March 29, 2024

Hawks win, advance into Class A playoffs

SULLY — Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks were headed to the Class A playoffs if they defeated Belle Plaine Friday night at home on Senior Night.

It was junior Caden Dunsbergen who put the Hawks on the winning path. Dunsbergen, broke loose for a 49-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Senior running back Sage Ehresman took over from there throwing a touchdown pass and scoring three rushing touchdowns to push the Hawks to a 34-8 win and the playoffs.

It was a defensive stand at the end of the first half that Hawk head coach Mike Parkinson pointed to as a big factor in the victory. Lynnville-Sully was protecting a 13-8 lead with Belle Plaine driving toward the Hawk goal line.

“They had a first-and-goal at the 10. We stopped them at the five. Kobe Fisk intercepted a pass to halt that drive. Kobe was on fire as a receiver, plus he had the interception and a fumble recovery on defense,” Parkinson said.

“This was a big win for us, because you always want to go into the playoffs on a victory.”

Lynnville-Sully (6-3) earned the No. 3 seed out of Class A District 7. The Hawks take on Pekin (7-2), which is the No. 2 seed out of District 6, for a 7 p.m. first-round playoff game Wednesday at Pekin.

Leading 6-0 over Belle Plaine Friday, the Hawks finished off their second possession with a bit of a trick play. Quarterback Tyler Van Zante tossed it back to Ehresman, who found Fisk open for a 30-yard touchdown pass on the opening play of the second quarter.

The Plainsmen got on the scoreboard midway through the second quarter. Zac Slaymaker punched it over the goal line from 5 yards out and Belle Plaine tacked on a two-point conversion to make it 13-8.

Belle Plaine regained possession of the football and drove toward Lynnville-Sully’s end zone again as time was winding down in the first half. That’s where the Hawks’ defense made it stand to protect its 13-8 lead at the break.

“That was big. Belle Plaine is a good team and we shut them out in the second half,” Parkinson said. “We came out in the second half and got our running game going. Tyler Van Zante threw the ball effectively. We converted on three third-down situations when we needed to in the game.”

Ehresman scored on a 15-yard run in the third quarter. He had scoring runs of 3 yards and 2 yards in the fourth quarter. Ehresman finished with 151 yards on 23 carries and had one catch for 14 yards.

Van Zante went 4-of-7 passing for 83 yards and had an interception. Fisk caught three passes for 64 yards and Noah Engle, who was 4-of-5 on extra-point kicks, had one reception for 35 yards.

Dylan Roozeboom led the Hawk defense with 10 solo tackles and three assisted tackles. Fisk had six solos and one assisted tackle, and he had an interception and a fumble recovery.

Carson Dunsbergen racked up six solo stops and four assisted tackles for the Hawks. Ehresman had five unassisted tackles and five assisted tackles.

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