Bob Forsyth said he never mentioned it.

“I don’t recall it ever coming up,” he said as a big smile crossed his face.

The “it” of which the veteran Linn-Mar football coach spoke was the result of the Lions last visit to John Wall Field in Week 8 of the 2013 season against Prairie.

In that contest, the Hawks amassed 615 total yards en route to a 63-17 victory.

What a difference 10 months can make.

Linn-Mar’s defense held Prairie to just 72 yards on the ground while the offense took advantage of five Prairie turnovers to win the 2014 opener, 35-9, on a rainy night at Prairie.

 

 

“We knew last year we got it handed to us,” said senior linebacker Logan Nelsen. “We came out here with a sense of urgency.”

A team loaded with seniors, many of whom were on the field for last year’s contest, the Lions didn’t look like a team that gave up an average of 42 points per game in 2013.

“I thought our kids came out with the right frame of mind,” Forsyth said. “We practiced well all week and to mentally battle through the conditions made it tough, but we made the plays when we had to."

The game didn’t finish until just before 11 p.m. as it was halted due to lightning with 2:01 left in the first half. The game was delayed 45 minutes. That delay came on top of a 30-minute delay for lightning during the sophomore game.

Linn-Mar had a clean sheet as far as turnovers were concerned. The Hawks were not as fortunate. Three fumbles, two coming on special teams, and a pair of interceptions kept Prairie from building any sustained offense against a swarming Lion defense.

“We took advantage of the opportunities, but we missed a lot of opportunities ourselves,” Forsyth said. “Anytime you can get turnovers and take advantage of them the way we did, you will have a great chance to win.

Senior quarterback Ryan Schmidt had a solid night for the Lions. He threw one touchdown pass, a well-executed screen pass to Logan Benter that went for an 11-yard score to open the scoring. Schmidt added three scoring runs and passed for 141 yards.

“We had a lot of dropped balls tonight,” Forsyth said. “We could have put a couple more scores on the board, but we know we still have a lot of things to clean up before next week.”

After Benter’s score, Prairie got on the board early in the second quarter on a 25-yard Sam Drysdale field goal.

Then a pair of Prairie miscues led to quick Lion scores. Punter JoJo Simpson dropped a snap and had to fall on it deep in Hawks territory. Schmidt then scampered in from the 11.

After the kickoff, Benter stepped in front of a Prairie receiver and picked off a Trey Beckman pass. That led to a Schmidt QB sneak and it was 21-3.

Then came the weather delay and Prairie came alive after the break with Keagan Pinter breaking away on a 51-yard scoring run just before the half to make it 21-9.

Prairie’s momentum continued in the third quarter as the Hawks mounted a drive, only to see it end when Beckman lost a fumble.

Perrion Scott and Schmidt each scored before the end of the third quarter to put the game away for the Lions.

“This was a big one for us tonight,” Schmidt said. “We took some pretty good beatings last year so we were pretty motivated coming out tonight.”

The Lions open their home schedule next Friday night against Pleasant Valley while Prairie travels to Kingston Stadium to meet Jefferson.

 

LINN-MAR 35, PRAIRIE 9

 

LM CRP

First downs 15 14

Rushes-yards 44-175 27-72

Passing yards 141 192

Comp-Att-Int 7-14-0 17-31-2

Fumbles-lost 0-0 4-3

Punts-avg. 5-41.6 3-47.3

Penalties-yards 10-90 8-57

 

Linn-Mar 7    14     14   0  - 35

Prairie 0      9       0    0  -  9

 

LM – Logan Benter 11 pass from Ryan Schmidt (Sean Zimmerman kick)

CRP – FG Sam Drysdale 25

LM – Schmidt 11 run (Zimmerman kick)

LM – Schmidt 2 run (Zimmerman kick)

CRP – Keagan Pinter 51 run (pass failed)

LM – Perrion Scott 10 run (Zimmerman kick)

LM – Schmidt 1 run (Zimmerman kick)

 

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Linn-Mar – Logan Benter  10-56,  Perrion Scott 7-58,  Ryan Schmidt 23-59, Jordan Junkins 3-4, Team 1-(minus 2) .

Prairie –Keegan Pinter 13-86, Trey Beckman 11-(minus 6), Jake Pinter 1-4. JoJo Simpson 1- (minus 9). Team 1- (minus 3)

 

Passing

Linn-Mar - Ryan Schmidt 7-14-0-141

Prairie – Trey Beckman 17-31-2-192

 

Receiving

Linn-Mar – Trevor Noble 2-89, Logan Benter 1-11,  Garett Evans 2-22,  Trevor Long 1-9, Perrion Scott  1-10.

Prairie  – Jojuan Simpson 5-54, Connor Grade 5-87, Coen Brown 1-8, Keagan Pinter 2-21, Benjamin Boldt 1-11, Jalen Rima 3-11.

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