Any win is a good win, and winning on homecoming is always special for high school athletes, but there was really nothing special about the Linn-Mar Lions' 41-7 thumping of the Dubuque Senior Rams Friday night at Linn-Mar Stadium.

The No. 5 Lions (6-0) did what they have done all year long, racking up points and yards en route to an easy win.

Linn-Mar rolled up 500 yards of total offense and showed off an explosive, balanced attack against Senior (1-5). The Lions rushed for 269 yards, including 157 from senior Mitch Wantock. Senior Mark Atwater moved the ball through the air, throwing for 223 yards and four touchdowns.

“We just click. When we blocked things right we really hit, they pass protected pretty well all night.” Atwater said. “Andy (Henry) got open and we just throw to him. There were some balls that weren’t thrown great and he just made plays on them.”

After failing to get any points on the opening drive of the game the Lions scored on four straight possessions to take command.

In the first quarter Atwater found Henry for touchdown strikes from 19 and 8 yards out to get things rolling. The Atwater-Henry connection went to work again early in the second period, connecting from 35 yards out to stretch the lead to 20-0. The touchdown was Henry’s third of the night and 10th of the season.

“We worked hard all summer, it is really an offseason thing,” Henry said about his on-field relationship with Atwater. “(The coaches) drew up good plays for me and I ran my routes hard.”

Wantock got into the action late in the second quarter, scoring on a 23-yard run. After the Rams failed to take advantage of an Atwater fumble, Wantock got his second score of the night on a 11-yard touchdown pass from Atwater.

The Lions' talented senior trio of Atwater, Henry and Wantock helped the potent offense and stout defense take a 34-0 lead into the halftime break.

The Lions' defense put the continuous clock rule into effect just 7 seconds into the second half when senior linebacker John Conner picked up a Rams fumble and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown and 41-0 lead.

“I thought we played pretty well on defense. Anytime you get a score on defense it’s great.” Lions Coach Bob Forsyth said.

Linn-Mar's defense allowed only 171 yards, 65 on the ground.

“Stopping the run has been tough for us in the past, we did a good job with it tonight,” said Atwater, who also plays linebacker. “We have three linemen and four to six guys that rotate in at linebacker that really got after it tonight.”

The Rams were able to get on the board late in the fourth, but it was much too little, much too late.

The undefeated Lions face three tough teams - at Washington, Iowa City High and at Xavier - to finish the season. It's a challenge the Lions are looking forward to.

“This is our schedule, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Atwater said.

Forsyth said the Lions still have some work to do to get ready for their closing stretch. They had two turnovers and three big penalties that brought touchdowns back.

“We got three big games starting next week with a team coming off a big win so we are going to need to have a great week of practice,” Forsyth said.

Washington (4-2) beat No. 2 Iowa City High, 27-24, Friday night.

LINN-MAR 41, DUBUQUE SENIOR 7
Senior       0    0   0   7   -   7
Linn-Mar   13  21   7   0  -  41

LM – Andy Henry 19 pass from Mark Atwater (kick failed)
LM – Henry 13 pass from Atwater (QuinnTreiber Kick)
LM – Henry 35 pass from Atwater (Treiber Kick)
LM – Mitch Wantock 23 run (Treiber Kick)
LM – Wantock 11 pass from Atwater (Treiber Kick)
LM – John Conners 20 fumble return (Treiber Kick)
Senior – Keegan Gallery 8 pass from Robby Jones (Brent Wilker kick)

Team Stats
First Downs – LM 15, Senior 9
Rushes yards – LM 32-269, Senior 25-65
Receiving Yards – LM 231, Senior 125
Comp-Att-Int – LM 11-15-0, Senior 13-22-1
Punts-avg. – LM 2-29.5, Senior 7-33.15
Fumbles-lost – LM 2-2, Senior 2-1
Penalties-yards – LM 6-55, Senior 4-30

Individual Stats
Rushing – LM: Mitch Wantock 11-157, Mark Atwater 5-37, Travis Kvach 1-13, Brandon Ophoff 5-10, Michael Redmond 1-8, Jake Luerkens 3-13, Rhys Davis 2-21, Dakota Digmann 3-8, Brandon Schirmer 1-2. Senior: Zayne Moore 15-25, Robby Jones 5-16, Alex Duster 5-24.
Passing – LM: Atwater 10-13-0-223, Luerkens 1-2-0-8. Senior – Jones 13-22-1-106
Receiving – LM: Andy Henry 5-118, Zach Martins 2-58, Wantock 1-11, Kvach 1-26, Luerkens 1-10, John Conner 1-8. Senior: Jon Powers 3-34, Brandon Richey 1-5, Keegan Gallery 6-49, Quinn Simpson 1-19, Brent Wilker 2-17, Duster 1-(-4)

Sophomore score – Linn-Mar 24, Dubuque Senior 14