Healthier Linn-Mar rebounds with 35-9 win over Muscatine

MARION — There was no doubt Dylan Muszynski was excited to be back.

After injuring his ankle in a Week 3 loss to Cedar Rapids Kennedy, the Linn-Mar junior wingback could only watch the next two weeks as his teammates fell to Bettendorf and Cedar Falls.

“I've been waiting for this for a couple of weeks,” Muszynski said. “It felt great to be back out here with my guys.”

And his guys were more than happy to have their big play guy back for Friday night's game against Muscatine at Linn-Mar Stadium.

The 5-foot-8, 175-pound junior made his mark right away, taking off on a 65-yard run on his second carry. He finished with 198 yards on 25 carries and caught two passes for another 33 yards as the Lions snapped their three-game losing streak with an impressive, 35-9, win over the Muskies.

“It felt amazing,” Muszynski said about his ankle. “I was able to cut really well and it was great to have the (offensive) line make some big holes for me.”

Linn-Mar Coach Tim Lovell stated the obvious about having Muszynski back on the field.

“You could see it tonight,” Lovell said. “He definitely makes us better and our guys were fired up to block for him. Having a guy with that explosiveness makes such a huge difference.”

The Muskies have a pretty good back of their own in senior Ty Cozad. After Linn-Mar was stopped on downs, he gave Muscatine a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter when he took a quick handoff and raced untouched up the middle for a 74-yard score. Cozad ended up rushing for 173 yards on 24 carries.

“They did a really good job scheming things for their first drive,” Lovell said. “We took a little time to adjust, but (Muscatine) Coach (Dan) Hawkins does a great job with his players and they fought really hard.”

It took the Lions just three minutes to take the lead. Muszynski capped the drive with a 5-yard run. After Muscatine fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Linn-Mar needed less than a minute to expand the lead to 14-6 as Stone Morgan connected with Austin Waller on a 13-yard scoring pass that saw Waller battle his way through several defenders over the final 2 yards to score.

Muscatine closed the gap to 14-9 on a 36-yard field goal from Jackson Othmer with 7:07 remaining in the half.

The Muskies then had the ball in their own territory late in the half. Instead of trying to run out the clock, they tried a pass that was deflected and intercepted by Evan Pulis. Two plays later, Muszynski scored again from the 5 and his 2-point run gave the Lions a 22-9 lead at the break.

It was all Lions in the final 24 minutes. Morgan scored on a QB sneak late in the third and capped the scoring on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 15-yard scoring pass to Emerson Gasper. Linn-Mar racked up 422 yards of offense compared to 254 for the Muskies. Carson Luense led the defense with 13 tackles.

“I was really proud of the kids and their resiliency,” Lovell said. “We have had a lot of adversity and struggles with some things not going exactly our way. It was good for our guys to have some positive momentum going into next week.”

Next week, the Lions (3-3) travel to play Davenport West at Brady Street Stadium while the Muskies (3-3) return home to host Pleasant Valley.