March 19, 2024

Montezuma upends Lynnville-Sully

SULLY — Lynnville-Sully’s football team knew it was playoff bound before Friday’s Class A District 6 showdown at home against Montezuma. It was two ranked teams playing for the district title.

The fifth-ranked Hawks were trying to notch an undefeated regular season and securing a district title and home first-round playoff game.

Montezuma’s Braves were on the bubble — win they were in, but lose the Braves could be on the outside looking in at the Class A playoffs.

“We just made too many mistakes,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Mike Parkinson said following the fifth-ranked Hawks’ 28-14 loss to the 10th-ranked Braves Friday on Senior Night. “Montezuma stopped our running game. We have to run the ball — that’s who we are as a team.”

With the game final, both the Hawks and the Braves moved into the playoffs. Lynnville-Sully (8-1) travels to take on defending Class A champion Gladbrook-Reinbeck at 7 p.m. Friday in Gladbrook.

“We’re excited. Our kids had a great regular season, and yes, we wanted to win this one, but one game doesn’t make a season,” Parkinson said. “We’ll put this one behind us and get ready for the playoffs.”

The Braves held the Hawks to 30 yards on the ground. Lynnville-Sully went to the air to move the football, amassing 294 yards. The Hawks used the skills of senior Tyler Van Zante and junior Elijah Collins in the quarterback position in the game.

“Our plan was to use both Tyler and Elijah in the game. They each bring a lot to the table for us,” Parkinson said. “We moved the ball up and down the field through the air in the second, but didn’t finish drives.”

Van Zante completed 15-of-24 for 216 yards and a touchdown. He also threw three interceptions. Collins went 11-of-20 for 78 yards and had one interception.

Montezuma struck first with a 4-yard touchdown run by Logan Price and Carson Losure tacked on the 2-point conversion run. The Braves led 8-0 with 5:53 left in the first quarter.

Although Lynnville-Sully didn’t have a lot of success on the ground, the Hawks got on the scoreboard with a 10-yard rushing touchdown by junior Brevin Hansen. Hansen kicked the extra point to make it 8-7 at the 3:52 mark of the first period.

Van Zante connected with Hansen on a 54-yard TD pass at the end of the first quarter. Hansen’s kick made it 14-8,

Neither team scored in the second quarter, and Lynnville-Sully took a 14-8 lead into halftime.

Losure intercepted a Hawk pass, returning it 19 yards for a touchdown. Jordan Bender had a 2-point conversion run to lift the Braves to a 16-14 lead with 8:44 left in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Montezuma got TD runs of 1 yard by Price and 31 yards by Losure to seal the victory. The Braves finished with 221 yards on 49 carries led by Losure with 99 yards on 18 carries and Price with 62 yards on 19 carries. Price was 3-of-7 for 15 yards passing.

Hansen made 16 catches for 131 yards for the Hawks. Senior Caden Dunsbergen made five receptions for 116 yards. Junior Sage Zylstra carried the ball nine times for 17 yards and sophomore Evan Squires had 11 yards on five carries.

Sophomore Rylan James punted the ball four times for Lynnville-Sully for 177 yards, which was a 44-yard average.

Defensively, senior Ryan Hofer made 12 solo tackles and four assisted tackles while senior Dylan Roozeboom had four solo stops and six assisted tackles. Junior Carson Dunsbergen and Caden Dunsbergen were each credited with four solo tackles and four assisted tackles.

Lynnville-Sully and Montezuma finished district play at 6-1.

Montezuma 8-0-8-12—28

Lynnville-Sully 14-0-0-0—14

Monteuzma — Price 4 yd run (Losure run)

Lynnville-Sully — Hansen 10 yd run (Hansen kick)

Lynnville-Sully — Hansen 54 yd pass from Van Zante (Hansen kick)

Montezuma — Losure 19 yd interception return (Bender run)

Montezuma — Price 1 yd run (kick failed)

Montezuma — Losure 31 yd run (run failed)

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