March 28, 2024

Second-half rally keeps No. 6 Hawks unbeaten

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SULLY — The Lynnville-Sully defense came into its Week 7 Homecoming game against New London allowing only 5.3 points per game.

Facing their toughest test yet, the sixth-ranked Hawks had trouble slowing down the Class A yardage leader through two quarters. Blake Nehring gave his team a two score advantage at halftime following big pass play after big pass play.

But, like it has all season, Lynnville-Sully stayed the course, trusted in the gameplan and shut down the prolific Tigers in the second half during a come-from-behind 17-14 win during Class A District 6 play Friday night.

Nehring threw for 245 yards on nine completions in the game, but Lynnville-Sully’s defense forced two turnovers and allowed only 78 yards in the second half. Junior defensive end Corey McCoy sealed the win with a sack of Nehring in the end zone with 1:18 to play in the game.

“We were patient. We stuck with the plan,” Lynnville-Sully coach Mike Parkinson said. “When you do that, and the guys believe in what you’re doing, anything can happen. It was more of a power of belief than anything else. We let a few big plays happen, the defense stayed the course.”

With next week’s game being forfeited by Danville, Lynnville-Sully (7-0 overall, 5-0 in district play) plays Montezuma on Oct. 21 for a perfect 9-0 regular season and potentially for the district title. The win over ninth-ranked New London pushed the Hawks one step closer to a playoff berth.

“It was huge. It was awesome. I haven’t had a game like that in high school before,” said L-S senior wideout Caden Dunsbergen, who finished with 61 receiving yards on seven receptions. “I never imagined being undefeated this far into a season.”

The first New London turnover didn’t result in points for L-S, but it halted a Tiger drive that got into the red zone. The Nehring pass that was picked off bounced off several different players before falling into the arms of L-S junior Carson Dunsbergen.

New London got the ball back at midfield, but the L-S defense got the ball back following a fumble.

That was one too many mistakes by ninth-ranked New London. Lynnville-Sully drove 68 yards in 10 plays on its next drive.

The key play in the possession was a 13-yard pass on fourth and 13 from senior Tyler Van Zante. He came into the game for junior quarterback Elijah Collins and hooked up with Tyson Vander Linden for the biggest first down of the game.

“I just wanted to get the first down,” Van Zante said. “It was a bad pass actually. I threw it across my body. Luckily, he made a great play on the ball. It was a pressure moment, but a rewarding moment. This was a huge win for us.”

Sage Zylstra went 11 yards on the next play, and scored from 6 yards out two plays later to put the Hawks on the board. Zylstra recorded his third straight 150-plus yard performance on the night, finishing with 174 yards on 34 carries, both of which are season-highs.

Zylstra, who ran in the 2-point conversion on the Hawks’ first TD, scored both L-S touchdowns and now has eight on the season along with 688 rushing yards.

“I have to give credit to my line again,” Zylstra said. “The guys up front are just blowing up holes. I am just hitting the holes, making the cuts and it’s working for us.”

Van Zante stayed in the game at quarterback the rest of the way. Lynnville-Sully followed a New London three-and-out with another scoring drive.

This time, the Hawks went 56 yards in 12 plays. Van Zante hit Caden Dunsbergen for 13 yards on fourth and seven and then Zylstra plunged in from 1-yard out on fourth and one to give the Hawks a 15-14 lead with 2:30 to play in the game.

“I actually slipped and bobbled the ball,” Caden Dunsbergen said of the fourth-down reception. “My hands were wet, and I slipped, but I was able to hang onto it.”

Momentum stayed with Hawks on the ensuing kickoff when New London went backwards on the return. The Tigers tried some trickery with a reverse but fumbled the ball and was forced to start at their own 3-yard line.

The first pass from Nehring fell incomplete. The second pass went to Luckett for 13 yards. After an incompletion, the ball was then snapped over Nehring’s head on second down. That resulted in a 15-yard loss for the Tigers, and McCoy sacked Nehring for a safety on the next play to make it 17-14.

“That was a very difficult offense to defend,” Parkinson said. “We did everything in our power to stop them. I thought they got conservative a little bit, and then they got out of sync on offense. Maybe they tried to bleed the clock or maybe our defense was just playing dang good.”

New London drove 75 yards in five plays to get on the scoreboard in the first quarter.

The Tigers (5-2, 4-1) went 74 yards in six plays on their final scoring drive of the first half.

The Hawks, who wore military-style uniforms on the first-ever Heroes Night, had a total of five possessions in the first half. Three of those went 10 plays or more, but L-S had no points to show for it.

The final drive of the half covered 61 yards in 12 plays. It ended when Collins fumbled the snap as time expired.

New London went 51 yards on its first possession of the second half. The Tigers gained 27 yards on their final four drives.

Lynnville-Sully rushed for 250 yards in the win with Zylstra owning 174 of those. Sophomore Evan Squires gained 47 yards on 19 carries.

Collins started at quarterback for the Hawks and was 8-of-12 through the air for 45 yards. Van Zante was 3-for-5 for 37 yards.

McCoy had five tackles and two sacks, while Dylan Roozeboom and Ryan Hofer each had five tackles. Roozeboom also had a sack.

The Hawks have a one-game lead on both New London and Montezuma. The Hawks host Montezuma (5-2, 4-1) in the regular season finale at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21.

New London 7-7-0-0—14

Lynnville-Sully 0-0-8-9—17

NL — Bell 61 pass from Nehring (Hanushe kick)

NL — Stevenson 5 run (Hanushe kick)

L-S — Zylstra 6 run (Zylstra run)

L-S — Zylstra 1 run (Hansen kick)

L-S — McCoy sacked Nehring in end zone for safety