Lions roar into district lead

MARION — The Linn-Mar Lions put a lasso on the Cedar Falls running game, and a stranglehold on the district race.

Linn-Mar held eighth-ranked Cedar Falls to minus-26 yards rushing and tripped the Tigers, 22-14, in a battle of Class 4A District 5 co-leaders Friday night at Linn-Mar Stadium.

'Our defense did a great job,' said Lions Coach Bob Forsyth. 'They're a part of our team that doesn't get a lot of respect.'

They earned it Friday, limiting the Tigers without an offensive touchdown until the final minute.

Linn-Mar (6-1 overall, 3-0 district) wrapped up a playoff berth and leads the district by a game — and holds the tie-breaker on the Tigers (5-2, 2-1) — with two to play.

Last year's 2-7 gut-punch seems a long time ago.

'That sucked for all of us,' recalled Adam Stolley, who had an interception for the Lions. 'We came out here tonight, ready to play four quarters and play Lion football. We've just got to keep going.'

Quarterback Ryan Schmidt ran for three touchdowns, and the Lions overcame a blocked punt for touchdown that brought Cedar Falls within 9-7.

'We didn't get down on ourselves,' Schmidt said. 'That could have been a big momentum change, but we just kept going.'

Hunter Lavallee scooped up the blocked punt and raced 32 yards to get the Tigers back in the game with 0:50 remaining in the third quarter. But the Lions went back to work.

After a bad snap led to an equally bad punt, Linn-Mar took over at the Cedar Falls 40 with 10:46 left.

Five plays later, Schmidt scored on a 14-yard keeper to make it a two-possession game at 16-7. Schmidt capped the next drive with a 4-yard run to extend the margin to 22-7 with 1:22 left before the Tigers scored a consolation TD (Taylen Alexander to Durrell Jackson on a 6-yard pass) in the waning seconds.

This game was decided by Linn-Mar's rushing defense and a disparity in field position through most of the contest.

'They were aggressive up front,' said Tigers Coach Brad Remmert. 'We never could get that field position flipped. They ran a lot of stunts and caused our (offensive) line lots of problems.'

Linn-Mar allowed 42 points per game last season. This year, the Lions are aggressive and fast to the ball. Missed tackles Friday were few.

Perrion Scott rushed for 117 yards for the Lions on 16 carries. Schmidt passed for 89 yards and ran for 72.

Alexander passed for 195 yards, 114 of them to Javon Middleton (on 11 catches).

Linn-Mar had a big advantage in field position in a first half in which the defenses dominated, and took a 3-0 lead into intermission.

The Lions threatened on their first drive, marching to the 3-yard line. But the Tigers held, stuffing Scott on fourth down. Scott had run for big gains of 14 and 28 yards earlier in the drive.

Linn-Mar forced a punt and got a good return on it, taking over at the Tigers 33. The Lions drove to the 16 before settling for Alexy Boehm's 34-yard field goal.

Linn-Mar is at Waterloo West next week; Cedar Falls hosts Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com