For 33 minutes, Linn-Mar looked like a lost football team.

Trailing Pleasant Valley 7-0 with the third quarter almost gone, the Lions were badly in need of a spark.

Facing a third and 12 from the Pleasant Valley 32, the ball was pitched to senior tailback Perrion Scott, who saw the ball glance off his hands and down to the turf. Instead of falling on it, Scott took a gamble and scooped it up and started to reverse field.

He turned the broken play into a near touchdown, coming all the way back across the field to reach the 1-yard line where quarterback Ryan Schmidt snuck across with the for the tying TD.

Scott's play swung the momentum to the Lions who scored two more TDs then held on for a 21-14 win over the visiting Spartans at Linn-Mar Stadium.

"I was thinking about diving on it, but we would have lost more yardage," Scott said. "We had been pushed back so many times that I thought I had to try and make a play and it happened.

"I told my teammates in the locker room that we couldn't lose this game," he added. "We can't lose here at home with all our friends and our families here. I make that play, it ignites the team and the next thing you know, we are 2-0.

Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth said Scott is a "guy who has the ability to make some plays when he gets a chance."

Schmidt admitted things didn't look good when he sent the ball Scott's way.

"I saw the ball on the ground and I got hit so I didn't see it happen," he said. "Then I got up and saw him running the other way. He does that sometimes and it was sure great to see tonight."

Two plays after Schmidt's tying TD, senior linebacker Logan Benter picked off a deflected pass at the Spartans' 30. Three plays later, Schmidt broke loose for an 18-yard score to give the Lions a 14-7 lead.

The Lion defense forced four turnovers, after forcing five in last week's opening win over Prairie. The defense gave up a second-quarter 10-yard scoring run to PV's Terry Saul and it looked like that might hold up.

Forsyth said he didn't think the Lions came out with the same intensity they showed in Week 1 at Prairie.

"This is my fault," he said. "We should have played better. I tried to get their heads back around, but we just came out flat-footed.

"Give credit to Pleasant Valley, they played a nice game," continued Forsyth. "We still have a ton of stuff to work on. We just weren't ready to come out and play like we were last week. That's my job and I have to do a better job of that."

Linn-Mar put the game out of reach with an impressive drive late in the fourth quarter, capped when Schmidt faked to a leaping Scott on a play from the PV 1, and was able to walk in to the end zone with 2:40 remaining.

"It was a good call," Schmidt said. "They were just crashing the line, so we had a pretty good idea the play would work and it did."

The Spartans did muster a drive after the score, finishing it off on a 1-yard Brendon Bormann run with 52 seconds remaining. PV's onside kick attempt was covered by the Lions' Austin Angel to seal the victory.

"I'm proud of the way we hung in there," Forsyth said. "Every team we play on our schedule is going to be tough. If you aren't ready to play, you are going to get in trouble. We were able to find a way to bounce back and I was especially proud of the way we ran the clock down there at the end."

Linn-Mar, which has already matched its win total of 2013, is back on the road next Friday for a non-district game at Clinton. The loss dropped PV to 0-2

LINN-MAR 21, PLEASANT VALLEY 14

PV         LM
First downs                14         14
Rushes-yards        39-166     39-165
Passing yards           101         59
Comp-att-int        10-16-1     7-13-0
Fumbles-lost              5-3        1-0
Punts-avg.            4-32.7     6-33.0
Penalties-yards        2-25       3-22

Pleasant Valley          0    7   0     7  - 14
Linn-Mar                  0    0   7    14  - 21

PV – Terry Saul 10 run (Nick Kelly kick)
LM – Ryan Schmidt 1 run (Sean Zimmerman kick)
LM – Schmidt 18 run (Zimmerman kick)
LM – Schmidt 1 run (Zimmerman kick)
PV – Brendon Bormann 1 run (Kelly kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing
Pleasant Valley –  Tyler Flanders 3-15, Brendon Bormann 12-66, Chase Kipper 15-22, Terry Saul 3-26, Collin Banks 3-12, CJ Carter 3-25.
Linn-Mar – Logan Benter 4-14, Perrion Scott 12-85, Ryan Schmidt 19-67, Bryce Miller 1-1, Nolan Hollinger 1-2. Team 2-(minus 4)

Passing
Pleasant Valley – Chase Kipper 10-16-1-101
Linn-Mar – Ryan Schmidt 7-13-0-59.

Receiving
Pleasant Valley – CJ Carter 1-7, Brendon Bormann 1-2, Jacob Rockey 4-36, Kevin Stewart 2-35, Dallas Gill 1-1, Colin Lentz 1-20.
Linn-Mar – Bryce Miller 5-46, Perrion Scott 1-4, Trevor Noble 1-9.