March 28, 2024

Air attack powers Hawks to district win

SULLY — Lynnville-Sully 2015 Homecoming king and queen, Caleb Jansen and Naomi Schinkel, and the rest of the Hawk football fans watched Friday night as the Hawks went to the air in their 42-14 Class A District 7 victory over Iowa Valley’s Tigers.

“We found a new way to win — a passing game,” Hawk head coach Mike Parkinson said. “We were 21-of -26 for more than 300 yards. We even had three interceptions, so we were catching everything that went into the air.”

Junior quarterback Tyler Van Zante was 20-of-25 for 303 yards to lead the air attack for the Hawks. Van Zante threw a touchdown pass to Noah Engle and ran for a score in the second quarter.

Lynnville-Sully pushed out to a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Evan Squires scored on a 2-yard run and Sage Ehresman had a 4-yard touchdown run. Engle kicked the extra points.

Iowa Valley’s Bennett Goettsch broke loose for a 42-yard touchdown run and tacked on the two-point conversion run at the 11:24 mark of the second quarter. The Hawks answered on back-to-back drives with Van Zante hitting Engle for a 37-yard scoring strike and running in from four yards out two minutes later.

The Hawks led 28-14 at halftime after Goettsch connected with quarterback Gavin Collingwood on a 42-yard scoring pass play right before the break.

“Iowa Valley played hard, but our kids responded so well to what we needed to do after losing to Colfax-Mingo two weeks ago,” Parkinson said. “We’ve relied on a strong running game with a good senior running back in Sage Ehresman and our offensive line opening the holes up front. We’ve been working on our passing game, and it was evident (Friday night).”

Ehresman was a bit dinged up, Parkinson said, and the senior didn’t play much in the second half. He finished with 31 yards on five carries. The Hawks only had 100 yards on the ground. Sage Zylstra carried the ball 10 times for 28 yards.

Lynnville-Sully had all the second-half scoring — a touchdown in each of the final two quarters. Kobe Fisk, who had four catches for 135 yards, scored two 1-yard runs in the second half for the Hawks. Engle kicked the extra points.

Caden Dunsbergen made eight catches for 78 yards and Engle caught five passes for 74 yards. Ryan Hofer had two receptions for 16 yards and Tyson Vander Linden caught one for 10 yards. Elijah Collins completed one pass for 10 yards.

Lynnville-Sully’s defense had four takeaways. Engle, Fisk and Carson Dunsbergen each had an interceptions and Jesse Van Wyk recovered a Tiger fumble. Dylan Roozeboom led the defensive charge with eight tackles followed by Jack Hardin with six tackles and Caden Dunsbergen with five tackles.

Goettsch rushed for 111 yards on 16 carries for the Tigers, and was 1-of-1 passing. Collingwood went 4-of-12 passing for 13 yards and threw three interceptions.

“We will build on this as we prepare for a really tough game this next week. We have great senior leadership on our team and we’re moving forward each week,” Parkinson said.

The Hawks are 2-1 in Class A District 7 play and 3-2 overall. They travel to Brooklyn to take on Class A top-ranked BGM Friday.

Iowa Valley  0-14-0-0—14

Lynnville-Sully  14-14-7-7—42

L-S — Squires 2 yd run (Engle kick)

L-S — Ehresman 4 yd run (Engle kick)

IV — Goettsch 42 yd run (Goettsch run)

L-S — Engle 37 yd pass from Van Zante (Engle kick)

L-S — Van Zante 4 yd run (Engle kick)

IV — Collingwood 42 yd pass from Goettsch (PAT failed)

L-S — Fisk 1 yd run (Engle kick)

L-S — Fisk 1 yd run (Engle kick)

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com