CEDAR FALLS – Linn-Mar has run into its share of good football teams over the first five weeks.

The Lions have shown flashes of brilliance on offense, but have struggled on the defensive side.

That was the case again Friday night against Cedar Falls.

Linn-Mar gave up 589 yards to the Tigers, 449 of which came on the ground as Cedar Falls rebounded from an upset loss last week to Waterloo West with a 56-28 victory.

Despite the setback, it was a positive Bob Forsyth who spoke to his players in the bowels of the UNI-Dome after the contest.

He praised their work ethic and challenged them to come back on Monday with new resolve for next Friday night’s homecoming game with Dubuque Wahlert.

When asked about the Lions’ struggle against the run, Forsyth maintained his upbeat approach.

“I’m not going to criticize my kids,” he said. “They aren’t going to quit, the coaches aren’t going to quit. Cedar Falls is a really good football team and for a while, we were playing pretty good football against a pretty good football team.

“We just aren’t able to finish out stuff and we're going to keep working on that.”

Cedar Falls (4-1, 2-1) features University of Alabama recruit Ross Pierschbacher in the offensive line. The Tigers ran hard and often behind their blue-chip left tackle.

“Hey, Cedar Falls is a really good football team,” Forsyth said. “They are hard to beat and especially hard to beat here.”

The teams played on even terms through the first quarter. Eli Berregaard, who finished with 245 yards rushing on 26 carries for Cedar Falls, capped off a 99-yard drive with a 32-yard run with 5:45 left in the quarter.

The Lions (1-4, 1-2) answered when Ryan Schmidt and Matt Ramsey connected on a beautiful 32-yard pass, catch and run to tie the game at 7-7.

Berregard and sophomore Dennison Harrington scored in the second period to put the Tigers up 21-7. Harrington also had a big night on the ground, rushing for 149 yards on 11 carries.

Schmidt and his favorite deep target Griffin Brennecke hooked up on a 67-yard scoring connection to draw the Lions within a TD with 5:47 left before halftime at 21-14.

Linn-Mar had a chance to stop the Tigers before halftime, but Tiger quarterback Trey Hansen took advantage of a missed assignment in the Lions’ secondary to hit a wide-open Kyle Boomgarden on a 19-yard scoring strike just 47 seconds before the break.

“We thought we had a pretty good plan,” Forsyth said. “At the beginning we were playing pretty even with them. They just overtook us (before halftime) and we weren’t able to sustain anything in the second half.”

Linn-Mar’s offense continued to make plays, but was also hurt by several dropped passes. Those are the things Forsyth said the Lions have to continue to eliminate.

Schmidt completed 11-of-27 passes for 230 yards and three TDs. Junior speedster Perrion Scott saw his most extended action of the season coming off a foot injury, rushing for 19 yards on five carries. Brennecke had five catches for 155 yards and two scores.

“Hey, we are going to see a lot of good things on the film,” said Forsyth. “There’s going to be a lot of positive things, and of course there will be plenty of negatives as well. One thing I know is that the kids will continue to keep working.”

One thing that was obvious after the game was how much the Lions' players and coaches care. They are hurt by their 1-4 start. There were many long faces as the players headed to the locker room and some of the assistant coaches could be seen sitting with their heads in the hands.

Despite the tough times, Forsyth will continue to be upbeat.

“This means a lot to our kids,” Forsyth said. “It hurts them now. It’s a tough situation to be in. It’s a hard situation to be in, especially when you don’t win and you continue to work hard.

“I guarantee you Monday they will be back at it, ready to work hard. They’ll lift us (the coaches) up a little bit. We’ve got Homecoming next week so we’ll do everything we can to get ready for next Friday.”

CEDAR FALLS  56, LINN-MAR 28

At UNI-Dome
L-M            CF
First downs         16            27
Rushes-yards    32-107      56-449
Passing yards      230         140
Comp-Att-Int    11-27-2    9-19-1
Fumbles-lost       0-0          3-0
Punts-avg.       7-29.9      3-36.3
Penalties-yards    6-64       8-91

Linn-Mar       7    7    7   7 –  28
Cedar Falls    7   21  21   7 –  56

CF – Eli Berregaard 32 run (Caleb Ihel kick)
LM – Matt Ramsey 32 pass from Ryan Schmidt (Austin Wolter kick)
CF – Berregaard 4 run (Ihel kick)
CF – Denison Arrington 9 run (Ihel kick)
LM – Griffin Brennecke 67 pass from Schmidt (Wolter kick)
CF – Kyle Boomgarden 19 pass from Trey Hansen (Ihel kick)
CF – Berregaard 28 run (Ihel kick)
LM – Ross Lembeck 1 run (Wolter kick)
CF – Matthew Fritz 16 pass from Hansen (Ihel kick)
CF – Henry Dropps 10 pass from Hansen (Ihel kick)
CF – Logan Ryan 1 run (Ihel kick)
LM – Brennecke 60 pass from Schmidt (Ihel kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing
Linn-Mar – Ross Lembeck 14-42, Ryan Schmidt 13-46, Perrion Scott 5-19
Cedar Falls – Eli Berregaard 26-245, Denison Harrington 11-149, Trey Hansen 1-2, Ben Fienup 1-5, Logan Ryan 10-42, Austin Miller 1-7, Lee Bell 2-5, Brian Cook 1-1, Team 3 (minus-7)

Passing
Linn-Mar - Ryan Schmidt 11-27-2-230.
Cedar Falls – Trey Hansen 8-17-0-133, Brian Cook 1-2-1-9

Receiving
Linn-Mar – Trevor Noble 1-7, Griffin Brennecke  5-155, Ross Lembeck 2-20,  Matt Ramsey 1-32, Jon Schlotterback 2-16.
Cedar Falls – Ben Fienup 2-22, Kyle Boomgarden , 4-83, Henry Dropps 1-10, Matthew Fritz 1-16, Tyler Schmidt 1-9.