, but there was no question as to which team owned the fourth quarter, as the Islanders charged back to win 16-13.

To be specific, it was the last 10 minutes and 42 seconds of the quarter, the point when Lincoln East took its first lead of the game.

From that moment on, just about everything went Grand Island’s way, aided in large part by an Islander defense that turned ravenous in the game’s final minutes.

“This was just a great high school football game,” Grand Island coach Jeff Tomlin said. “They gave a great effort, but so did we. We got socked in the mouth a couple of times, but our guys really stepped it up at the end of the game. Our defense really played well as a unit, but we had a lot of individual guys step up and make big plays for us.”

The Islanders (2-0) gathered momentum after a second-quarter interception by Jory Crouch. Mike Tomlin picked up 20 yards on the first play, then picked up 11 more to give Grand Island a first down at the East 14-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Mike Lorenz broke loose, shedding tacklers as he rumbled 14 yards to put Grand Island on top.

From that point on, the game rested in the hands of the Islander defense. Defensive end Tommy Velasquez picked up two sacks during the last East possessions, as Scott Sunderman struggled to find targets.

“Velasquez did a great job,” Spartan coach John Gingery said. “He dominated us tonight. He put a lot of pressure on us all night, and especially at the end of the game, he made a big difference. We wanted to establish the run early tonight, but that just wasn’t happening. We had some luck late in the first half throwing the ball , but the interception in the fourth quarter was huge. Grand Island just made big plays when they had to.”

Grand Island looked ready to run East (1-1) out of Memorial Stadium as the ground attack did damage early on. However, a pair of Islander fumbles ended first-quarter possessions. Instead, Grand Island got on the board early in the second quarter when Slade Bolles picked off a pass at the Spartan 14 and scored.

The Islander offense tailed off as the second quarter unfolded, but superior special teams play, especially the punting of Bolles, kept East pinned down deep for much of the game. But in the final two minutes of the first half, Gingery saw his team’s passing game click, and a 12-yard pass from Sunderman to Tyson Clark tied the score late in the first half.

Grand Island added a 24-yard field goal by Brad Spencer midway through the third quarter for a 9-6 lead, but East responded by moving downfield as the passing game again found its spark.

“Getting off to a 2-0 start is really important,” Tomlin said. “It’s a great accomplishment, and it sure beats being 0-2. But we know we have to keep working, because we’re looking at another great team (Millard North) next week.”