FAYETTEVILLE — Riverdale experienced every conceivable nightmare it could Friday night at Lincoln County.

And the Warriors could never crawl out of the hole they dug themselves in The Pit.

Lincoln County (3-1) rode momentum from four first-quarter Riverdale turnovers all the way to a 26-13 win — the Falcons' first victory over the Warriors since 2003.

"These kids, they've never beaten Riverdale," Lincoln County coach Louis Thompson said. "This is a great win over a great program."

In all, the Warriors (2-2) gave up the ball seven times, and they had turnovers on their first four possessions.

"Coming down to The Pit, you always know it's going to be loud," Riverdale senior defensive lineman Chris McSwain said. "We just didn't come out at first and match their intensity."

The Falcons converted the early Riverdale miscues into 14 first-quarter points — both on touchdown runs from junior fullback Brandon Jean. Riverdale fell down 23-0 at halftime and trailed 26-0 early in the third quarter.

"We had a so-so week of practice, and that kind of translated to what we did to open the game," Riverdale coach Ron Aydelott said. "We scratched back, but when you're down three scores, it's not an easy thing."

The early lead came as no surprise to the energized Falcons.

"This week at practice we really stressed ... we can come win this game — we've got to be excited, got to be emotional, got to show that we can do it," Lincoln County senior quarterback Wil Golden said. "And the whole week it was like that. Everybody was ready to go.

"And you could just kind of feel it ... once we made that first turnover, you could really tell that it charged us up and we were ready to go."

The Falcons held the Warriors to 89 yards rushing in the first half, but Riverdale started to find a rhythm in the third quarter.

Junior Cody West shook off three first-half turnovers — two interceptions and a lost fumble — to lead the surge.

First, West found senior Trey Oliver for a 23-yard reception. Then he carried the ball five straight times for 31 total yards to set up senior Joey Lee's 9-yard touchdown run midway through the third — Riverdale's first points of the night.

West found the end zone less than a minute into the fourth quarter on a six-yard run to make it a 13-point game. He finished with a team-high 87 yards rushing on 15 carries.

"(Cody) did some good things to help get us back in the game, we just didn't have enough plays left," Aydelott said.

Lincoln County fumbled three times and lost two of them. But the Falcons' workhorse, senior Britton Twyman, had no fumbles and led the team with 55 yards on the ground on 24 carries.

Riverdale had five fumbles and lost four of them — the third time that has happened this season.

"We're not taking care of it," Aydelott said. "We talk about it every day, we practice it, it's just something we're going to have to concentrate on harder."