After hosting the same team it bested in the first round of the Class A playoffs last season, the Lynnville-Sully football team will take on a team in the second round it played a little more recently.
District foe Montezuma comes to Sully tonight in a rematch of a 21-0 Hawks victory from just 10 days ago. The game was a defensive battle throughout, and L-S coach Mike Parkinson isn’t expecting anything different this time around.
“They’re a good football team and anytime you can respond to two losses like they did and get a win against a good team like Lone Tree, it’s going to be a challenge,” Parkinson said after the Hawks’ 28-8 win over WACO last week. “They did some good things against us late in the second half, and I’m sure they’re going to want to do those things into Monday’s game.”
Montezuma appeared to be backing into the playoffs with back-to-back losses to BGM and Lynnville-Sully in the final two weeks of the season. However, the Braves recovered in a big way with a 35-21 defeat of Lone Tree last Wednesday thanks to a dedicated ground attack led by 96 yards and two touchdowns by sophomore Mitch Stephens and an additional 78 yards and two touchdowns from junior Cole Maschmaan.
The bigger number in that game was the five turnovers the Braves forced — three interceptions and two fumble recoveries — which allowed them to get over the top. The Hawks forced three interceptions of their own against WACO, all three coming from sophomore TJ Cunningham, but the players believe an extra effort needs to be had to meet the demands of the playoffs.
“It feels good getting to the second round of the playoffs, but we’re definitely going to need to do a few things different for our next game,” L-S junior Caden Doll said. “No team’s a slouch in the playoffs, so we’ll need to get progressively better as we go along.”
The Hawks and Braves will kick off in Sully at 7 p.m. Now riding a seven-game win streak and only giving up 15 points in those seven games, expect another hard-nosed defensive effort from the Hawks that could produce a similar result to the first game between the two teams.
“I’m just excited for the guys to host another game,” Parkinson said. “It’s going to be a heck of a good football game like it was (Oct. 19), so we’re going to have to be ready to play physical to get them again.”