The Webster City Lynx football team opened their season with a heart-stopping 35-28 win over Fort Dodge in Week 1, and Week 2 presents them with another former district foe in the Spencer Tigers. Spencer enters Friday’s matchup with an 0-1 record after their season-opening 20-3 loss to Humboldt in Week 1.
The Tigers are led by Webster City alum Jim Tighe, son of longtime Webster City coach and Iowa High School Football Hall of Famer Dick Tighe, and much like his father, Tighe’s attack is predicated heavily on the ground forces. Spencer’s vaunted ground attack was held in check on Friday, as Humboldt held the Tigers to 148 yards and out of the endzone. The Tigers do bring back senior running back Adrian Carrillo, who ran for over 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns last season, but is the only returner from last year’s backfield that put up 49 points on the Lynx in Webster City. Cael Bruning had a tough opener as starting quarterback, going 1/5 with 12 yards and 2 interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown. Ross Carlson steps into the role of a wingback as well.
Defensively, the Tigers are led by the bellcows of linebacker Adrian Carrillo and defensive lineman Miles Robbins. Carillo led the way with 35 tackles, 3 sacks and 5 TFL a season ago at linebacker, while Robbins had 43.5 tackles, a sack and a team-high 11 TFL on the defensive line. Fellow linebacker Jack Berends is also back, who tallied 26.5 tackles as a sophomore, but was held to just 1 tackle in the loss to Humboldt. A big question for the Tigers will be the rebuilding of their secondary, losing a good amount of production from a season ago, but do return Tommy Lauck and Brady Vreeman.
Webster City’s 35-28 win over Fort Dodge was highlighted by the play of running back and linebacker Jaxon Cherry, who ran for 266 yards and 3 touchdowns, while amassing 8 tackles, 3 TFL and a sack in an elite performance. The Lynx had issues offensively breaking in a new quarterback and wingback, which resulted in 5 lost fumbles. Converted tight end Keegan Hisler did shine when needed most at quarterback, hitting the game-winning touchdown pass to Jesse Crutcher with 23 seconds left to give Webster City the win. Hisler also ran for 65 yards and a touchdown, while fellow running back Cael Nixon ran for 46 yards on 12 carries.
Webster City and Spencer will kickoff at 7 PM on Friday night from Spencer, and the game can be heard on 92.9/1570 KZWC with pregame beginning at 6:20 PM.