When Linn-Mar played at Cedar Falls last season, the Tigers were able to run at will.
In Friday night's game at Linn-Mar Stadium, they couldn't run at all.
A fired-up Lions defense held the Tigers to minus-10 yards on the ground and the offense made enough timely plays that resulted in a 22-14 homecoming victory at Linn-Mar Stadium.
The victory clinched a Class 4A playoff spot for the No. 9 Lions (6-1 overall, 3-0 in District 5). They can secure no worse than a tie for the district title with a win next Friday at Waterloo West. Cedar Falls dropped to 5-2, 2-1.
Many of Linn-Mar's defenders in Friday's win were on the field last year when the Tigers ran for 449 yards in a 56-28 win.
"We came out here fired up ready to play Lion football," said senior defensive back Adam Stolley, who had a key interception. "We went 2-7 (last year) and that sucked for all of us.
"Last year, we did nothing. Now this year we are in the district lead and we have the playoffs. We just have to keep going."
After stopping the Tigers to start the game, Linn-Mar drove right down the field to the Tiger 3, but Perrion Scott was stopped short on fourth down.
The defenses took over from there.
Linn-Mar got a 34-yard field goal from Alexy Boehm near the end of the first quarter and that was all the scoring in the first half.
"They made adjustments after that," said Lions'quarterback Ryan Schmidt of the Tigers' defense. "We made some adjustments in the second half and that made the difference."
Linn-Mar's defense kept putting the offense in good field position in the third quarter. It finally paid off.
Schmidt hit Trevor Noble for 29 yards and on the next play, Schmidt sprinted 13 yards up the middle for a touchdown. A bad snap on the PAT attempt left the score at 9-0 for the Lions.
The defensive momentum continued as Stolley picked off Tigers QB Taylen Alexander on the next series.
Then the momentum shifted to the Tigers as Hunter Lavallee blocked a Sean Zimmerman punt and carried it 30 yards for a score and suddenly it was 9-7.
"(The blocked punt) swung the momentum back their way," said Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth. "Our kids are resilient and they stayed in there."
After the Tigers scored, they got the ball right back when Schmidt was picked off by Logan Mozena near midfield. With a chance to crack, the Lions did anything but.
They held the Tigers, then got the momentum back when a snap flew over the head of the Cedar Falls punter. He picked it up and got a kick off, but it went for minus-10 yards.
"Our defense played a phenomenal game," Schmidt said. "They really kept us in the game."
Linn-Mar's running game got going after that point. Schmidt scored on a 14-yard run with 8:19 left and sealed it with a 4-yard run with 1:22 left for his third touchdown of the game and 14th of the season.
The Tigers added a consolation TD with 18 seconds remaining.
Scott finished with 116 yards on 16 carries. Schmidt had 72 more on 17 carries, but the stars of the night were on defense.
"They play extremely hard," Forsyth said of his defense. "I don't know if you line them up on a track, I don't know how many they would outrun, but they go after the football, play hard and get to the ball.
"They believe in each other and they believe in this football program," he added. "This is a team-first environment and they are going to do whatever they need to do to help their teammates. If you get that kind of thing going, you are going to have a chance."
LINN-MAR 22, CEDAR FALLS 14
CF LM
First downs 10 15
Rushes-yards 25-(-10) 38-188
Passing yards 184 88
Comp-att-int 17-27-1 8-16-1
Fumbles-lost 3-0 0-0
Punts-avg. 9-33.6 4-39.0
Penalties-yards 8-65 3-20
Cedar Falls 0 0 7 7 - 14
Linn-Mar 3 0 6 13 - 22
Scoring Plays
LM – FG Alexy Boehm 33
LM – Ryan Schmidt 13 run (run failed)
CF – Hunter Lavallee 30 blocked punt return (Caleb Iehl kick)
LM – Schmidt 14 run (Ryan Zimmerman kick)
LM – Schmidt 4 run (run failed)
CF – Durrell Jackson 4 pass from Taylen Alexander (Iehl kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing
Cedar Falls - Denison Harrington 10-6, Ben Fienup 3-4, Taylen Alexander 9-minus 43, Trey Hansen 1-11, Javon Middleton 1-10, Tyler Schmidt 1-2
Linn-Mar – Perrion Scott 16-116, Ryan Schmidt 17-72, Logan Benter 3-2, Daniel Gorsich 1-0, Team 1-minus 2.
Passing
Cedar Falls - Taylen Alexander 17-27-1 184
Linn Mar – Ryan Schmidt 8-16-1-88.
Receiving
Cedar Falls - Javon Middleton 10-109, Tyler Schmidt 1-12, Tra'Von Fagan 2-29, Denison Harrington 1-7, Durrell Jackson 3-27.
Linn-Mar – Garett Evans 2-16, Trevor Noble 2-45, Perrion Scott 1-6, Jordan Junkins 1-6, Logan Benter 1-4, Adam Stolley 1-11.
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