Hawks destroy Cardinal, stay unbeaten

SULLY — Evan Squires said after Lynnville-Sully’s 53-0 win over Cardinal on Friday night he and his older brother Trevor often go home at night after practice or games and joke about who is more important to the Hawks’ team.

Trevor is one of the five starters on the offensive line who opens up holes for Evan and a host of L-S running backs.

It’s easy to see that both Squires brothers mean a lot to the program. They are definitely a reason the Hawks have started 4-0 for the first time in at least 10 seasons.

Sophomore Evan Squires scored four rushing touchdowns Friday night, junior quarterback Elijah Collins threw for 125 yards and two scores and the Hawk defense recored their third shutout of the season.

“I couldn’t do anything I do without him, and it’s fun to joke around with him in the huddle sometimes,” Evan Squires said about his older brother Trevor. “Cardinal has some big guys. Our offensive line was on the lesser side of the size equation, but they did an amazing job opening up holes. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

The Hawks (4-0 overall, 2-0 in district play) out-gained the Comets 326-90 in the game. Lynnville-Sully took advantage of two Cardinal turnovers early and never looked back in the easy win. Both teams entered game undefeated.

“It feels really good,” said senior linebacker Dylan Roozeboom, who led the defense with six tackles. “I know a lot of the guys I played with before this season would have loved to have started 4-0, too. It’s fun to be where we are right now.”

Cardinal turned the ball over to L-S following a fumble two offensive plays into the game. It took the Hawks just five plays to get on the board as Evan Squires capped the 32-yard drive with a 3-yard TD run. The score was set up by a 20-yard run from junior Sage Zylstra.

The Hawks’ second possession was their longest scoring drive of the game. L-S started at its own 32 and went 68 yards in 10 plays. The key plays before an Evan Squires 1-yard TD plunge were an 11-yard run by Squires, a 22-yard burst by Collins and a Collins 33-yard pass to junior Brevin Hansen.

The Hawks scored on six of their seven first-half possessions. Only one of those drives started in L-S territory.

“We were able to get good field position all night. That’s been a big part of our success this year, especially on offense,” L-S coach Mike Parkinson said. “ I have all the faith in the world that our offense can drive a long field if we have to, but we just haven’t needed to do it that much.”

Another turnover gave the ball back to L-S at the Cardinal 26-yard line. Three plays later, Squires scored on a 12-yard run. A 14-yard pass from Collins to sophomore Tyson Vander Linden set up the touchdown.

“They did an awesome job tonight. They brought it to them as far as the physicality goes,” Evan Squires said about the play of his offensive line.

If the Hawks weren’t getting good field position because of turnovers, they did so with a big play on special teams.

Vander Linden set up the Hawks at the Cardinal 11-yard line with a 33-yard put return. After a loss on the first play, Collins found senior Caden Dunsbergen on a 10-yard touchdown pass to make it 29-0 early in the second quarter.

The next L-S drive also went two plays, but this time Collins found Hansen down the middle of the field and he took it 43 yards for a TD.

The Hawks punted on their sixth possession of the first two quarters, but went into to halftime with a 43-0 lead. L-S went 32 yards in three plays on its final drive of the half.

Collins connected with senior Ryan Hofer for 25 yards and then Evan Squires scored from 7 yards out.

The Hawks scored on their first drive of the second half to make it 50-0. That drive covered 50 yards and included six plays. The biggest play of the drive was a 46-yard pass from senior Tyler Van Zante to senior Quentin Thompson. Squires capped the drive with a 1-yard TD run.

The only other points in the second half came off a 34-yard field goal by Hansen.

The Hawks defense held Cardinal to four first downs. They Comets (3-1, 1-1) rushed for 41 yards and threw for 49. The biggest goal for the second half for L-S was to keep the shutout intact.

“It helped our momentum. We didn’t want to give them anything at the end,” Roozeboom said. “I love playing on this team. We have really bonded this year.”

Cardinal gained 90 yards in the game but 38 of those yards came on one pass in the third quarter.

“The defense has been playing very well all year. We didn’t give up much tonight,” Parkinsons said. “I can’t be too picky with the one blown assignment. The guys are having fun, flying around and getting the football. That’s how you are supposed to play.”

Lynnville-Sully has outscored its first four opponents 164-12 in starting undefeated.

The Hawks look to extend its win streak to five games when they host Winfield-Mt. Union at 7 p.m. Friday. Cardinal defeated Winfield-Mt. Union 19-18 in Week 3.

“It feels pretty good, but we take it one at a time,” Parkinson said. “We want to go undefeated every night. That’s our mentality. We just happen to be 1-0 four times.

“We have to work on fundamentals. We have to block better, tackle better and run better. We have a long way to go still.”